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It was all he could do to keep himself from cursing his awful luck. Not only had he completely lost track of the traveler and the God that had taken to following them around, but he'd also gotten caught in a sudden downpour far from Liyue city with nowhere to escape from the rain.
Biting his tongue to keep from saying the things he really wanted to say, he turned his head east and looked for any landmarks, anything to show him the way back to the city. Instead of spotting anything significant, his ears caught onto the faintest of sounds, ever so distant and almost barely even there, but he heard it. He grit his teeth because he knew what that sound was - it was a cry for help. Somewhere nearby but not too nearby, someone was in some kind of danger, and he knew that he really shouldn't do it. He knew that it was a distraction and he really couldn't afford distractions right now.
He turned to the right, where he thought the sound came from and began running that way.
The sound had come from a small valley nearby, a place where a river had spent thousands of years tearing away at the earth until it created a crater. At the water's edge, shivering and shouting, a woman stood, surrounded on almost all sides by hilichurls and samachurls. He was a little surprised to find that she wasn't trying to fight back at all, though he knew realistically, that she wouldn't stand a chance - she didn't even have a weapon with her.
She cried out again as one of them attacked her, throwing her back into the mud and rocks, and when she raised her hand to defend herself the palms were dark red and shaking. Without another second to waste, he notched an arrow into place, took aim, and fired at his target.
He was too far to hear the noise, but the hilichurl crumpled to the ground immediately. Startled, the rest of its group glanced up to where he stood at the top of the little hill, glaring down at the creatures. Were this any other battle he might have spared time to make snarky remarks and try to be witty, but the hilichurls wouldn't understand any of it and he felt like the woman probably didn't want to hear it. Instead, he pulled back another arrow and landed another hit.
It wasn't long before they began crawling up the hill in an attempt to get closer, to fight back, but he wasted no time in pulling the dagger from his waist and taking them out one by one. By the time it was over, he'd taken a few hits, but was the clear victor when the last hilichurl fell dead at his feet. He took a moment to compose himself, to gauge the wounds he'd received, before glancing back down into the valley. The woman was still there and still alive.
He carefully made his way down toward her, narrowly avoiding a nasty fall into the river when a wet rock tried to take him out. Still, the woman said nothing as he approached her, palms open and facing her in a show of good faith.
"Are you badly injured?" was his first question. "I saw your hands before, they looked like they were bleeding."
She swallowed something thick in her throat, eyes darting between his face, his hands, the water, his weapons, back to his face. She grit her teeth then opened her mouth. "I-I don't know."
Lightning briefly illuminated her features, and thunder sounded from somewhere far away moments later. For a split second, he saw her vividly - eyes wide and glancing up at him in both fear and hope, body shaking from the cold and adrenaline, bleeding hands in her lap twitching with pain.
"Let's get you out of this rain." He pulled her up by her arm, taking care not to reach for her injured hands, and tried to survey the area for anything that would provide even a little cover from the rain. He wasn't able to look long, though, because the woman painfully curled a hand so that she could point through the trees.
"There are a few abandoned buildings that way," she rasped out. In the back of his mind, he found it ironic that her voice was so dry when she was drenched in rain and had nearly tumbled into the river. Rather than voice these thoughts, he nodded and cautiously allowed her to lead the way. After all, she could be leading him into anything.
Perhaps she knew who he was and wanted to take him somewhere further away so that she may attempt to kill him. Maybe she was faking her helplessness as a way to lure in people like himself so that she could rob them.
Honestly, one of the last things he expected was for her to be telling the truth, but that seemed to be the case. Through the trees, under the curtain of rain that blurred his vision, he saw broken, rotten structures fading into view. She took him into the one that seemed to have the most intact roof and sat down in a corner, hissing in pain as she tried to wrap her own hands.
"Let me," he offered, taking a seat before her without awaiting a response. His hand reached out to her, she waited a moment before dropping the bandages into his palms and stretching her own hands to him.
