HOW TO LIVE AGAIN (girlxgirlxgirl)

Fifteen; Burning secrets

"Hidden by the rumble of thunder, you burn your secrets to ash"
41

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⚠️ violence, murder, death, weapons, fighting, blood ⚠️

A fire burns on the ground, lighting up the night sky.

A man stands over the fire, his face illuminated by the light. The smell of smoke prickles in his nostrils and rises up to the sky. The fire creates a warmth that is not missed in the humid night, the stark sun from the day before still making its presence known. Dark clouds start to loom in the background. The man has never seen such dark clouds before. It is only natural that a thunder storm will come after days of extreme heat, but he is not so sure whether the thunder storm should be that dark and dangerous. It will be an interesting day tomorrow...

Two pieces of paper are thrown into the fire. One of them, an envelope. The other, a letter. The paper is soaked in wobbly handwriting, some of the ink having spilled onto the paper. All of it burns up, the fire lighting up to become bigger than before. The man watches the letter burn with great interest. He makes sure that every single molecule has been turned to ash. Then, he pours water from a red and blue jar, watching it kill the fire one drop at a time. Once only smoke remains, he turns around with a chuckle, whistling all the way back.

Thinking back, the man realizes with a smile that nobody will care about the weird fireplace outside the palace of flowers, not after that monster of a thunderstorm has hit.

Rain pours down like it never has before.

Aiguo wakes up to relative darkness. He has never seen rain pour down so aggressively before. And yet he can hear it, drumming against the roof of the palace of flowers and onto the gardens next to them. It keeps falling from the sky, showing no end. After days of intense heat, all the water has been soaked from the ground and is now thrown down upon them. Almost as if it were rain season.

But through the rain, he hears a faint whistling. It's not the same sound as the wind would howl, no it's something different. The whistling of a human being, slowly walking through the corridor outside his room. Aiguo sits up in his bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Who could be whistling so carelessly, so early in the morning? The sun hasn't risen yet, or at least Aiguo doesn't think it has. He can't see past the dark clouds outside his window. The whistling continues. Aiguo stands up from his bed and rushes to the door, not minding Constantine who is sleeping in a perfect position with his hands on his chest.

Aiguo opens the door and peeks outside. It's pitch black in the corridor, not a single candle lit. Rain pours down heavily, but in the hallway it's much more faint. There, to the left, Aiguo sees a figure walking calmly. He ducks back into his room before he can be seen. The person is whistling, but seems to quiet down as he gets closer to the other rooms. Whoever it is, must be a consort. And consorts shouldn't be out at night, not until the sun has risen. So whoever is walking down the hallway so confidently while breaking the rules must either be really stupid, or think very highly of themselves. Aiguo can think of one person.

Bolin.

That little-

He cuts himself off and breathes out. Keeping the door slightly open, Aiguo peeks through a small hole. He wants to understand what Bolin is doing out at night, all alone. It's bad enough that he was suspicious of him before, but now Bolin has really reached another level. Eventually the noble dressed in green robes with a smirk on his face passes by Aiguo's door. The other noble can smell two things. First of all, water. Bolin is drenched in rain. He must've been outside. Second of all, smoke.