Chapter 264: An Impossible Evening Begins
It didn’t take long for the two women to leave the brightly lit core of Blackwell City. Ashlynn may have only left the Blackwell Manor infrequently but she still lived in this city for more than twenty years before she left to marry Owain Lothian. In order to escape the crowds that packed the brightly lit festival, she led Nyrielle to a quiet stretch of docks used mostly by local fishermen.
The air smelled of the briny water of the harbor, the mingled tar and wooden scents of the small ships, and an underlying fishy odor that clung to everything long after the day’s catch had been delivered to the fishmongers of the city.
In the relative quiet of the empty docks, they could hear the gentle lap of waves against weathered hulls and the creak of mooring ropes as the fishing boats shifted with the incoming tide. The distant sounds of the festival, music, and laughter carried on the sea breeze across the open water, seemed to belong to another world entirely.
On the far side of the harbor, the tall ships that sailed across the sea were far grander and were certain to have a small crew of unfortunate souls who stayed aboard even during the festival, but here, with nothing but local fishing ships, the docks were deserted, giving the two women a quiet space in the darkness completely to themselves.
"So this is what it looks like when the stars touch the sea," Nyrielle said, gazing off into the darkness of the ocean. The glittering sight of so many stars was unlike anything she had seen from the Vale of Mists, though the view of the night sky from the High Pass came close. "It’s beautiful," she whispered as she sat next to Ashlynn at the end of the dock, pressing up against her lover and holding her close.
"I didn’t realize how much I would miss it," Ashlynn said softly. "But the more I attune myself with the trees, the less this feels like ’home.’ I think I miss the Vale of Mists almost as much as I miss Blackwell County."
"Almost?" Nyrielle teased.
"Almost," Ashlynn said, giving Nyrielle a playful poke. "You’re not there right now. Even if I rushed home right this instant, I would still be missing you. But if I rushed back to Blackwell County..."
"You still have family and loved ones here," Nyrielle said, nodding in understanding. Inwardly, her heart warmed at the way Ashlynn mentioned ’returning home’ to refer to the Vale of Mists. It was something small but also profound. As much as she could feel Ashlynn’s desire to visit Blackwell County and her loved ones here, that was all she yearned for. A visit.