#peace and quiet

[flowersforfrancis]

[free-my-mindd]

I love me some peace and quiet.

[juliamstarr]

June Landscape

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[dumblr]

[seasonalwonderment]

~ Autumn Ambience ~

[mother-lee]

winter country

[belle-keys]

Artists: Michel-Jean Cazabon (1813-1888)

[mr-know-it-owl]

Another day, another sunset.

[downfalldestiny]

Calm in the chaos 🌊🩵 !.

[city-cost]

Back in the temple town of Narita, Chiba Prefecture, for the first time in a few years on Monday.

It was fun to slip out of the flow of the national holiday foot traffic on Omotesando-dori, the main approach to Naritasan Shinsho-ji temple, and escape to the quiet of some of the other streets that navigate this attractive town.

[dinxieyinxie]

yall have no idea how in love i am with this piece it makes me so soft and warm inside QwQ i didn't have internet for like a few days and made this to keep me sane it was so fun i think im gonna make more like this >:)))

pic source: @discophotomode on twt !!

[flowersforfrancis]

— Albert Camus, Notebooks 1951-1959.

[dress-this-way]

~ Dried Flowers, Pressed in a Favorite Book ~

[juliamstarr]

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[nightcourtseer]

Read on A03

Summary: Azriel comforts Elain when she is overtaken by visions. A little spy watches them from above.

Elriel Month 2023 - Peace and Quiet

Elain had just finished bundling the last of the clippings when the first vision swept over her, a brief, chaotic blip that overwhelmed her sight. The autumnal view of the River House garden replaced by a view from a body lying on the ground.

Horse hoofs clamoring overhead, the shadow of wings passing in front of a harsh sun while blood and shit spray, the ugliness of battle marring an otherwise perfect day.

Before it all came perfectly into focus, it was gone. The effect jarring Elain’s previously peaceful senses as the world tipped in precarious vertigo.

When she came to, she stumbled over a pair of shears that she had left beside her on the ground.

As she threw out her hands to catch herself, she landed hard on her bare palms, the rough fall foliage scraping her naked skin. Loose curls tangling beneath her and pulling sharply on her scalp.

The breath flew from her lungs as the fall reverberated from her wrists through her spine, and another vision rushed in.

A dark forest, containing a startled fawn looking back at her with empty, black eyes. An arrow stuck from the mottled hide of the beast, as blood dripped silently onto the leaves beneath it. A wolf howled in the distance.

Elain was shaking as she attempted to stand, moving slowly as she had practiced over the years of being plagued by the unpredictable visions.

The clippings were long forgotten as she moved slowly through the familiar garden, blinking heavily as she struggled to sort out what was real, and what was another impending rush of future prophecy.

Each step she took was careful, deliberate. Willing herself not to fall once more, her palms still stinging with small cuts and scrapes.

Once seated on the long, wrought iron bench, she let out a relieved sigh, closing her eyes as the world in front of her disappeared once again. Layers of visions now stacking atop on one another, a muddled kaleidoscope of various landscapes and horrors and joys that produced a sole, panicked tear.

The small droplet slipped down her cheek as she tried to steady her breath, and still her mind as she had been taught. Focusing on what she could touch and feel, no longer able to rely on her sight or sound.

The cold metal of the bench beneath her thighs.

The stinging pain of the wound on her hands.

A fall breeze sweeping through the courtyard.

The fabric of her thick cotton dress and shawl.

It was to no avail, as her heartbeat began to speed up. She could not catch her breath, as the visions spun out of control inside of her weary mind.

“Azriel,” Elain whispered into the dark garden. “I need you.”

Before the cloud of breath had disappeared from in front of her rose-colored lips, he appeared.

The garden seemed to part for him, as if Death itself strode its path - quickened steps rushing to where his love waited for him.

Shadows swept behind him, lingering over his shoulder as if concerned at the lady who sat petrified and unseeing on the bench before them.

Without hesitating, he sat down on the bench next to her, murmuring reassurances even though he was rather certain she would not be able to hear him.

She had told him once how just the sound of his voice helped her, grounded her, even if she could not make out what he was saying.

He pulled her onto his lap carefully, but with ease, lifting one scarred hand to begin stroking her unbound hair. His face turned so that he could press a soft kiss to the top of her head.

Generous wings wrapped around them both instinctually, as she nestled in closer to his warmth and solid chest. The rise and fall of it settled her, as she tried to time her breaths with his. The sound of his heartbeat a steadying thing as she willed it to be the only thing she heard.

“I’m here,” he murmured to her as he let one hand trace up and down the length of her spine. “You’re safe.”

Elain smiled weakly at this truth. The solidness and familiarity of his body surrounding her more effective than any other remedy she had come across for the chaos of her visions.

He would always come for her, he had sworn. And so he did.

Even though she had regained her senses, they remained like that on the garden bench. Speaking quietly to each other, as Azriel held Elain tight to him, his whole body curved around hers as she looked up at him with stars in her eyes.

A quiet moment of peace for two beings continually thrust into chaos.

………

From a window high above the garden, a small face and wide blue eyes watched in fascination as his uncle wrapped his aunt in his arms. When he had never before seen the two of them so close, let alone touch.

“Nyx?” The small boy’s mother walked up behind him. “What are you looking at, darling?”

Nyx did not respond, merely continued to gaze out the window curiously, his small fingers gripping the edge of the pane.

When Feyre looked out the window to ascertain the source of his fascination, her eyes widened before a small smile bloomed on her face.

Before her son could draw any attention to their figures peering down into the garden, she rested her hands on his shoulders, gently steering his form away from the window, mindful of his small flapping wings.

“Come on then, let’s go practice your letters.”

Nyx groaned, but Feyre’s smile only widened.

“I believe we left off on, ‘Mother is the most cunning High Lady…’”

Tag List: @ultadverb @reverie-tales @illyrian-dreamer @elriel-month @123moiaussi @nivem565 @demarogue @gracie-rosee @impossiblescissorspeachpaper

[seasonalwonderment]

~ A Summer Sunset ~