The Firelands

3 - Skiesfell

7th day of the Second Month, Love's Moon

6:00pm

Skiesfell

High above the young Elvin prince and the Forest Village, above the airways of the flight vehicles and sky ships, above the many floating islands, the clouds and the stars, and just below the Realm of the Gods, and young blonde male lay stretched out on the gleaming cream stone floor of the Fountain Room.

Why it had such a name, the young man had no idea, there was no fountain in it and, as far as he knew, there never had been. The world changed very slowly in this realm, renovation was rarely high on the list, if it made it onto the list at all.

Instead, there was a huge rectangle pool of blue water in the centre of the room. There was no visible end to the pool, the water just graduated through different shades of blue until there was nothing but midnight down below. There was only one solid wall, a large entryway carved into the centre of it with no doors. There was no roof either, just beams that outlined the hall, held up by multiple pillars. The wall, the pillars and the beams were made up of soft golden stone, the cream stone floor was dusted with flecks of sundust, that flew into the air every now and then due to gentle, warm gusts of breeze.

One such breeze flew up at that moment, sundust dancing through the air; brushing across the young man's noise and making him sneeze.

The arm that was thrown over his eyes fell away and an amethyst glare appeared as the lids rose.

Theth Enson sat up, letting out a breath of air and sending the assaulting sundust particulars spiralling away from him, landing in the water and on the lilies which drifted lazily along the surface of the pool, enjoying the evening sun as Theth had been doing.

Well, attempting to at least.

The voice was back after all and it was a power of will to relax when that racket bounced around his brain, demanding attention in such a weak and hopelessly small voice Theth was near powerless to ignore.

He leaned towards the pool then, looking down at the surface, watching, absently pushing his waist-length golden hair away from his face, not noticing all the sundust in the locks as he stretched his wings, flexing the muscles from the shoulder blades at his back to the very tips of the feathers.

Still nothing to see. The pool allowed him to view the world below - when desired, images would bloom up from the darkness. Guardian angels used such pools to watch over their wards when they were not by their sides. The pools were used to find something or someone, to learn, to travel or to simple observe.

Theth had been trying to find someone for years but there was no such luck for him, unlike other angels. Some part of him had given up any real hope of ever truly discovering the owner of the voice.

"So this is where you're hiding."

Theth didn't look around at the voice, he didn't have to. In the reflection of the pool, another angel stepped into view, his deep auburn hair tied in a messy knot at the back of his head, reflected storm grey eyes meeting Theth's violet ones. Theth snorted at the sight of the hairstyle. Raphael was a high-ranking angel, young though he might be, he was supposed to present a certain presence, a certain look, a certain elegance, and though the angelic being had all the presence he needed, that hairstyle ruined it, so did the grin.

"Though I suppose it is not really hiding, you never try very hard to hide."

"I don't need to hide when no one ever wants to find me," Theth replied.