kovyou
The song of the crickets fill the autumn air as the onmyoji slides open the door, exiting his room of sigils and paper talismans to step out onto the engawa. The moon shines ominously bright tonight, illuminating the roads of the palace grounds a light shade of blue-grey. The man cannot recall when the light began to feel somewhat uncomfortable to him, but he also doesn't want to find out how long it would take for him to go crazy working in that stuffy room. The night air felt nice against his cheeks, at least.
Two of his subordinates walk down the road in front of his library, their white robes in stark contrast to the dark surroundings. As they draw closer to the buildling, their eyes meet the white-haired man's, dark browns against bright gold.
"..."
No words are exchanged as he and the onmyoji stare at each other in an eerie silence. Yet it only lasts for a moment—a moment as brief as the blink of an eye, for eventually the pair bow solemnly in respect to him and he, in turn, gives them a nod of acknowledgement. The pair then continues walking and pass the library, picking back up their conversation as if it never ended.
Soon the onmyoji raises his hands above his head, letting out a yawn as he stretches his arms out. After a brief glance up towards the stars twinkling in the night sky, he turns back around and heads back into the library, murmuring under his breath about how he was going to get it if he didn't clean up the place before she came back.
"Oh, you're back already?" Maru exclaims when he hears the door to the room he is in slide open, turning his head to greet his exalted visitor. He shoots her a smile bright enough to light up the room, if there weren't already candles and lanterns scattered here and there. Though the rooms on the way here had been cleaned up, there is evidently still much more work to be done.
"Ahh, I was wondering how long you'd be stuck with that diplomat." he teases as he straightens a pile of unused talismans, waiting to be put to use. "I've heard sooo many nasty things about that guy from the nobles... or maybe it's because it's coming from the nobles, that what I've heard has been nasty?"
"But enough about that." he says, waving his hand as if brushing off all his previous words. The onmyoji approaches the empress, closing the physical distance between the two of them. His hand reaches for hers, and he lowers himself into a bow before bringing her hand towards his lips, planting a chaste kiss on the back of her hand as he gazes up towards her with a smile.
"Welcome back. My dear, dear Kaede."
