Blossoms on the Cliff

The wind, a breath of life, breathed through the mountain air, with the subtle, honeyed aroma of night blooms unseen. It caressed soft petals glowing in the wind, not like fireflies, but as pieces of broken starlight dropping to the ground. Below them, the city of Ryuki opened out, a stunning tapestry of light against the darkening violet twilight. It was not merely a city; it was an ocean of glittering life, its cloud-walking like filaments of silver threads to invisible worlds, its sky-trains, ghostly leviathans, flowing through parabolas of seized light.

Rose and Auren sat, side by side, at the cliff's edge, their legs hanging over the open, sweeping canvas of the sky. The sheer plunge below was no longer frightening but thrilling.

Rose sank back on her elbows, her eyes looking up, beyond the lights of the city in the distance, into the impenetrable vastness of the stars. "So Auren… why are you here tonight? I've never seen anyone sitting here this late." She spoke quietly, piercing the great silence.

Auren looked at her, then out at the horizon, a slow, deep breath expanding his chest. "Oh, really… I normally view the city from my rooftop. Tonight… I don't know, something drew me here, like a lost echo. I was curious—perhaps I wanted to get a new view of the city. It just felt… right, in a way nothing else has in a while." He hesitated, a flicker of vulnerability in his eyes. "Is there any issue if I sit here…?"

Rose smiled gently, shaking her head. Her blue eyes, already shining, appeared to warm even more. "No, not at all. That would be great, actually. This city—it's so pretty from up here, isn't it? It feels like you can reach out and touch the universe."

A soothing silence fell between them, and only the soft sigh of the wind broke it. Then she added, with a warmth that took him aback, "You know… we could sit like this together every day."

Auren's breath caught. He blinked, the words ringing in his head like a promise too impossible to be true. "Really? You wouldn't mind?" He paused, his eyes dropping to his hands, suddenly noticing the emptiness of them. "I mean, I don't have friends. Not even one. And. I'm a little bit weird, I think. I have no mage power. I'm just an ordinary human." The final words were a naked admission, inflected with the pain of years of inadequacy.

Rose leaned her head, her blue eyes now gleaming with a soft, unshakable spark. "What are you even saying?" she replied quietly, her voice piercing his second-guessing. "Why would that matter to me?" She tilted her chin up toward the infinite stars, her profile inscribed against their luminosity. "I don't have friends either. People always think I'm too serious. or too weird. But tonight, I found you—and I think you're cool, Auren. So yeah. We can be friends. Together."

Auren's breath suspended in his throat, a tight, choking rush of feeling bursting up in him. "Really?" His voice broke, high and reed-thin, on the edge of what was happening inside of him. His eyes flashed, like reflecting city lights, and for an instant, he couldn't keep the emotion behind. One burning tear ran down his cheek.

"Are you actually going to be my… friend?" The question was spoken barely above a whisper, infused with the desperate optimism of an isolated heart.

Rose saw the water in his eyes, her own face changing from soft to a teasing worry. "Wait, wait—what?! Are you crying?" She laughed nervously, angling forward slightly, her hand above his shoulder as if to pat him down. "Hey, hey! It's alright if you don't want to be friends; just don't cry, okay?"

Auren wiped his eyes hastily, a soft, choked laughter escaping him. "No, no! I do want to be your friend! I really do. You're… you're my first friend." The words, laden with significance, hung suspended between them.

Rose smiled, a bright, real smile that traveled to her crystal eyes, mellowing their gleam. "Then it's a deal." She extended her hand, her fingers warm and unexpectedly firm, and clasped her pinky finger with his, a good, old promise made concrete under the big sky.

"From this day on, this cliff is our sitting place. We'll meet here every day. I'll bring something to eat."

Auren's smile split his face, wider than any city streetlamp. "Then I'll fetch drinks!"

Rose raised an eyebrow playfully, a wicked twinkle dancing in their depths. "What?! I'm not having booze! I'm fifteen!"

Auren exploded into booming laughter, the sound ringing out through the mountain air. "No, no! I didn't mean that! I meant like… juice! Soda!"

Rose laughed, a bright, bell-like sound. "I know, I was joking."

Auren laughed as well, rubbing the back of his head, still a little agitated. "Hah. really scared me for a second."

They both laughed then, a mutual, unselfconscious sound that filled the darkness. It was the kind of laughter that can only issue from truly being seen, from being fully accepted, with all flaws intact, for the very first time. Above them, the stars throbbed softly, no longer mere distant lights but witnesses to a transition of profound depth. The lighted trees on the cliff edge stirred with soft light, their leaves dancing in assent, as if blessing the holy new union being formed.

Auren's mind, warmer and clearer than any magic: Why… why is this so warm? It feels like… something in me is finally opening, not a flower, but my own soul. I am loving this night more than any other. This moment… this is the best moment of my life. It's like discovering a key to a door that I didn't know was there.

He glanced over at Rose, her smile shining like a beacon, drawing the moonlight to it like a spell.

I vow to you, Rose… I will never leave your side. You are the light that at last pierced the darkness.

The city pulsed under their feet, a work of art of light and enchantment, but the most lovely, the dearest thing in Auren's whole universe—was sitting right next to him, a kindred spirit discovered in the quiet expanses of night.