Najima’s hand rested on her back, between her wings, as a tether to something solid, something real. He had been the first and only person, aside from her mother, she had welcomed into her small sphere of trust as to so casually touch near the useless appendages. Yet, him burying his face in the feathers surprised her. His words squeezed at her heart, and she felt strange as he held her close. While Najima usually did carry her in many situations, this time felt different. She stayed silent, unsure of what to say, as she felt him relax, his breathing deepening to the gentle rhythm of slumber.

”I don't intend to, Naji.” Raziel whispered as she closed her unseeing eyes, leaned into the fallen star, and went to sleep feeling more safe and secure than ever before.

---

Raziel had stripped to her small clothes and waded into the water. The rush of the waterfall filled the air, being not too far off from her location. About halfway in, the angel began to clean herself. From recent events; darkness, puking, her father, fear, confusion, Raziel had felt the need to cleanse it all away as a bad dream. She knelt down so she could easily soak her hair, and poured handfuls of water on her head.

A strange sound caught her attention. The angel stood, turning as fast as the water allowed, with a startled ”Who's there?” In her vision was Najima. He stood on the river bank. Raziel blinked several times. ”Naji?” Her gaze shifted to take in the world around them. Trees filled the horizon, beautiful in their browns, greens, and shadow playing with filtered light. The sky was a soft blue, the water clear. But the most gorgeous thing to actually see was her friend standing before her, shining softly in the morning sunlight.

His shoulders relaxed, letting his arms circle around her tighter in both protection and embrace. She didn’t want to disappear, didn’t intend to. Even though in the back of his head he knew his request was an impossible one to fulfill, he still felt comforted. His face pressed more into her feathers as he nodded, and soon his breathing steadied out enough that he was finally able to fall into sleep.

---

When his eyes opened it was to unfiltered sunlight. Had they gone outside? The air was warm, sweet smelling, and despite how bright the sun was, it didn’t harm his eyes. Even so, he held up one hand to shield his eyes from it. The soft thunder of a waterfall distracted him from the beautiful sight that couldn’t possibly Zets’Ki Cradle. That had been where they’d gone, right? It was then that he realized his clothing was gone, left with nothing more than a set of black shorts he usually only wore underneath normal attire. Where was his cloak? The rest of his clothing? Why didn’t he care more?

He looked over towards the pool, watching the crystalline water fall down into a welcoming froth. His eyes followed the ripples made, all the way to a pair of slender hips. Someone was there. Suddenly he felt intrusive, but only until his eyes flashed up to her face and heard her voice. Raziel! She was here, she was safe, she was calling his name. Her tone was about as confused as he’d felt upon coming onto this scene, but now a wide smile spread across his face.

Her hair fell in lilac waves down her shoulders, contrasting against the paleness of her skin in a way he hadn’t ever been able to fully realize. She was usually well dressed for the cold, and so decently covered in general that his cheeks warmed at the sight of her. Deep down he felt that he should look away, but he couldn’t. Because more than the exposed vision of her in the water was the fact that her eyes had been able to focus on him in a way he hadn’t seen from her before.

Raziel’s gaze had shifted from him, looking at the lush colors that were better attuned to spring than the eternal winter that was the cradle. None of that mattered, he stepped from the grassy edge and into the cool water. It was slightly warmed from the sun, but pleasantly cool. Goosebumps flushed his arms briefly, something he wasn’t used to from mere temperature change. His body was so adapted to the cold, but this felt different.

Never being one for personal space, he waded over to her; his fingers trailing in the water until he was directly in front of her. There was no doubting it now: she could see! His ice blue eyes lit up happily and likewise so too did his hair glow brighter. “You can see!” he exclaimed, unable to help himself.

His hands lifted from the water and rested on her shoulders; a few drops sliding down her skin, soon to be followed by the trace of his hands down to her elbows. He wanted to pull her close, to embrace her, feel her skin against his in a way he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do again. Was this all real?

She hadn’t missed the light coloring of his pale cheeks, something she could not read or understand. As amazing as the background was, Raziel’s gaze fell to her hands. Water flowed through her fingers as she lifted her hands. Lightly one was trailed over the other, watching as she felt the smoothness of the skin, the folds of her straightened knuckles, the creases of her palms. Najima entered the water as she realized the tint of her hair being unlike anything else here.

The angel’s gaze returned to her approaching friend. His hair was as the absence of all color, eyes lighter than the sky. Her eyes briefly caught the shorts covering him. She had noted that the color could be compared to the dark void of her normal reality. With Najima now directly in front of her, Raziel drank in every detail of his face. She nodded with a smile. ”And you’re glowing!”