The wounds were pretty deep and he imagined it would take quite some time before they would fully heal. Still, he figured that wrapping them would have to do, for now, seeing as neither of them seemed to have medicine on them. She clenched her jaw and tried not to cry out as he bandaged her hands, and he pretended not to notice a few stray tears falling as he did so.
"That should do until you can see a doctor," he told her, releasing her hands and standing up. He went to brush the dirt away but figured it wouldn't make a difference anyway. His clothes were soaked through and covered in dirt and blood. He would be surprised if the millelith let either of them back into Liyue.
"Thank you," the woman said, curling into herself in the corner. It seemed she intended to remain there for the night because she had fully leaned against the wall and was closing her eyes.
This felt completely strange to him.
Then again, he was living in a world completely different from hers. She hadn't been taught that everyone around her was an enemy until they had proved otherwise. She hadn't spent a lifetime becoming the perfect fighter. She hadn't been taught that sleep was your weakest state and that you should only do so when you were completely safe. She hadn't been taught that falling asleep with only a virtual stranger nearby was a very bad idea.
He thought about that. He thought about how foolish she was for it. About how, if anyone else had found her, they would've exploited that weakness and taken advantage of her. After all, she was being foolish - this was the third time she had put her life in the hands of a stranger. If he were to be honest with himself, he was quite surprised that she had lived this long.
Despite the little voice that told him not to, the one that told him he was wasting his time and that he had better places to be, he remained. He sat next to what used to be the door and waited for the rain to stop. He told himself that it was purely for his own sake, that it was better for him to stay here and remain dry, that he would get lost or sick if he tried going back out there. He told himself it had nothing to do with the woman who seemed intent on putting her life in his care, told himself he didn't pity her and he didn't care what happened to her.
Most of that stuff was him lying to himself.
By the time the rain stopped, the moon had made herself known. Half obscured by clouds, it gave the faintest of light that cascaded over the forest outside. He rose to his feet and crossed the room.
"Wake up, the rain stopped." The woman woke slowly but quickly sobered up when she saw him standing above her. He opened his palms to her once again as she attempted to move further away but was impeded by the walls around her. He took a step back. "Hey, it's alright. The rain stopped. I think you should get home before morning."
He took her arm and helped her to her feet again, noticing that she had stopped shaking at some point. Their clothes were only a little bit drier than before, but he figured it didn't matter. He was probably going to have to throw these ones away.
It made him uneasy, but he allowed her to follow behind as he tried to lead her back to Liyue. At every moment, he remained tense, just waiting for the moment she would pull a knife from her bag and plunge it into his back. They eventually made it to the city and that moment didn't come. He trailed after her as she walked slowly into the city, walking up a few flights of red-railed stairs into what he assumed was her home.
"Thank you," she said softly once they reached her door. "You...saved my life. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."
He shook his head as she tried to reach for her bag. "There's no need. You don't owe me anything."
"But I do." She glanced around, clearly hoping they weren't bothering any of her neighbors and spoke in a quieter voice. "Please, you saved my life. There must be something I can do."
He blinked a few times, considered her in his mind for a moment, then leaned forward with a smile. "Then how about this - I'll come back tomorrow and take you to get your hands looked at. You can consider that repayment if you'd like."
Her brows furrowed a bit, obviously confused by what he'd said, but she nodded a moment later and turned back toward her door. Before he could try to leave, she turned back around and met his eyes.
"I...I didn't ask for your name," she said softly, hand loosely grasping the door handle.
"It's Ajax." She smiled at him, shying away as she whispered her name. It was the most beautiful name he'd ever heard.
~~~
The next day, he returned to her home in the afternoon, pleased to find that she seemed happy to see him again. He offered her his arm and she looped her own around it, letting him lead her through the city.
He asked her about why she was out last night, she told him she had been searching for ingredients that weren't offered in any of the stores. She said hilichurls didn't usually get that close to the city, so she had been surprised that they attacked.
