Chapter Text
The singing drew Delenn from her sleep, as it had for the last two nights. Two voices, low and intertwining, chanting ancient prayers and making music of one another. The young acolyte dressed silently, taking care not to disturb her sleeping roommate, and slipped from the female dormitory.
Barefoot, she shivered through the cold stone passages, following the music made by the two voices--they were male, she realized--to the door of the Fal'Min Fi, the Star Temple, with its roof open to the night sky. The double doors were heavily carved stone, balanced to swing at the slightest whisper. Peeking in, Delenn saw who had infiltrated her slumbers, those past nights.
She was a little surprised to see Branmer sitting on the little platform under the stars, and even more surprised to see a young man in Warrior's dress sitting beside the priest and chanting the counterpoint.
She could not say that she did not mean to intrude. She did mean to intrude--she was intruding. But she did not wish to disturb them. So she stood quietly, motionless and small just inside the entrance to the tiny space, and listened.
Branmer, tall and broad even when he was sitting, chanting the ancient invocation to the stars in a voice as pure as the winter wind. The stranger, smaller and leaner even beneath his bulky uniform coat, stumbled a little over the unfamiliar language, but his voice was strong and rich, and stirred something within Delenn's soul that she had never examined before.
The song ended, but the music seemed to linger in the air.
As the two men rose, Branmer spied her. Delenn braced herself for a scolding, but instead the priest came to her with a wide smile and outstretched hands.
The stranger was called Neroon. He was a clan-brother of Branmer's, come on a private, unobtrusive visit. Though not so tall as the priest, he still seemed to tower over the young acolyte, and he made a small obeisance to her that was so full of arrogant amusement that Delenn feared she might strike him. His dark, dark eyes laughed at her, and so annoyed was she, and so intent upon hiding her discomfort, that she did not also see how they traced her form and admired her courage. "Do you know the songs?"
"I--yes."
Neroon's lips twitched. "Sing with us."
He was laughing at her, she was certain of it. "No."
Branmer touched her shoulder. "Do not mind my young friend's lack of manners," he said, his eyes twinkling. "His spirits are too high, but he means well."
"Master, I should return to the dormitory--"
"You got up to find us out; the least you can do is gift us with your company."
She looked up at the priest ruefully. "You are trying to get me in trouble."
Branmer laughed. "Delenn, you do not need anyone's help to get you into trouble."
Neroon's smile broadened, and Delenn blushed. But she obeyed, staying and singing with the Star Riders until the first hue of morning came to dim the glittering canopy overhead. "Are you tired, Delenn?" the warrior asked.
"No," she had to answer truthfully. "I am... alive."
His dark eyes were thoughtful under their caste superiority as she bade farewell and returned to slip back to the dormitory before the first of the morning bells, and for many days, her meditations were disturbed by the memory of them.
Finally, she sought out Branmer. "I am confused, Master."
He listened to her halting explanation patiently. "There is only one cure for such distractions, you know."
"I must forget him."
Branmer's smile was always gentle and often mischievous, but now there was something more to it. "If that is your wish."