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The weight of loss could be felt across the hilltop where Janai sat with her former prisoner beside her; not only the loss of The Queen, her sister, but also the lives taken by the enemy at the base of Storm Spire. The pain had dulled slightly during the two days they had journeyed thus far. Every footfall wearing away the sharp edges of loss until it became like the edge of a sword that hadn’t seen a whetstone in over a fortnight. It still hurt, but at least now she could think about that moment, her sister turning to ash, without wanting to scream, without feeling the searing pain of a sharpened edge tearing its way through her chest.
They would arrive in Lux Aurea by the time the sun reached its peak the next day. Their progress had not been swift as the exhausted army returned home, carrying with them the wounded. Once they returned, Janai would have to determine what to do in the wake of The Queen’s death. But until then, she would lead her soldiers home.
One human accompanied them.
General Amaya walked beside Janai, and over the course of the first day, she began her efforts to understand the unfamiliar language Amaya used to communicate.
Amaya began by instructing her on how to move her fingers to sign the letters that formed the alphabet. Her soft smile when Janai got one right and the gentle fingers that corrected hers when she got one wrong made a warmth spread through her chest. It was a welcome distraction from the reality that was facing her in a couple of days.
On the second day of their journey Amaya began teaching her some basic words that might be especially useful incase they found themselves in a combative situation. Janai picked them up with some difficulty, she was used to using her hands to fight, the finer movements necessary for communicating with her hands was something she would need a lot of practice to improve.
But as she sat on the grass with a fire to her back, watching as the source of her people’s powers slowly slipped below the horizon, she had hope for a future where she would have time to learn how to communicate better with the woman sitting next to her.
Janai looked to her right and caught Amaya’s eye and she couldn’t help the smile that crept to her lips. She made a gesture that Janai didn’t understand; she held her open palm in front of her face, rotating her wrist as she closed her fingers into a fist stopping by her chin.
The cheeky smile that accompanied the sign provided no clarification. “What?”
Without dropping her smile, Amaya did the sign again.
“What?”
Realizing that Janai was not going to understand what she was trying to sign, Amaya chuckled lightly and finger-spelled it, “B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L.”
“Yeah,” Janai nodded her head in agreement, making sure to face Amaya so she could read her lips as she appreciated the last pink and orange hues of the evening, “the sunset is beautiful.”
Amaya shook her head and brought her index and middle fingers to her thumb, “No.” She pointed at her, repeated the sign that Janai now knew meant beautiful, and then pointed to her again.
“Oh,” Janai whispered, ducking her head. She hoped that the fading light of dusk hid any visible evidence of the heat she felt creeping up her cheeks. She looked up to find Amaya’s eyes still on her, a small smirk on her face lightly illuminated from the nearby fire and the last remnants of light from the day.
Janai pointed a single finger at her before doing her best to mimic the motion Amaya had done and then pointed to her again. Because in this light, and in any light really, she truly was beautiful.
After exchanging another smile with Amaya she turned back to where the sun had been minutes ago, setting her hands on the grass to either side of her. She felt a hand on top of hers and glanced up for a moment to see that Amaya had shifted closer.
She gave her hand a gentle squeeze and knew that she would be able to face the dawn and whatever it brought with Amaya beside her.