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It was a bright summer afternoon. The soft breeze lulling the sun into a cool slumber cushioned by billowing clouds. The cicadas murmuring beneath the lush greens still speckled with drops of the sweet summer rain on its leaves. Chicks crying out for their mother, bellies wanting food. The sparrow flitting about, brown feathers rustling as she fed her children their fill.
A picturesque afternoon, the bright blue sky, the canvas on which the gods painted the everyday mundane miracles. Miracles that often went unnoticed by the human mortals. Busy as they were with this and that. Always rushing from one place to another, not even sparing a moment to admire the beauty created just for them. Humans were such silly creatures. Such short lived lives that they spent holed up within grey walls so they could move on to another constricting grey prison. They had such little time and yet they spent it making themselves miserable. They ignored the indomitable beauty and symphony of life, for dull, fleeting pursuits.
It was on this everyday afternoon that a beautiful song could be heard. A sound so light and airy, so delicate yet with its melody it carried a weight so heavy with memories.
"That must be him." An elderly man struggled to get the words out, eyes closed with a tired smile.
"Must be who, grandpa?" A young boy, about seven or eight asked, head tilting with curiosity.
The elderly man lifted his heavy lids, eyes the colour of lilacs in bloom. "My beautiful boy."
The young boy grew even more confused. His grandfather usually called him a 'handsome boy' never 'beautiful'. Who could he be talking about? He wanted to run to his mother to ask about it, but she said grandfather was sick and he should not be alone, that he should look after grandfather while she talked to the scary doctors. Wisely, he thought to ask his mom once she returned to the room.
The old man was now staring at something. There was a very pretty bird outside, singing. Oh, that must be the beautiful boy, the boy thought, but how did his grandfather know it was a boy?
"Grandpa, how do you know it's a boy?" The boy asked.
"He's my friend."
"Really? You can be friends with a birdie?"
The old man nodded, eyes starting to get misty.
"How did you become friends?"
"Shoo! Go away!" A shrill voice sounded right next to Aemond.
Huddled under the back of the slide, he kept his head bowed and eyes covered. Not again. They wouldn't leave him alone no matter how far he ran. They would always chase him. Make trouble for him. He would always get blamed for their mischief. And when he tried to explain that it wasn't him, he would be called a liar and a creep.
It really wasn't him. He wasn't a troublemaker. They were the troublemakers. Them.
The only problem was, no one else could see them.
With odd shapes and sizes, bulging eyes and long curvy necks, some with feathers and spikes growing on their backs and others with strange hands and feets. No, they were more like claws. These creatures liked to stick to Aemond and make his life miserable. No one could see these creatures plotting and scheming to play a prank on them, except him.
These odd creatures had been a part of Aemond's life ever since he could remember. His own mother had shrieked and called a priest to exorcise him when he first told her of a strange being standing in the corner of the kitchen.
Freak. Odd. Strange. Creepy. Weird. All names he was called. By his friends, by his own family. By those wretched creatures.
The taunting that Aemond was waiting for never arrived. Instead, he was met with silence and a warmth next to him.
Carefully, he lifted his head. Afraid of those things pulling a fast one on him again. He saw a pair of fair feet, toes digging into the sand of the playground. His gaze went higher up, and a pair of warm brown eyes greeted him.
"Hi!"
Aemond jerked back, eyes wide. He was fully expecting to see a monstrous looking creature next to him. Not a normal looking boy his age.
"I won't hurt you, I swear!" The beautiful boy said. "I even chased away those rotten spirits for you."
"You can see them?" Aemond asked, still not believing that someone else can see those demons.
"The spirits? Yeah. They're not bad spirits. They just love teasing you, that's all." The boy gave him a wide smile.
"They're all terrible. Every single one of them." Aemond had been subjected to their torture for all his life. They were the reason he was called a freak. Ostracized and forced to become a loner. As a young child he cried and begged others to believe him. As a teenager, he now knew to hide his emotions. He didn't react to those things when they chased after him, if he could help it. He no longer asked the other kids to believe him when his mask slipped and he would scream in terror when those creatures scared him. He lied that he saw a bug or an insect. He lied and lied and lied just so he wouldn't be called a freak. But he was still called a freak once his back was turned. Nothing had changed. It was all because of them.
"Even me?"
"What?" Aemond stared at the beautiful boy.
"Me. I'm a spirit as well. I helped you chase those dummies away. Am I still terrible?"
"You…"
"I?" The beautiful boy asked.