There was no reaction to his wet hands touching her shoulders, yet her breath hitched as she watched one of them trail down to her elbows. To feel it was an everyday occurrence for her, yet to watch it, to see what was touching her, sent shivers through her skin. Steely blue orbs lifted to Najima’s ice blue eyes. Whatever magic this was, there was absolute certainty in her mind of this fabrication.

Hesitantly, the angel lifted a hand and touched his lips. They felt just as soft as when she first touched them. ”When out there, I can only see by my fingers.” She whispered, trailing her touch onto his bare chest. ”But to actually see… with my eyes…” Raziel gazed up at her star. ”Kiss me now, Najima, before this dream ends.” There was slight desperation in her whispered voice. Yet, deep down, she surprised herself at her request, for never in her wildest dreams had she ever made such a request before.

He nodded happily when she mentioned his glowing, a soft laugh escaping from his lips, “It happens if I feel too strongly,” he admitted. That wasn’t a bad thing either, and his voice showed no hint of remorse for her being able to see something so vulnerable. He wouldn’t say it, not wanting to distract from this pleasant moment, but he could probably count on one hand how many people had seen this kind of glow. Raziel included. Lust brought on a glow of its own, but other than nights tangled in bedsheets where carnal desire couldn’t be hidden, it was a rare thing to witness. He was glad she was able to see it…Even if he had no idea how she was able to see at all.

His lips parted under the touch of her fingers and his heart trilled faster. Before, it had been intimate but he’d been able to ease since she couldn’t see him. Now? Her clear eyes were taking in everything: there was nowhere to hide since she was absent of her blindness. The feeling left him vulnerable, but for some reason he found it in himself to bear it.

Najima’s fingers gently trailed up from her elbow to her wrist, not to still her hand, but to encourage her touch. Right now she didn’t need to rely on touch, but that didn’t mean he wanted it to stop. Meanwhile his other hand moved to her hip, gently gripping her as if she would float away and this would all come to an abrupt end. If only there was a way to make sure she’d never lose her sight again…She managed fine without it, but that didn’t keep it from being unfair.

And the she asked him to kiss her. It was then that he realized his eyes had drifted from her eyes, down her nose, to the part of her lips. There was no hesitation as he circled his arm from her hip to around her waist, pulling her closer to himself. His fingers left her wrist and cupped her cheek, inclining her head towards his as his own tipped down to press his lips to hers. They were soft, fuller than he would have thought or had had a chance to imagine.

His eyes closed as his fingers trailed from her cheek to weave into her hair; keeping her there against him as if she were about to run away from him. Even so, he’d never truly force her to stay, but so urgently felt that he had to do this. It wasn’t until then that he realized how badly he’d wanted to taste her lips, and his tongue softly moved between hers to part them against his own.

How many other pairs of lips had touched hers? Could she tell how many had crushed against his own? For the first time in a while he wished that hers could have been the introduction into something so intimate…Even though it wasn’t, in a way it felt like it was. Pure lust was usually all he felt with others, but with her there was something deeper, something he wasn’t sure whether or not to be afraid of yet continued to reach for.

Raziel knew the human body inside and out, knew every muscle bunch. She knew how to find, identify, and treat many situations without causing extra damage in the process. But she didn’t want to be so feather light that she wasn’t intrusive. The angel wanted to feel him, something she had never thought of in a dream before. Her desire to see is finally fulfilled, and she could not have been happier that, however it came to be, it was Najima she could see.

His arm circled about her, as if all he had been waiting for was her permission. As his face drew closer, her heart hummed faster. Najima was the sky, their lips the wings, and her entire body melted as she was consumed in the weightless feeling of being kissed. Raziel’s fingers knew how soft his lips were, but as they kissed, she realized how warm they were, passion burning somewhere deep within.

It was when she felt his tongue that the angel opened her eyes, which she wasn’t sure when she had closed them, and pulled back unexpectedly. With her new ability to see through vibrations, she had seen people kissing. But she never expected tongues to be involved. After a moment, she mentally pushed the shock away, and wrapped her arms around Najima’s neck, fingers feeling his soft, silky hair. Raziel gently pressed her lips back against his.

Somewhere deep down, she worried whether or not he could tell how new she was to any of this. Beyond just her vision. Could he feel how fast her heart beat between them? What came after the kiss? Raziel was quite content just standing here, in his arms, allowing the intensity of the moment to seep into her mind.