Summary: Two girls bond in the late hours of the morning.
Rating: Safe for all.
Ashya tossed and turned fitfully. She woke with a start, bathed in sweat, feeling exhausted. Sleeping had become almost as much of a chore as lessons, with the demon accompanying her most nights. She didn’t exactly do anything except talk to her – but that was bad enough. Because her words actually sounded reasonable sometimes, and that could only mean trouble. She knew demons were masters at manipulation, and she had to keep reminding herself that if she started agreeing with the beautiful lust demon, she was lost.
The girl stared out of the small window, her face pale in the moonlight filtering through. These dreams inevitably tired her out, such that her body was mostly rested but her mind only became more and more highly strung. She knew there was only one way to combat this – wake up fully and refuse to sleep. When she was too exhausted to stay awake any longer, then she would sleep through anything, demon or not.
She slid out of bed, pausing only to wash her hands and face in a small basin of cold water next to her bed. She glanced at her yellow robes on her chair, but shook her head. For tonight, she didn’t feel like putting them on. They were a sign of her being a mage, something she had desired for so long and indeed was inordinately proud of being.
But tonight she was feeling the burden of the price she had paid to reach that point. For once she wanted to just be Ashya, the person, not Ashya the mage, or, worse, Ashya the blood mage. Leaving the robes where they lay she slipped out of the small room, clad only in her white shift, padding silently on bare feet, fully expecting no one but the servants to be around.
She trailed her hand along the wall as she walked, feeling like a ghost in the early hours of the morning, her hair loose around her shoulders, looking very much like one. She paused at a window, pale moonlight whitening her already porcelain skin, resting her head against the pane. She wished she could just walk out of Vigil’s Keep, wander around town right now while all the inhabitants slept, a wraith in a deserted town. Of course, guards were still at their posts even at this hour, so it would never happen.