"You're lying. You don't look like them."
The strange but beautiful boy scoffed. "And how do you know what I'm supposed to look like? Are you an expert on spirits?"
"No but…" Aemond began, but the words died on his lips when the boy stood up and dusted himself off and from his back, grew two wings, brown and feathery. The plumage looked so soft, beckoning Aemond to come closer and feel them. And so he did.
"That tickles," The boy smiled even as Aemond stepped back once he came back to his senses.
"It's real." Aemond looked on in awe. "And they're so soft."
"Of course they are. I groom them everyday." The boy preened under the praise.
"How come you don't look like them? You're much… prettier." Against his demands, Aemond's cheeks flushed bright red.
The comment seemed to take the boy off guard. His face froze in a look of shock. "Pretty?" His own face coloured a delicate pink. "We come in a lot of shapes and sizes. A diverse group."
Aemond looked on as the boy continued to splutter his responses. Without him realising, his face had grown relaxed and a soft smile etched on his lips.
"Well, anyway. I should get going. Lots to do. Lots to do." With a red face, the boy rushed off before Aemond could even get a word out.
That was their very first meeting.
Their second meeting was almost the same. Aemond was hiding from a rather persistent spirit. They were spirits, not things as the boy had told him.
The moment that beautiful boy showed up, the long-necked spirit ran off.
"Hey there."
"Hi." Aemond crawled out from under the small bridge, shoes soaking wet.
"They sure seem to love you," The boy commented, hands on his back. Wings nowhere in sight.
"Love to torture me." Aemond grimaced when his shoes made wet squelching sounds.
"It's because you give them such fun reactions. That's why they love teasing you. I would do the same if I were them."
"I wouldn't run if it were you." It came out as an accident but it was too late to take it back now. Aemond waited for the expected rejection. To be scoffed at and made fun of.
"What? Are you saying I'm not scary?" The boy joked, eyes the colour of sticky mud after rain.
"No you're not." Aemond grabbed a hold of the lifeline the boy had thrown him.
"I definitely am. I scared away your pursuers, didn't I?"
"I guess you did," Aemond admitted and watched the boy puff out his chest. "But seriously, why do they run away whenever you arrive?"
"Hmm? Because I'm stronger than them?" The painfully beautiful boy wondered aloud. "Hey don't give me that look. I really am quite strong."
"I didn't say anything." Aemond sat down on the grass. His jeans would get dirty, but so be it.
"You didn't have to." The pretty boy slumped down next to Aemond and sprawled on the ground, uncaring of the dirt getting on his clothes and the morning dew dampening them.
They spent the early morning in comfortable silence until the boy asked. "What's your name?"
"Aemond."
"Aemond." The boy tested out the name. Each letter that rolled off his lips sounded like a gentle caress. "Now ask me mine!"
"What's your name?"
"Hmm, I didn't have one in the beginning. But he calls me Lucerys! It's supposed to mean light bringer, or so I've been told. I don't know."
"He?" Aemond latched onto that particular piece of information.
"Yeah, my owner gave me that name when he took me in. Said I sang songs that would herald light and peace in the world with my melody."
When Aemond continued to stare at him, Lucerys clarified. "I'm a bird spirit. A songbird to be exact. He was a very powerful being, my owner. He gave me this body. Along with immortality." The light in Lucerys' eyes dimmed near the end. Aemond felt his chest ache.
"Can I hear you sing?"
That request seemed to catch Lucerys off guard. "Sing?"
Aemond nodded.
"... I haven't sung in a long time." Lucerys spoke in a voice so quiet, one had to strain his ears to hear.
"Why?"
"I don't know." That forlorn look grew more prominent and Aemond wished to chase it away just as Lucerys had chased away those spirits for him.
"Will you sing for me? Please?" Aemond asked, barely above a whisper.
That day, as the morning dew clung to the grass, unwilling to let go and seep back into the earth, they were witness to a sound that had not been heard in eons. A melody of the immortals, a sound so divine, the thick morning mist grew still and the sun closed its eyes. Every creature stood still to listen to a song that was lost to the ages. A sound that quieted the simmering rage in furious hearts. A song that stopped wars and brought tranquility in its wake.
A song that caught the attention of a god. A song so pleasing to the ears, the tiny creature perched atop the branches of the willow was given the gift of immortality and a human form. A gift, it was called.
On the second day of their meeting, Aemond fell. Pure and sacred.
