𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑-𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃

Beyond the horizon, the sky is splashed with swatches of pink and purple watercolors.

All across the valley, symprites and aramelles are flocking to the hills in swarms. Many of them have been up here for hours now, setting up telescopes and other such things, wanting to get the perfect view of the meteor shower when it finally happens. Others have been here all day, enjoying barbecues with their friends and families, just making a whole day out of it. Music plays throughout the area, flowing from the tinted ocarinas held in eager hands to even more excited mouths like fresh water in a babbling brook, telling a story all its own without the need for any sort of spoken word.

It’s how Hadar wishes he could communicate, sometimes.

He sits on the small blanket he brought from home, anxiously smoothing it out a dozen times with his claws as gently as he can, just trying to keep himself from being too nervous. He doesn’t like leaving the cave for long, even though he knows that there won’t be anyone exploring caverns when the meteor shower is about to happen. Even so, he put a bunch of empty crates in front of the mouth of the cave and a big sign that says DO NOT ENTER written in big letters. He hopes that it will be a deterrent, though it hasn’t worked in the past. Mostly, he just doesn’t want Quala bothered. The alligawper had eaten some fruit yesterday so she was in the middle of a rather long sleep period, and Hadar hated the thought of leaving her alone, but it’s not like she’s in any real danger.

The cool evening breeze blows his wispy, curly hair a bit askew, but he doesn’t mind too much. It’s hard to tend to it, what with his large claws and all that. Most of the time he just lets it do whatever it wants, and it works out fine.

As he starts habitually smoothing the blanket out all over again, he sees her. Azalea. She’s walking up the hill to meet him, waving. A smile on her face.

He shyly waves back.

“I hope I’m not too late,” she wheezes, flopping down on the blanket next to him, “The market square was jam-packed, I was fearing for my sanity and possibly my life while just trying to grab some snacks.” She plonks down a picnic basket in front of her, opening it up and pulling out the coveted contents. Onto the blanket she places a large bag of comet candies, a wrapped platter of fresh sushi, and a bottle of Caprisol wine, along with two little plastic cups.

Hadar sits there feeling absolutely mortified, wondering if he should have brought something, too. Or maybe they had already discussed bringing things and he’d forgotten??

Before he can even begin trying to figure out how to voice his concerns, Azalea begins speaking again. “I know we didn’t really talk about bringing anything but I thought it would be kind of boring to see the meteor shower and not have anything to celebrate it with, or have something to snack on while we wait. I hope that’s okay!”

It’s more than okay, honestly. Hadar feels almost dizzy from the numbing relief seeping into his veins, and all he can manage in response is a small nod. How awful he would have felt if he’d just forgotten to bring something special.

She deserves something special, he thinks.

He then tries to not think about that.

His mind trails off to thinking about how she went out of her way to even get to the market square in the town nearby. It would have been quicker for her to come here straight from the swamp itself, but she took a major detour just to get some snacks and wine for them to share. It’s something so thoughtful and touching that it makes Hadar’s belly clench a little too tightly, maybe feeling a little fluttering inside along with it.

Popping open the bag of comet candies, Azalea grabs a handful and pops one right into her mouth before proffering him the bag. Hadar is hesitant, not wanting to accidentally puncture the bag with his claws or drop it, so he carefully puts one hand underneath hers, his palm touching the back of her hand, so she can gently set the bag into his grasp like that. He avoids looking at her while they do this, fearing he might explode or at the very least look like a metaphorically soggy idiot. Just that tiny bit of contact between them felt like fire in his veins. He never touches anyone. He doesn’t really know how to feel about that.

To distract himself from the situation, Hadar quickly fishes out one of the candies pinched carefully between his claws, and promptly shoves it into his mouth. The sugary shell is crunched between his teeth as Hadar starts munching on it right away, desperate to just do anything he can to avoid thinking about what just happened. The jelly filling inside is good. Maybe he’ll have another. He does. This one is chewed a little more slowly, this time he’s able to savor the taste a bit more instead of just using the candy as a distraction.

Azalea, however, seems to be paying it no mind, too busy unwrapping the round platter of sushi, which makes Hadar feel a little bit better. He can feel his heart pounding a lot less terrible as she pops the cork for the wine, and pours them each a little cup. He’s careful to take the cup from her, grateful for its handle so he can just stick one of his claws through the loop and hold it that way. Bringing the cup closer to his face, he swirls the liquid around inside as carefully as he can without it spilling, just so he can smell it. It has a tangy sort of scent to it, which is borderline warm and comfy to Hadar as he smells it again. Azalea is holding her cup with both hands, doing the same thing he’s doing. The two of them lock eyes for a moment, and only a moment, before they both quickly look away. Desperate to do anything at all, Hadar takes a large sip from his cup, pleasantly surprised by the blend of earthy and tart that dances over his tongue. He’s only had Caprisol wine a few times, and every time the taste has been different. This one, he thinks, is his favorite. The taste is alright, sure. It’s just.. the company he’s with makes it more special, somehow.

Before he realizes it, he’s already consumed the entire cup’s contents, which wasn’t that hard to do, given how small it is. Still, Azalea manages to notice anyway, and pours Hadar another cup without him even needing to ask. It makes his heart ache in some sort of strange but wonderful way he’s not even really able to describe or explain even if he tried. How soothing it feels to just be in the presence of someone who isn’t fixated on trying to make him talk. He doesn’t get that often.. if ever, really.

This time, he just gently sips at the cup once or twice before carefully setting it down on the blanket near him, pressing it down a few times to make sure it won’t topple over from the fresh, springy grass trapped underneath the blanket. Azalea is already popping pieces of sushi into her mouth, so Hadar assumes that he should as well. Something about raw fish and rice just hits perfectly every time. He doesn’t have sushi often, usually he just cooks his catches or soaks them raw in lemon juice with some fresh vegetables and herbs until the acid cooks it through. He should do more raw fish. He will. Maybe Azalea would like to come over for that.

Across the hilly park, as it gets darker, Hadar can see the traditional lanterns starting to glow like giant fireflies. A lot of people start scrambling to their feet, wanting to be as close to the heavens as possible. Others are starting to look into their big telescopes or their small handheld ones; a few symprites are using binoculars. Aramelles are sitting on the shoulders and even heads of taller symprites, thinking this will give them the best view.

It’s in that moment, in the breath of quiet, that Hadar realizes that this is the first year he’s ever not been home to watch the Lunisolar meteor shower.

He also realizes that it’s the first year he’s ever watched it with someone.

Blinking a few times, Hadar looks down at his criss-crossed legs, and then slowly turns his head to look over at Azalea. She’s looking up at the cloudless night sky, the stars reflecting like fairy lights in her dusty mulberry eyes, and the softest, prettiest smile on her face. The meteor shower hasn’t even started yet, but she’s already so happy. It’s enchanting.. beyond belief.

The first meteor of the night streaks across the sky with a flash of bright light. The gathering of symprites and aramelles start cheering in excitement, eager for the next one.

Hadar doesn’t even look at it, not until he sees it reflected in Azalea’s eyes.

Whatever else happens here tonight, no matter how many meteors fall or if his cup of wine spills all over his blanket or if they fall down the hill, it won’t even matter. The magic of the night has already fallen on them and settled like morning dew on grass, and there’s nothing that could ever take that away.