"I'm very lucky you were near," she added, glancing over to him with a grateful smile, to which he responded with a smirk.
"Maybe it wasn't luck." He leaned in close to her. "Maybe it was fate."
She turned her face away from him but wasn't able to do it quick enough - he had already seen the embarrassment in her face at his words and couldn't help a laugh.
Her home was on the same side of the city as the pharmacy, so it didn't take long for them to reach it. Well, the stairs took a little while, but it was still a relatively short trip. Once inside, Ajax was happy to find that Baizhu was there, chatting about one thing or another with the short assistant that he could never remember the name of.
"Ah, I believe we have customers," spoke the snake wound around his neck. The woman next to him shivered but didn't move or say anything.
Baizhu and the little girl turned to look at them, the man with a greeting and a smile, the girl with a blank look and a monotone 'hello.' Ajax ushered the woman forward and presented her hands to Baizhu.
"I know this is a pharmacy, but I was hoping you'd know how to treat these," he said, watching as Baizhu carefully unwrapped the bandages around her hands and examined the cuts. Ajax was pleased to find that they looked much better than they had the night prior.
The doctor had her turn her hands a few times, test the flexibility of each finger. He asked if she'd had any pain recently, and she said only when she tried to close her hand or touch her palms.
"The placement of your wounds is very unlucky," the doctor spoke, walking around the counter and reaching into one of the cabinets. "You won't be able to use your hands for much until they are healed."
The woman sighed, but the girl behind the counter, who Ajax had barely noticed approaching, gently patted the back of her hand. "Medicine will help." Her voice was soft and lacked any emotion, much like her expression. "Medicine helps me. It will help you."
At this, the woman smiled and thanked her for the reassurance, and the girl slowly trotted back to her place behind the counter as Baizhu produced a bottle and exclaimed, "Here it is!"
He had the woman lay her hands on the counter, palms up, and very gently applied the balm to the large gashes. She sucked in a breath at the pain, her fingers twitching, but did her best to remain completely still. Baizhu redressed the wounds when he was finished and placed the bottle on the counter.
"Apply this each morning when you wake up and each night before bed," Baizhu told her. "If the wounds are as deep as they look, I imagine it might take a week before you can use your hands regularly. Until then, no heavy lifting, no touching the wounds, and try not to fold your hands."
"Thank you very much," the woman said, reaching for the bag across her shoulder. "How much is the medicine?"
Baizhu looked at her for a moment then glanced up to Ajax for a second. "For you, nothing at all."
She tried to protest, but Baizhu shook his head and shooed the two of them out as more people began filtering in and asking about medicine and prescriptions. As they made the arduous journey back down the long flight of stairs, she sighed to herself.
"Don't feel bad," Ajax said. "He seemed pretty sure about his decision."
Even though she clearly still felt bad, she nodded at his words and allowed him to lead her back into the city. The only time she made to speak again was when she noticed that they were passing by the building she lived in. "Um, my home is there." She motioned to the building with her hand, not risking the pain of pointing to it like the night before.
"I know." Her stare burned the side of his face, but she didn't speak again until he came to a stop outside of another building. Ajax turned to face her. "I know it's a little early, but would you have dinner with me?"
Her eyes moved between his face and the restaurant before them. "I mean, I would like to, but...I can't afford a place like this. Maybe we could eat somewhere else?"
The expression she wore was somewhere between hopeful and forlorn, though he didn't need to read her to know what she was thinking. "Don't worry about that. I'll take care of the cost."
Again, she wasn't given a chance to protest as he pulled on her arm and brought her into the restaurant. She glanced around at all the other patrons, standing close to Ajax as if to make herself as small and unnoticeable as possible. When he asked for a private room for two, he moved his arm around her waist and guided her, following the waitress that brought them into a much smaller room and said she'd return shortly with drinks.
Ajax took the seat across from the woman. "I hope you don't mind the room. You seemed a little nervous, I thought you might like some privacy."
