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For a child, this corridor was too large and too wide.
The high ceilings swallowed the sound of his soft footsteps on the marble floor. Tall windows, stretching from ceiling to floor, yet letting no light pass through, as if dark magic had been laid upon them. This place made even the surest step feel uncertain.
And yet, Stolas ran.
He shouldn’t have.
He knew that.
He didn’t even want to, but it just happened.
And his little cape fluttered behind him.
Then an impact,not painful, but sudden. A small round ball of feathers that collided with something unmoving and knocked him to the ground. Stolas froze, his feathers bristling instinctively, his breath catching, and fear already standing at the threshold. But it didn’t come in. Or not yet. Slowly, he looked up.
Higher.
Higher still.
A figure stood motionless before him. Dark, almost black. Only the glow of golden-yellow almonds suggested that this figure, unmoving and silent, seemed to be alive. Unsettling, but then again… not quite. A long silence hung between them, broken only by the nervous breathing of the young ArsGoetia. Then, with a deliberate movement and the rustle of clothing, the figure leaned down. Something opened at the front. A cloak? It revealed a hand. Large. With claws. But gently, it rested on the down of Stola’s head. Without pressure. Soothing... Stolas blinked. Once, twice.
“Oh...,” slipped out of his mouth briefly, before he swallowed hard and forced back the tears that threatened to flood out. “I... didn’t mean to...”
“You are not meant to face the stillness of death so hastily.”
The voice was dark, rough, as if dust had settled on it. For a second, it even startled Stolas, as if it belonged to a ghost. But the thumb that smoothed his head feathers calmed him. Gently, with almost unfamiliar affection.
Footsteps broke the silence once again.
Light and quick, clearly familiar with the twists and turns of the halls.
“Stolas- oh!” Vassago stepped into view. Bright red, even in the semi-darkness, like a beacon that knew how to guide. “There you are!” Relief flashed across his face, followed immediately by surprise. His glowing eyes darted between the young prince and the figure he had encountered. “And… you’ve found company.” He approached the two with effortless grace and a smile on his beak.
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Vassago addressed the figure and bowed his head. “He is curious and still naive.” “I’m not at all!” Stolas tried to protest, but Vassago only laughed softly at that. “Of course not.”
With a small wave of his hand, Vassago first kindled a small, golden light, which then formed into a star and now floated in the air, providing light. Stolas’s eyes lit up as he got a better look at the figure. Yet his surprise softened as Vassago lifted him under the arms and onto his hip. Still, his gaze quickly returned to its target. Still tall, but in the light it looked sunken, as if hiding beneath the long cloak it wore. Nothing bright. Nothing loud. The feathers dark and dull. The thing in its face. His face. White, broken, but repaired with gold, which covered the right side, and the glowing yellow beneath promised another, weary, half-closed eye. The beak wide, the head tilted so that its underside remained unseen.
“Duke Amoniel,” Vassago’s voice interrupted Stola’s observations, evoking a slight movement of the head from the man addressed. “It’s good to see you outside your estate.” He said this with obvious sincerity, as if he had known the other man for some time. Amoniel, on the other hand, hesitated for a moment, though his expression did not change.
“I… go for walks. Sometimes,” he replied. Not to explain, only to keep the silence from settling between them. Vassago smiled at that. “I’m glad you do.” Amoniel shifted, barely noticeably but with his whole body, leaning slightly toward Vassago.
“...he’s not that scary at all!” said Stolas, perched on Vassago’s arm, as if it were the most important statement in the room. “No,” Vassago agreed. “...he isn’t.”
Amoniel said nothing. He stood there for a moment before turning away with an amused-sounding huff.