"Aemond!" Lucerys chirped from atop the window sill. "You've been avoiding me."
Aemond chose to focus on his textbooks. Dull words on a page seemed a far better option than looking at that beautiful face and being bombarded with truths he had no desire to accept. "I'm not avoiding you. I've just been busy with school."
"You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Your ears turn red when you lie." Lucerys sprawled onto his lap.
Faced with that angelic visage, Aemond closed his book with a sigh. It'd been months since they first met. Months since Aemond had begun to have feelings for the beautiful creature. Weeks since he'd finally realised he fell in love. Weeks of trying to deny it. Weeks of coming up with excuses. He was human, Lucerys was not.
Now, his carefully built wall of cards came crumbling down with the slightest of touch. A touch so warm and inviting, Aemond melted in an instant. "They don't."
"They do." Lying on his lap, Lucerys looked up at him, hand outstretched a finger tracing the curve of Aemond's ear. Cool fingers touched the hot skin of his ear, burning red.
"Please."
"Hmm?" It wasn't possible. No matter if he fell for this oblivious being or not. A match like theirs could never be.
"Stop touching me." Aemond breathed out, voice hoarse and tight.
As though stung by poison, Lucerys flinched and snatched his hand back. "I'm sorry. I know you don't like being touched."
Which was true. Aemond hated being touched. And Lucerys knew that. Except, Aemond never stopped Lucerys from touching him. He would lean into his touches, rather. Aemond hated touch, but he craved and invited it if they came from Lucerys.
Lucerys scrambled to get off Aemond's lap.
"Wait, no. I didn't mean it like that."
Those doe eyes seemed to gaze into the depths of Aemond's soul, beseeching him for something. Unknown and known to them both.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."
"Then what did you mean it as?" Lucerys stood his ground, watching Aemond's every move. Who would make the first move? The coward or the outspoken beauty?
"It… I feel strange when you touch me."
"Strange how?"
Damn that beautiful boy and his beautiful voice. Damn him. Aemond swallowed that last of his fears and gave voice to his desires.
"I feel strange when you touch me, it hurts. I want you to touch me more, to never stop. I want to hold you in my arms forever. And it scares me. Because I know I shouldn't."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm a freak of a human who can see strange things no one can. If I admit that I want you, I'm scared I'll truly go mad. I'm the only one who can see you and that makes me happy and sad at the same time. Sometimes I feel like I'm already insane. That you're not real. I'm just sick in the head and seeing things." Words kept rushing out of his mouth and Aemond sounded defeated by the time he finished. "I want you but I don't want to be called mad."
"Aemond…" Lucerys started but never finished. Those warm brown eyes turned the colour of ash. Burnt out and exhausted of all life. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed."
At that Aemond stepped closer, brows furrowed. "Why are you sorry?"
"I didn't mean to…"
"You didn't mean for me to fall for you?" Aemond asked. "How could I not?" With each word, Aemond stepped closer and closer until he was nose to nose with Lucerys. "They call me mad and treat me like a disease but you... You've only ever been kind to me. How could I not?"
Inching into his space, Aemond bent down to gaze into those eyes. Eyes that looked at him with fondness. Eyes where he found comfort when he was at his lowest. Eyes that gave him company and time when no one else did.
"Aemond…"
As soon as his name left those plush lips, Aemond sealed them with his own. Lucerys tasted like honey drops and warm sunshine. Of home.
"I'm sorry. For avoiding you." Aemond whispered into those soft lips.
"You can make up for it now." The burnt out ashes of the fire made way for the scorching heat of the earth to shine through in those eyes.
It started out with hope and innocent longing turned to soft caresses and stolen kisses. But happiness is more fickle than lady luck. It is as treacherous and deceiving as the calm dark of the sea.
The years went by and they revolved around one another. Lucerys loved Aemond. And Aemond loved Lucerys. So much. Aemond loved Lucerys enough for it to turn to obsession. Aemond loved Lucerys enough to stray from the path meant for humans.
Aemond started avoiding others altogether. He would search out Lucerys day and night. Uncaring of the whispers being passed around behind his back. Aemond let go of his carefully crafted mask around others. He no longer cared if he was called a lunatic, if people wondered if he was possessed.
Lucerys loved Aemond. Lucerys loved Aemond enough to chase away the spirits that would trail after Aemond. Lucerys loved Aemond enough to care about him in the human world. But he couldn't chase away the cruel whispers that clung to Aemond with each day his beautiful human chose to spend his day with him. He didn't have the power to yell at the silly humans to stop hurting Aemond with their hateful gazes and voices laced with disdain. Aemond did not deserve that.