She shifted in her seat, leaving her bandaged hands in her lap and turning her head down. "I don't mind at all. Um, thank you. For this. You didn't have to do all this."
"And what if I want to do all this?"
She sucked in a deep breath but didn't get to reply as the waitress returned with drinks for them and asked if they knew what they wanted to eat. Ajax asked her for another minute, and she softly closed the door as she left.
Neither of them spoke as they glanced over the menu, at least, not until she laid her eyes on the prices and her jaw dropped. He watched her scan each of the other items.
"If you try to pick the cheapest food because you feel bad, I'll just order more food for you," he told her, smiling at the way she sighed in defeat. When the waitress returned, she left with their orders and their menus.
It wasn't long before the waitress returned with the food they had ordered, and the two of them thanked her as she left once more. The woman gently picked up the chopsticks and began to eat the noodles in front of her, though Ajax was less than thrilled to see that they hadn't given him a fork. He resigned himself to foolishly fiddling with the chopsticks in an attempt to eat his food and told himself he'd ask the waitress for a fork the next time she came in.
The woman across from him continued to eat her food and, for the most part, pretended not to notice his struggle. After a few minutes, though, she smiled and set her own chopsticks down for a moment, walking over to his side of the table. She took his hand and began placing the chopsticks in his fingers, gently telling him how to hold and use them. He let her show him how to grab the food, let her fingers close around his as she showed him the motion he needed to eat his food. Once she was satisfied with his progress, she walked back to her food and began to eat once more. When the waitress returned a few minutes later, Ajax told her they were doing fine and that he didn't need anything.
~~~
It went on like this for a while. When Ajax noticed he had down time, he would make his way over to her home and ask her if she wanted to leave with him. She had said yes every time.
It was the worst turn of fate that he had to be busy on today of all days. He had worked extra and done a lot of work meant for other people in the hopes that he would be able to get even a little bit of free time on this day, but it seemed fate was not on his side. He noticed the down-trodden look she had when he said he couldn't make it, and any attempts at cheering her up were futile.
He smiled down at her, took her now healed hand in his own, and pressed his lips against her knuckles. "I'll find a way to make it up to you." Her fingers tightened around his as he closed his eyes and kissed her hand, then slowly released it to stand back at his full height.
"Don't feel bad on my account," he told her as he left. "Go out and enjoy yourself."
And so he worked. He left the city and did the dirty work of his Tsaritsa, though he noticed that it seemed to lack its usual appeal. Even cutting down treasure hoarders wasn't as fun as it should've been and he knew there was only one thing causing it - the woman.
He took out camps of treasure hoarders, helping make way for fatui camps and training grounds to be set up. He wiped out hilichurls one after the other, tearing down their makeshift homes in order to make room for the soldiers behind him. They followed his orders without hesitation, placing tents and making firepits so that they may remain there.
All the while, he kept his eyes on the sky and watched the sun as it fell from view behind the mountains in the distance. He figured she would already be out by now, enjoying the lanterns and the music of the festival as the moon began to come into view. He wondered if she, like many of the other Liyue residents, would have dressed up for the occasion and would be participating in any games or traditions. For a moment, he imagined her, standing in the streets of Liyue, face covered with colored lights from the lanterns strung about the city. He saw her smile and turn to face him holding out her hand for him to take, and he tried to reach for her only to open his eyes and be met by the night sky.
"Sir?" Ajax turned to the side, coming face to mask with one of the soldiers that had helped set up the camp. "Everything seems to be in order here."
"Good. Keep it that way." He stepped forward and walked right past the soldier. "I've got some business in the city. I trust you lot can take care of yourselves?"
He didn't wait for the "of course, sir" that the soldier gave before walking back toward the city. It would be a long walk, and he was very tired, but he would be able to make it before the moon was at its peak. Before he knew it, the bright lights of the city were coming into view, the dirt ground beneath him turning into paved stone streets, the chirp and song of birds replaced by the chatter and music of the people.
