#viveshonai

[cosmereplay]

Day 21: Fantasy

Rated Teen for a mildly suggestive scene, Eshonai/Azure, mild Warbreaker spoilers, Oathbringer spoilers. Cross posted on ao3 Check out this art by @lamaery that inspired me!

“Curiosity, Resolve, Surprise,” Azure mused as she lay atop her wife. “I think that’s my new favourite combination.”

Eshonai ran her fingers through Azure’s hair, which had turned orange-red. “I can tell. I got the Rhythm of Victory out of you,” she murmured to Amusement, which Azure felt as both a pulse of vibration and a friendly yellow. After they'd worldhopped to Nalthis, something wonderful had happened between them. When Eshonai spoke to Rhythms, Azure experienced them as sound and colour at the same time. Eshonai said the same about the colour of Azure’s royal locks, that she experienced them as Rhythms.

So far, it had been a spectacular honeymoon.

Azure hummed in pleasure, nuzzling her wife's chest and hugging her close. I could almost fall asleep here, warmed by the sunlight...Then she caught the angle of sunlight as it hit the inside of the carriage. It was a deeper angle now, no longer touching their makeshift bed, made of the two carriage benches pressed together. 

“Oh colours! We’re nearly there!” 

She sat up and scrambled off Eshonai. She cleaned them up the best she could, then started throwing on clothes as she peeked out the window. “Don’t look yet,” she warned her wife.

Eshonai pointedly looked down, busying herself with getting dressed. Azure caught a drift of pale orange sound as she buckled her belt, and she couldn’t tell whether the anxiety was hers or Eshonai’s. It had been at least a hundred years since she’d been on Nalthis, let alone anywhere near Idris itself. She was half-surprised the kingdom was still standing; she had been fully befuddled by the fact that the main road was now solidly built and well maintained. 

“Is this what you wanted?” Eshonai asked her to Amusement. She'd covered her eyes with one of her sashes.

“Yes, that’s perfect,” Azure grinned, then turned and knocked sharply on the wall of the carriage. “Stop here!” she called out.

Slowly, they came to a stop, and by the time the coachman opened the door for them, they were ready. Azure went first, then took Eshonai by both hands and carefully led her down the steps to the ground, where Eshonai wrapped an arm around Azure’s back.

They took a few steps forward into the lush summer grass, dotted with purple and white flowers. The smell of the wind made Azure feel young and hopelessly naive. She breathed slowly, taking in the view of Bevalis, the capital city of Idris. 

It was as she remembered, a small city of thatched, single story buildings nestled in the centre of the valley. She could pick out the palace even at this great distance; it was still easily the largest building. She was surprised to see that the buildings were not all painted white; spots of colour dotted the city here and there. The sight made her smile.

“Well, oncemate? Can I look yet, or does Idris need to put its clothes on, too?” Eshonai joked.

Azure snapped out of her reverie. “Yes! Yes I think Idris is ready for you to see it. Here it is, the place where I spent my childhood.” 

She lifted the cloth from Eshonai’s eyes, and Eshonai gasped, looking up, down, slowly spinning, trying to see everything at once.

“Everything is so green!” she exclaimed to Joy. “And the fields are massive! Storms, the mountains are huge! Is that snow? How can they be green and snowy at the same time? Are there two different seasons happening at once?”

“Kind of,” Azure said thoughtfully, but Eshonai kept rambling, stepping forward and pointing.

“How does your city survive at the bottom of the mountains like that? Don’t the rains wash it out with every storm? Or do you not have storms here?”

“Not like Roshar.”

Eshonai looked up and breathed deeply, smelling the wind, and then she looked down, brushing the grass with her foot. “The plants here are so tame. I want to kick them,” she said to Joy.

Azure laughed. Eshonai’s curiosity, and her joy, were infectious. She could tell her hair was turning a scandalous yellow, and she didn't care one bit.

“I’ve got something even better,” she said, grinning at her wife. “We’ll pick them. Let me show you how to make a bouquet. It'll be almost as beautiful as you.”

Eshonai hummed to Joy, and Azure wondered how she could be so lucky, to find a woman who made everything yellow.