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Large snowflakes quietly flew right into the misted-up window glass, leaving small wet spots on it. The soft light of the moon seeped into the hospital room, dispelling the darkness of the place quite a bit. A light gray blanket, tucked under, warmed the weakened body of a warrior, who had slept for almost half a day.
The Elezen man sat on his bed, distantly watching how the snowflakes dance outside the window, until the weakness in his wounded body made itself known again. He leaned against the headboard of the bed and lowered his head, causing tumbled hair strands to fall on forehead. The wounds on his arms were terribly sore and itchy, and moreover, his limbs had almost lost their articulation.
Estinien took a deep breath, trying to shake off the unpleasant itch. His long hair was getting into his eyes, sticking to his forehead – but he could not do anything about it in any way; being chained in a kind of plaster on his arms and legs, his own helplessness only made him angry.
The man was pulled out of his thoughts by the prolonged creak of an old door. A petite woman with a kerosene lamp in her hands entered the semi-dark room. Her light hair, usually loose, was braided into a careless ponytail, and her horns were softly swathed with satin ribbons; shadows from the fire danced whimsically on her face. On the shoulders, in addition to her sleeping dress, was a warm shawl, draped over her skin and flowing down to feet. It was hard not to recognize the figure.
“Mistein?” The dragoon's voice was treacherously quiet and hoarse, the woman only nodded in response.
Such a familiar gesture – her gesture – made Estinien grin slightly.
“Just thought I’d visit you...” the Au Ra answered rather lively, coming closer, “Didn’t expect to find you conscious again.”
She put the lamp on the bedside table and sat on the edge of the bed, which creaked unpleasantly. Mistein clearly expressed her displeasure at this, fidgeting and muttering something about “terrible conditions.”
Estinien found himself thinking that he really does miss her presence, her voice, her indignations… and it almost distracted him from the painful tingling of his tangled hair, that brought more and more discomfort with every second. The man involuntarily jerked his head, trying to get rid of the unpleasant feeling.
“Ah, you always been so neurotic?” Au Ra tilted her head and smiled slyly, teasingly.
“Why wouldn’t I become one. Did you even heard Alphinaud’s howling?” he smiled, replied in a retaliatory ironic manner.
“Oh, that boy...” Mistein rolled her eyes and chuckled slightly, “He always worries too much.”
And yet the dragoon twitching was not at all related to his “so-called” psychological problems, but to the very real helplessness of the situation, that he, obviously, did not want to admit. But her… she was already familiar with these games.
In a moment, Mistein swung her legs up on the bed and scooted closer. Her shawl had fallen off her shoulders onto the floor, exposing her neck and pale skin, which was hidden only by a thin, silk nightgown.
With brash speed, she grabbed onto Elezen's shoulders, settling herself a little higher. Now, looming over him, Au Ra pulled the silk ribbon from her hair, nimbly leaned closer – so that the man could not react to the way her slender black fingers with long claws, in an unusual tenderness, gathered his tousled ashen hair, gathering it into a neat, loose ponytail.
All this time, Estinien could only observe the dense fabric of black silk in close proximity, that did not allow him to see anything, but was rubbing so tantalizingly against his face. He closed his eyes, trying to preserve what dignity remained in him, but his ears betrayed his embarrassment – slightly reddening, as his breathing quickened; this, of course, did not go unnoticed by the woman, although she chose to remain silent about it. He looked away, trying to look as nonchalant as always.
Finally moving away, Mistein looked at her work and giggled, seeing signs of embarrassment from the notoriously impudent Azure Dragoon. His unruly ash-colored hair was now put into an elegant ponytail, and his frowning gaze was unwaveringly directed to the window so as not to be even more embarrassed.
“You're so stern, but still embarrassed of your old friend!” she continued to tease him. Feigning offense, she grabbed her cheeks and shook head, “Oh, but maybe… only maybe I was more worried than Alphinaud?”
These words only made Estinien's ears turn redder, but he continued to hide behind the formidable facade of the “weather observer.”
“Warrior of Light, this is a violation of personal boundaries. And, for a matter of fact, you shouldn't even worry about me that mu...”
Before he could finish, Mistein threw her leg over him, settling on top, as she got closer and slammed her hands on both sides of the wall in front of Estinien’s face to prevent him from ducking. She watched expectantly until Elezen decided to give up and finally look at her; turning the head, his eyes widened – surprise was an honest reaction to the fact that eternally mischievous Warrior of Light was frowning at him, even without a bit of her constant antics and mockery. Woman was indeed extremely serious, even her golden eyes had lost their usual luster, a condition he had not seen so often.
“Mistein?” dragoon asked in a barely audible whisper, almost holding his breath.
“I really was very worried…” Au Ra whispered, removing her hands from the wall as she lowered them, hugged her friend tightly by the shoulders, burying herself in the crook of his neck. Her body was so close that he could feel the frenzy of her heart pounding so loudly.
Estinien was startled. He wanted to return the hug back, with the same force as her, but couldn't move at all – his limbs wouldn't obey. All he could do was to tilt his head a little, so that his cheek touched slightly the vertex of warrior girl's head.
From this gesture, her grip loosened slightly, became more tender, tremulous. She had lost too many friends in this battle, but Estinien... he felt like more than a friend.
His always-harsh speech and defiance, honesty and unwavering desire to fight –even after conquering his consciousness by Nidhogg – nurtured tiny shoots in her heart, which grew stronger every day until they finally turned into blooming buds of delicate clematis, as blue as his tired eyes.
“You're even dumber than Alphinaud...” Mistein mumbled, still nuzzling into his skin.
Her breath tickled Estinien’s skin in an unfamiliar way, causing goosebumps, and the man instinctively jerked, banging his jaw against her head… but the girl, it seem, didn’t notice his awkward gesture.
“Uh, I-I'm sorry...” he said in a quiet voice. The Azure Dragoon obviously usually wasn't so meek and docile, but with her – with her it's the other way around. Sometimes he even wanted to be weak, wanted to see again that tender side that Mistein preferred not to show, to feel her warmth and serenity, which she bestowed on loved ones at such moments.
However, Estinien was always ashamed of such thoughts and diligently drove them away, behaving deliberately Distant and serious.
“Come on, do you have any idea how it looks from the side?” the man tried to pronounce it as calmly as possible, even a little condescendingly, “Two friends. Snuggle in bed at night?” He grinned, hoping that the dimming lamp wasn't enough for her to see that flushed face of his.
The woman suddenly recoiled, expression changed to a frown, hands gripped Estinien’s shoulders tightly – even through the fabric he could feel the claws, digging into the skin.
“Two friends? I– are you serious?” Mistein sounded indignant.
The man looked at her in surprise and barely managed to squeeze out some incoherent words, as Au Ra’s clawed hands grabbed his collar. For a moment, he thought she's going to start shaking him vigorously or even bang his head against the wall with all her force, but to his surprise – he was jerked forward.
The girl's lips, surprisingly gently covered his own, giving a weightless kiss. It took Estinien a couple of seconds to realize what was happening before he could respond to such sudden – but at the same time welcome – gesture.
The lamp on the bedside table finally burned out, leaving the two in a room illuminated only by the silver moon, hidden from prying eyes, until the dawn sunlight disturbs their peace again...