The crowds were easy enough to avoid, though he wasn't sure where to look for her. He glanced into every group of people, every shop and restaurant, even into the alleys between buildings, before he found her.
Across the street, at a small vendor's booth, she was talking animatedly to the stall owner. She laughed at something, then gestured to one of the deep red lanterns hanging on the frame. The vendor carefully removed it from the hook it was on to let her get a better view, and she smiled as she gently turned it over in her hands.
"Let me pay for that," he said, stepping up behind her. She turned around quickly, eyes wide at the sight of him as he pulled out the money needed for the lantern and thanked the vendor. The old man smiled and waved at them as they walked away.
"You made it," she said with a smile, holding the lantern by its string in one hand and letting him slip his fingers through the other. "You said you'd be busy."
"Well, lucky for you, I got off early." She laughed as he pulled her forward. "You've got me for the rest of the night."
They walked together through the bustling streets, pointing at lanterns and trying to identify the sweet scent in the air. The smell brought them to another vendor, one who was displaying a variety of sweets and candies, and Ajax had her pick a few for them to share.
By the time the moon was at the center of the sky, he was sure they'd seen every single corner of Liyue city, but he didn't mind at all. Not when she was smiling like that, not when the moon made her eyes shine as she looked up to him. She was still smiling when he brought her back to her home.
"That was the most fun I've had at these festivals for a long time," she admitted, smiling demurely as she toyed with the string of the lantern. "I'm glad you were able to make it."
"Yeah, I had fun, too." Her eyes met his as his hand dropped from hers and he ushered her into her home. "I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Right. Good night, Ajax."
"Good night."
~~~
"Dammit," he swore with gritted teeth, hand pressed tightly against the wound in his side. "Dammit."
All that work for the gnosis, battling the traveler, releasing Osial - all that work, and he still felt like it was wasted. Even if Rex Lapis gave the gnosis in the end, he felt deeply unsatisfied by the way things had turned out. He had hoped at least one of his plans would work, or that he would get to face the traveler once more, or even fight the Archon himself, but in the end Rex Lapis only surrendered the gnosis due to a contract.
He clenched his jaw and tried to stand up straight, even though it felt like his side was on fire. Swallowing the thickness in his throat, he knocked on the door in front of him and tried to neutralize his expression.
She opened the door a few seconds later, only enough to peek through a little crack to see who was there. When she saw him, the door swung open and she smiled at him. "Ajax."
"Hey there," he said, trying to force a smile. "Mind if I come in?"
"Oh, of course!" She stepped aside and opened the door fully, closing it once he was inside.
Her house looked much like he expected it to - portraits of her and her family littered the walls, along with the occasional painting. Plants filled each corner and were hanging from the ceiling by ropes. Tables had little vases of flowers and other trinkets to serve as decorations.
She brought him to a couch in the center of the room, sitting on the opposite end from him. "Are you okay?" she asked, concern in her voice as she looked over him. "You look like you're hurt."
He bit back a sigh in order to smile at her. "Oh, this? It's nothing. Ran into a few, uh, hilichurls while I was away. It's already been looked at, so don't worry too much."
"Oh, alright." She laid her palms flat against her thighs. "So, then, what brings you here?"
"Right. Well." He clenched his side in pain but tried to keep his face from showing it. She definitely noticed. "There's something important I have to tell you."
There were a few moments where nothing was said. She waited for him to speak up, and he waited for the right words to find him. Outside, crickets and distant birds broke the silence. In the corner of the room, he saw the red lantern sitting next to a fern of some sort. Without the fire inside, the black design of Morax was difficult to see, but he could just barely make it out in the darkness.
"My work in Liyue is done," he told her. "Soon, I'll be leaving for Snezhnaya. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but I'm certain it will be a long time."