Love soon turned into poison when Aemond's family finally intervened. With shrieks and screams, Aemond was tied down while men in robes poked and prodded him. Aemond refused to put his mask back on, so those men in robes could pretend they had cured him. Putting that mask on meant he would be shunning out Lucerys' existence. Lucerys was the only one for him. He didn't need anyone else. He said as much when Lucerys begged and pleaded with him. Just so those incessant men would stop torturing him. Aemond's love tasted sour to Lucerys.
If, by loving Lucerys, it meant Aemond had to go through all that pain, it wasn't worth it. His love was not worth Aemond's life and happiness.
The gift bestowed upon him was something Lucerys loathed. His gift forced him to watch his parents and siblings die while he remained alive.
The day the last of his siblings fell prey to time was the day he began to call it a curse. A curse that saw to it that he would forever be alone, untouched by time and age. Unable to follow his loved ones to that wonderful place beyond death.
He vowed to never sing. After all, it was his song that brought him such misfortune in life.
Until the day he met him. The lonesome boy. With one eye the colour of lilac and one the colour of sapphire. Sapphire. Which gave him sight into the world of spirits. Lucerys was a selfish creature. Aemond did not need Lucerys to chase away the spirits every single time. If Lucerys truly cared for Aemond he would ask the gods to take away that spirit sight from his one eye. Then he would truly be freed from the troubles of the spirit world. But Lucerys latched on to the lonely boy who thought the world of him. He was just as lonely as Aemond, searching for meaning and home all his life. Lucerys was reluctant to let go of that. A selfish creature.
The day he sang again, Lucerys felt alive. He sang his most beautiful tunes and watched the weariness fall from Aemond's shoulders. If his singing could give Aemond a reprieve from the world, he would sing everyday and he did. Lucerys sang a song for Aemond every day. A song no humans besides Aemond could hear. And he revelled in that fact. No one deserved to listen to his songs besides Aemond. Only Aemond. Drunk in his own selfish desires, Lucerys failed to see the damage he was causing.
By the time Aemond began to crumble and wither away, Lucerys saw the ruins of the once sombre boy and he was faced with the reality of what his love had done to him. He had done that. Lucerys had utterly ruined Aemond. The selfish creature finally saw the destruction he caused and he wept.
He cried and cried until his laments were finally heard by the gods. The very same god that had cursed him. Lucerys asked for one last curse. To take away Aemond's spirit sight. And so, the ever benevolent god did just so. Along with his spirit sight, memories of his encounters with the spirit world were taken away. A just curse. A just punishment for a selfish songbird that coveted what he could not have.
With one final song, Lucerys watched as sapphire turned to lilac.
The years went by and Aemond finally embraced his life in the mortal world. He no longer stood out. People stopped pointing their fingers at him and the whispers soon died down with time. They welcomed him with open arms now that he was finally one of them, normal. Unseeing and ignorant of the world beyond their sight.
Lucerys watched him fall in love again, have children, dote on his grandchildren and smile without any burden. Lucerys watched those lilac eyes search for something in the distance only to blink away forgotten memories and return to his happy family. There were days when the selfish heart inside his chest would wish for sapphire to replace that beautiful lilac. On days like that, Lucerys sang of heartbreak outside Aemond's window. But his love could not hear him.
As the cold winter finally gave way for spring, Lucerys pleaded one last time with the gods. For his love to be able to hear his songs.
The gods were moved by his laments. Even with such sorrow, his songs could still move heaven and earth.
On the first day of summer, a songbird was perched atop a tree branch. It sang so beautifully, everyone who heard it stopped to listen. Men and women, young and old paused their hustle and bustle to listen to such a heartfelt melody. For one single moment in time, humankind stopped and listened. They savored the beauty of life. And in the next they moved on.
All except one. A frail old man, on his bed glancing outside his window as a small bird, tiny and insignificant, sang such a song it evoked memories that he no longer possessed. Of a time when his life was full of pain yet he was at his happiest.
"Hello, old friend," Aemond greeted as the bird nestled next to him. Some memories were impossible to take away, even for the gods. Etched into his very bones, some memories stayed, misted over but still there. One final act of grace from the divine.
Lilac eyes soon closed for the final time and the little bird breathed its last with the end of the song. Both finally home. Perhaps the gods had heard the song after all, the song of the ephemeral ones.