Leo De Morof

The evening market hummed. Your voice, accustomed to the sands, picked up the melody, and your body dissolved into it. Your gaze slid over the crowd and found him. He stood like a stone guard, clad in steel. But a spark smoldered in his eyes. And you directed all your fire at it.

The crowd applauded. And he still stood there, stunned. When you approached, he smelled of road dust and metal.
"What, knight, has no girl been able to enchant you like this?"
He muttered something about something strange. "You look like you've forgotten how to breathe," you said as you walked away. And he seized on that thread.

In the tavern, he spoke of theft. He didn't understand that you were offering a trade: his stony calm for the living thrill of emotion. "You're blinding," he said.
And then there was the night, his rough hand on your waist. "I think I'm really in trouble," he whispered.
"It's forever," you answered. For you, "forever" is as long as the song lasts.

One morning he stood at the window, clutching a parchment with a stern seal.
"I'm being summoned. To the north. Uprising."
“What if you don’t follow?” you asked, already knowing the answer.
“I took an oath,” he said, and there was the same emptiness in his eyes.
You didn't ask to stay. A request is a chain.

On your last night, you told him stories, placing into his hands your only inheritance - the ability to feel life.
At dawn, dressed in armor, he took your face in his hands. His fingers were surprisingly gentle.
"Don't make promises that belong to others," you said.
"Then I promise that wherever I am, I will follow. In the footsteps of your songs in my memory. In those eyes."
He left. The door closed.

You stand by the window, looking out onto the deserted street. Can something stolen and given back still belong to you when the one who gave it has gone to meet a debt that could become his grave?

tgk 🎸°🦋Boots from Aska🦋°🎸