Crickets and birdsong, but now with another noise he couldn't quite place. He figured it was construction of some sort, since it was loud and repeating, like the crashing of hammers onto nails or the push and pull of a saw tearing through wood.
"I see." Her voice was quiet, almost drowned out by the ambient noise outside, but he heard her, and he heard the pain in her voice even though she wasn't the one with injuries. He heard the tremor in her voice, so much like the way his siblings spoke when he left for Liyue in the first place. He cursed his luck and he cursed Rex Lapis and the traveler.
"I could write to you while I'm away," he told her. "And, if you want, you could write back. And when I get the chance, I will come back, I swear."
He stood up to his feet, offering his hand out and pulling her up with him. His arms pulled her close as she laid her head on his chest, faint sniffles getting muffled by his shirt. He took in everything he could, her scent, her warmth, the feeling of being able to have her right there in his arms, because he knew he wouldn't have this again for a long time.
"I'll wait for you." If he wasn't so focused on her in that moment, he might not have heard her speak. "However long it takes for you to come back. I'll wait."
"It could be a year. It could be years."
"I'll wait."
~~~
Snezhnaya was cold, even to those who were born in it. No amount of fur-coated jackets and thick, woolen scarves would save you from a runny nose and chittering teeth. Snow crunched beneath his boots as he treaded across the white fields, thanking the Tsaritsa that it wasn't actively snowing.
Signora was dead. Scaramouche was notably absent from the funeral. Ajax himself was barely able to stop the others from getting into a fight. Honestly, as much as the other harbingers seemed to detest working with him, Ajax hated each and every one of them even more.
The walk to and from his home wasn't a long one, but the slip of snow under his boots and the shake in his legs made it feel like miles. He pulled his scarf over his mouth and nose, hoping that he would make it home before catching his death.
He did make it home, and he was immediately greeted by his three little siblings begging to hear about his day of work. He carefully tailored a story about convincing a man to buy one of the newer models of toys, and they hung onto his every word.
His mother walked in from the other room, smiling and holding out an envelope. "Another letter from your friend." And she said 'friend' with a too-big smile and a knowing look in her eyes as Ajax graciously took the letter from her hands. The children crowded him and asked to know what was inside, but he insisted that it was top-secret work-related stuff and that he wasn't allowed to share with anybody. The three groaned and allowed him to climb the stairs and disappear into his room to read the letter.
It was from her. Honestly, he never received letters from anybody else, so it wasn't a surprise. It was her handwriting and her words, and he allowed himself to smile as she recounted a day of her work. She told him about how the flowers in her house had began blooming and that hummingbirds and bees made frequent visits to the planters at her window. At the very end, in the last few sentences, she said she missed him and that she couldn't wait for him to return. He couldn't keep from smiling as he immediately began writing his response to her.
He told her about the snow and about how much he used to take fireplaces for granted. He writes about the family that he adores so much and would do anything for. He tells her about seeing a family of snow-white foxes while he was working and how he thought she would have found them cute.
And at the end, he told her he missed her, too, and that he couldn't wait to see her again.
I'm going to be posted somewhere else soon but I haven't been told where, so hold onto your letters for now. I'll write to you once I find out where I'll be staying.
He signed the name Ajax and folded the paper up, putting the letter from her into the drawer with all the others, and putting his into a new envelope.
~~~
It was midnight when the ship arrived at Liyue harbor. The moon was only a sliver in the sky, but she was as bright as ever. Pale white light cascaded across the city, familiar structures and landmarks fading into view. His eyes fell across the Jade Chamber, which she had wrote about in one of her letters. So it had been restored.
No one made any motion to stop him as he stepped onto the harbor and began walking into the city. The soldiers merely watched him disappear from view into the city and continued with their job.
He walked up an all too familiar flight of red-railed stairs and thought about just how many times he had walked those steps in the middle of the night. With a cold key that she'd given to him before - it felt like it had been years, but in reality it was five months - he opened the door and stepped into her home.
