「 closed starter. 」 aspen and edrian. @fikazephyr
THE PATH NARROWED BEFORE OPENING INTO THE CLEARING, where moss blanketed the earth like an invitation. the trees bent just enough to let the light through — soft and dappled, catching on dust motes and drifting leaves. it felt like a place meant to be found only once. aspen stepped into it like she belonged.
and in a way, she did.
she’d walked here without thinking, or maybe because she’d been thinking too much. either way, her feet had brought her here. and so had his. he was there already, seated on the low stone ledge near the old spring, half-turned like he hadn’t decided whether he was waiting or just passing time. the forest had already started to settle around him, but it shifted when she arrived — quiet, subtle, the way trees lean toward light.
she slowed, but didn’t stop. “ edrian. ” she said his name the way she might open a book — with curiosity, not expectation.
she crossed the last few steps toward him, hands tucked loosely behind her back, her posture as effortless as it was deliberate. there was a steady gravity seemed that follow her everywhere she went.
her gaze drifted to where his hand rested on his knee — fingers tapping once, then stilling. that made her smile, faint and fleeting, gone before it could settle. “ i didn’t think i’d see you out here. ”
a pause. then, more gently: “ or maybe i did. ”
she didn’t explain it, didn’t rush to fill the quiet that came after. aspen was comfortable with silence — hers and everyone else’s. she moved to sit beside him, not too close, but close enough that the warmth of her presence reached across the space.
her voice, when it came again, was quieter. less command, more something else. “ tell me. . . ” another beat. “ what are we looking at tonight? ” she glanced sideways at him then, the smallest tilt of her head — eyes bright, steady, and maybe just the slightest bit amused. “ i do adore when you fill the silence of the night.. ”