under a leash, pt. i

They dance across skylines as they shimmer against the star above that hides a million others in its blue blanket of beauty. Their feet press into the concrete as delicately as the birds that follow us, watching over their journey from the heights of deities. The people beyond them are cheerful, their gestures welcoming, and the girl beyond society finds their smiles haunting. Vaelyn watches each of the groups pass her as she follows the young petal that drifts further into the city with the wind. She doesn't comprehend the bliss that they feel, her eyes confused with her own faint reflection in the glass, numb to the emotion that carries itself to every person in the plaza.

She keeps her eyes on the little girl holding her hand, guiding her deeper into the architecture, and ignores the glare of the sun as it bleeds past the shadows of towers much greater than herself. She pushes up her glasses as the child picks up her pace. Her grasp is gentle and warm, the smiles she sends back to Vaelyn curing the worries deep in her head. She is the light before it rises in the morning, her hand holding the skin of the moon as it beams on the other side of the earth. They walk through the city admiring the people they've watched over for so long, yet know so little about. They protect the earth without acknowledging the creatures that roam within.

A blossomed tree flutters its leaves onto the sidewalk, and the child slows down to admire its waving branches reaching for the flower in her hair. The girl looks up to Vaelyn, who steps close behind her, looking up to the same tree without the same smile on her face.

"Look, it's so pretty!" Kit bounces lightly, reaching for one of the branches.

Vaelyn shrugs. "Yeah, I guess so. It's just a tree."

"Do you know how long it takes trees to grow?" Kit tucks in her shirt after it loosened from their journey so far.

"I don't know," Vaelyn says, shrugging her shoulders.

Kit wraps her arms around the tree, closing her eyes as she puts her cheek to the bark.

"Years, lots of years," Kit grips the trunk, "It took a long time for this thing to get here."

"I'm missing the point," Vaelyn says, blankly watching as the child gives all her love to an emotionless, frozen plant.

"As it grew, it only became more beautiful than it was before. Everyone has a beauty they hide under their age. For this tree, we get lots of colorful leaves," Kit picks up a handful of leaves, all in a variety of colors, and throws them to flutter over Vaelyn. She laughs as Vaelyn brushes herself off with a smile. "Do you know what your beauty is?"

"What's that?" Vaelyn holds her hips.

Kit stares. Vaelyn stares back, confused.

"Stop that," Vaelyn says, Kit focusing her view deeper into her facial features. "Kit!"

Kit reaches for Vaelyn's arms and grips them from behind, turning her to the reflection staring back from the glass of a darkened tower.

"I thought you had glasses to see?" Kit asks Vaelyn.

"I can see," Vaelyn responds. Kit stands next to her, looking up with more admiration than she gave the tree. "I just can't see what you see."

"It really does suck, huh?" Kit asks Vaelyn, but the question almost sounded like she was asking herself.

"What?" Vaelyn turns away from her reflection, giving it only a quick glance.

"Your beauty may come with age, but so does your loss in vision. You'll never see your own perfection until someone else shows it to you," Kit says gently. She keeps eye contact to deliver her point as if she had been waiting all her life to say it. Vaelyn kneels to the child.

"Oh yeah? Do you know what your beauty is, then?" Vaelyn repeats the question to the one who created it. Several leaves spiral down and brush their shoulders, the earth calming them as their words fall into the breeze.

Kit shakes her head. "What do you think it is?"

"You can always see the beauty in everything else, no matter how terrible it looks. You help the sun rise with your songs to lift it, your words to carry it, and your lullabies to help it land. You're a little angel, Kit, and I envy your passion to find what is left of the world to label as gorgeous," Vaelyn holds her shoulders.

"It's not a passion," Kit holds Vaelyn back, "I just don't understand why no one else can see it too."

Vaelyn looks down at the child's feet, trying not to rob her of her purity.

"When you grow up, Kit, you're going to find out why. You're going to learn of the reason that the sun can cast shadows and you're going to go blind trying to find the bright side again. You're so innocent right now, and so many people wish they could go back to be what you are now. Your beauty is something you hold, Kit, and you can't let that beauty go," Vaelyn looks up to the little girl, who holds her face in her small hands.

"Beauty is something that you are," Kit whispers.

Vaelyn stands, holding the child's back as they begin to walk again. They step past the blossomed tree and away from its shadow, the light of a distant beauty now several steps closer. Avoiding the many groups of people that sprawl across the sidewalks of the downtown, they keep close to each other as their bond is built as strong as the skyscrapers at their sides. They discover together what it means to trust again, their bodies only focused on chasing their purpose as they walk the soil. The moon still believes she was meant to be swimming in an ocean of ink, her neck above the stars as they sparkle beauty into her body. Without the winks of a million white fireflies to dance around her as she sleeps, she is unsure she'll ever see the beauty in the earth when it relies on her gleam to keep it alive. Without the gentle glow of the sun, it falls deep into the sea of sable, unable to spark a single light into the universe.