Where We Start Again

The sensation of another’s touch jolted her back to reality. She slowly craned her head back to look at the familiar face of her friend. His wide head blocked the sun as he loomed over her for a second. She scooted over slightly to allow him to sit as if there weren’t miles upon miles of beach for him to sit on already. He asked her a question and she shrugged. A faint sigh slipped past her cracked charcoal lips and she glanced over at him. “No… but I willed myself to take in some sustenance.” Grief often took precedence over bodily desires. In the first few weeks, she did not crave sleep, nor food or water. It was like a state of limbo or a brief glimpse into the afterlife. “My stomach would devour itself if I did not satiate it.” Hunger could at-times be as ravenous as the fires of ambition. Though she would have preferred the latter.

She stared out across the waves with a dull expression. When he spoke again, a twinge of pain settled in them momentarily before dissipating. “I know.” Nox inhaled shakily and forced the air out in a continuous stream. She had been selfish these past few weeks. So, swallowed by her own grief that she did not acknowledge his. He marched on without complaint, caring for her in those trying times. There was no-more faithful of a friend and she would be sure to thank him for it later in life when she could speak without choking. “They were as much yours, as they were mine...” Hell, he was more a father to her children than their biological father was. Damn the bastard. Nox just hoped that she would be able to see her girls again.

Dampened footsteps made the ears upon her crown twitch and swivel toward the sound. She needn’t strain too hard though for a confident voice came pouring forth like the waves themselves. Nox turned her head, stopping abruptly as her eyes settled on something as magnificent as it was strange. An assortment of peculiar colors glistened in the afternoon sun though their backdrop was more attuned to a midnight sky. How the colors lay across her canvas was quite like the aurora borealis. And to top it all off, an eye of ember and moonlit blue. She had only seen one case of heterochromia before and he had not adorned such a lovely coat. If the character behind it wasn’t so intriguing, she might have thought her coat would look rather nice on a mantle somewhere.

Nox tilted her head slightly, a momentary look of awe taking upon her features. It was not often she found herself surprised. “My, what an extraordinary thing you are.”Though something about that strut said that the beautiful creature knew that already. Something about the way she stood, reminded Nox of a younger self. Perhaps that head was a bit too big for those shoulders, but where was the harm in a compliment or two? “To who might we owe the pleasure? Oh, and after introductions do tell me where you got your colors. Is it paint?” Nox was genuinely curious. She had never seen such a creation before.