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ulircursed · 2 months

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nightbird's song

andrei / leanne c support

The vial shatters in his hands, crimson dripping from his fingers like blood, trailing all down his arm. It burns, fire erupting from the liquid and engulfing his arm, until he reaches forward—

—plunging it into Lady Sister's heart, and the smile on her face freezes, but does not disappear. Her warm brown eyes seek him out—

('Lady Sister, I'm sorry—')

'It's alright. I never believed you were a good person anyway.'

Andrei awakens with a gasp, muted from his long months of habit, and stares at the ceiling above him, trying to calm himself by listening to the sounds of the other students' breaths around him. Lady Sister Brigid's voice remains in his mind, like a vice around his throat, his breath coming quicker, shallower until darkness threatens at the corners of his vision.

Before it could fully overtake him, Andrei sits upright in a fluid motion, drawing a cloak around him as he makes his way out of the room.

Making the long trek up the tunnels to the surface, one step in front of the other, his pace steady against the stone to keep his thoughts at bay as much as possible. Finally the long journey ends, and he emerges into the midnight air, where he takes a slow breath. Now that he is here, at the surface, he does not know where to go, this late in the night.

(He doesn't know what to do, either.)

Then, a haunting, almost mournful song pierces the silence, and Andrei stops mid-motion, head turning to what he feels is the source of the voice. The song is beautiful, certainly, but there is a sadness to it that draws him. Without thinking, his feet take him forward.

It takes a surprisingly long time to reach the tree where the song is coming from; the voice had carried much further than he'd thought capable. The song stops when he approaches the tree, and as Andrei looks up, he sees a young woman with snow-white wings, looking down in his general direction. She mutters at him (or at herself, he cannot tell) unintelligibly for a moment, before beginning to speak in a way he could understand.

"Hello, you are...?"

"...Andrei."

"Mm. I am Leanne."

"Leanne," Andrei echoes. Her wings make her look somewhat like an angel, even framed against the shadows of the trees above, though he thinks she might, more realistically, be one of the bird people like Naesala is. "What are you doing, singing in the night like this?"

Leanne tilts her head down at him as though he'd asked a silly question, but her expression quickly turns somber. She closes her eyes briefly, as though hearing a song of her own.

"You are... afraid."

What?

"What are you talking about?" Andrei demands, taking a step back, feeling accused of a crime.

"There is, hmm, fear, in your heart."

"There isn't," he growls out. What had he to fear from some bird girl? This is hardly where he'd envisioned the conversation going, and in an instant, he turns to leave, but Leanne calls out to him again.

"Oh, wait, wait...!" When Andrei grudgingly looks back up, he finds a sheepish expression replacing her earlier, serious countenance. "You... help me?"

He does not wish to do as she says, not after that, but she suddenly looks so helpless that he relents after a moment. "...What?"

"It is... very dark. I cannot see. You bring me to the... hmm, dormitories, please?"

The destination is pronounced with clear, slow enunciation, as though learned recently and diligently practiced. Andrei looks at the sky. The quarter moon glows softly in the darkness, illuminating the path below. "Have your eyes not adjusted to the dark?"

"No... You will help me?"

"...Fine, then."

"Thank you!"

And that is all the warning Andrei got before Leanne leaps from the thick branch she had been sitting on, directly towards him, wings slack with little indication that she means to break her own fall.

"!!" By instinct alone, the archer reaches to catch her, finding her surprisingly light as she tumbles into his arms, almost more like a child than the grown woman she looks the part of.

What is happening??

"Why did you do that?" Andrei demands of her, setting her down on her feet none too gently — oh, now she fluffs out her wings, fluttering gracefully a few inches back and looking much too pleased with herself. He'd seen Naesala's wings in the aftermath of the mission. Did they not break easily? How could she be so reckless in the face of an utter stranger?

"I was not afraid. I know, you will catch me."

It is the clearest sentence she'd spoken so far, words steady with a conviction that seems to pierce his very soul. Andrei stills, fighting an sudden, unexplainable rush of emotion at her statement... and Leanne takes this chance to slip her hand into his, looking at him with an undeserved trust.

"Dormitories, please," she chirps cheerfully, and Andrei gives a sigh, turning and allowing her to hold onto his hand as he leads her forward, back down the path towards the monastery.

"What is your house?" Andrei asks after a short silence. It doesn't appear as though the dormitories are separated by house, exactly, but having the distinction might make finding her room easier.

"Ah... Golden Deers!"

"...It's 'Deer'."

"Hmm?"

"The plural for 'deer' is still 'deer'. You do not add an s to it."

"But why?"

...It's just like explaining things to Patricia. Andrei takes a deep breath. "There is no reason. It is how the word works."

Leanne makes a thoroughly discontented noise in response, but remains quiet for the rest of the journey, merely the sound of her rustling feathers and the warmth of her hand in his denoting her presence.

"Here are the dormitories," Andrei announces as they reach the row of rooms, lit in faint torchglow for the nighttime stragglers.

Leanne's head swivels around as she gets her bearings, squinting in the darkness — is her vision truly so poor? — before her expression brightens as she points out one of the doors. "There!"

She looks back at him expectantly then, and, feeling obligated, Andrei leads her right to the doorstep, until she can reach her hand out, feeling around until she touches the knob. She turns around with a sunny smile. "Thank you, Sir Andrei!"

"...You are welcome," Andrei replies, stiff and automatic. Leanne's expression softens suddenly, and she leans in a little.

"You are... a good person. Do not be afraid."

Andrei's eyes widen. "I'm not—" The words burst out of him before he is even sure what he's negating, exactly, but Leanne only gives him one last smile, slipping through her door and closing it behind her.

He stands there for a long moment, silent and pondering, before turning away, towards the gradually lightening sky, feeling oddly as though a weight had been lifted off his chest.

Are all the bird people so... weird?

#➵ taking the reins (drabble)#long post #c support! i've had this idea since the last time i had them together and now it has become this monster drabble alkdfjl #this is andrei's pov and his question went unanswered #but leanne had been singing on and off during the night in the hopes that someone will hear her and come help :'D #leanne vc: where's ulki when u need him??? ;;;;;;;#(even if ulki were here to hear her his eyesight would be just as bad in the dark and no bird would be able to come help her)

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