It was largely the same - those portraits of her family, the vases upon vases of plants, the red lantern in the corner. On her table laid an unkempt pile of papers. One glance told him all he needed to know - they were his letters.
Somewhere in his mind, he felt bad for lying to her. He was always lying to someone, whether it be her, his siblings, his parents. Maybe one day, he would be able to tell the truth, but until the Tsaritsa had her way, that day would have to wait.
Movement in another room caught his attention. The sound of his entrance must have woken her up, because the door to her bedroom opened a crack.
"A-Ajax?"
Her voice was just as he remembered it, soft and full of life. The door fell open as she stepped out of the room and toward him. Her hands reached out for him, stopping just shy of his face. Gently, he took her wrists and placed her palms against his cheeks, smiling down at her. "Hi."
He saw her lip quiver for a brief moment before she was pressing her face against his chest, placing her hands on his shoulders so that she may cry into his shirt. His hands dropped to her waist, holding her close to him as she cried.
"I'm sorry I lied in my letter," he told her, kissing the crown of her head. "Once I found out I'd be coming back, I wanted to surprise you. I'm sorry."
She shook her head, sniffling in an attempt to stop the tears. "I'm just glad you're here."
"I'm glad, too."
He kept her there, wrapped tightly in his arms as if to keep the world itself from reaching her, as if she would fade away into his dreams again if he were to let go of her. Like a fool in love, he leaned into the juncture of her neck and shoulder, placing a light kiss to the skin there.
And he was in love with her. Oh, how he was in love with her. She frequented his dreams every night with memories of the festival and promises they made to one another. She had taken hold of his heart, wrapping her fingers around it, and he was sure she would remain there forever.
When she stepped away, her hand once again found his cheek as she looked at him through tears. He turned to press his lips to her palm, to the jagged scar across her hand.
"You should go back to bed," he whispered into her skin.
"Come with me."
She pulled him into the other room, ushering him into the bed. He pulled her to him once more as she laid next to him, placing his chin on the top of her head.
"Good night, Ajax."
"Good night."
~~~
The sun was too bright when he woke up, blinking harshly to try and keep the stinging sensation away. After a while, he realized it was a pointless battle. He was already awake and it didn't seem like sleep would find him soon.
He turned to the body next to him, to the woman still soundly asleep and halfway covered by the blanket. The window shutters were partially opened, though the sun had yet to reach her face. As he sat up to close them, she shifted and yawned.
"Good morning," he said to her, stopping his movements to admire the way she stretched and smiled at him.
"Good morning," she answered tiredly, voice thick with tiredness. "Have you been up long?" He shook his head.
"No, only a few minutes." He laughed when she reached for his arm, trying to pull him back to her. "Still feeling tired?"
Her response was a half-hearted nod and he noted the way her eyes were beginning to flutter closed. Still, she tried once more to pull on his arm, but he slid away from her. She sighed as he stood up and crossed the room, only to shift as he closed the shutters, leaving the room dark again. She held out a hand to him and he sat next to her on the bed, taking her hand in his and pressing it to his lips, and when she smiled he felt like there was never a better moment in his life than this.
"What are you thinking?" she asked, using her other hand to push the hair from his eyes.
"I was thinking about asking you to run away with me," he said, smirking at the way she tilted her head at him. "We could go somewhere far away, just the two of us." He released her hand and pulled the blanket aside so he could lay next to her again. "Go back to bed. I'll be here."
"I would say yes." He stopped moving, still halfway hovering over her. "If you asked me to run away, I would say yes."
With all the tenderness he could muster, he leaned forward just enough to press the lightest of kisses to her lips, feeling her soft sigh as he took one of her hands in his own. He seperated quickly, gauging the pleased look on her face when he did so. "Go back to sleep. We can run away another time."
She shifted to lay on her side so that she could wrap her arms around his neck, head leaning on his chest as she sighed contently. "I love you, Ajax." He squeezed her hand in his own.
"I love you, too."