Like Lightning in the Night

-Gray-

‘Mom, will you ever take me to your homeland?’

‘I’m sorry my little Moonlight, it’s not a safe place for someone like you.’

‘Well, if I get better, can I go?’

‘Maybe. If it encourages you to get well soon, then I can see taking you. As a reward.’

‘Yay! I’m going to get better super soon! Just you wait and see!’

‘Hehe, I can’t wait. But maybe we should prepare for your birthday first? 10 years is quite the accomplishment, I hear.’

‘Can I have a cinnamon roll cake?!’

‘Of course sweetie, whatever you want.’

Ugh, I hated sleeping. I spent way too much time doing it back home. Why would I waste my life sleeping here?

I was in some sort of guest room in the tree castle, looking relatively similar to Fulgora’s room, minus the fancy furniture. There was still a wooden dresser, a full-length mirror, and a small table with chairs, but they didn’t seem special.

“And once again, my clothes are ruined.” I muttered as I climbed off the bed, annoyed by the lack of a shirt, and the torn state of my pants.

It seems every single fight I was in, my clothes got ruined. I really need to invest in some armor, instead of just stealing clothes.

Or, I would invest, if I was getting paid!

No, that’s not the princess’s fault. She’s had a lot on her plate, and we haven’t even visited her capital yet.

Hell, am I even an official knight?

A scream of a maid entering the room shook me out of my thoughts. “Do you mind not screaming at me?” There wasn’t any danger, I must have just shocked her or something. I placed my hands on my hips as I glanced at her, and the pile of clothes she dropped on the ground.

“S-sorry! Sorry! I didn’t expect you up! So sorry!” She gushed as she frantically picked up the spilled clothes, and dusted them off. “...swear I saw…” She mumbled.

I roll my eyes. Am I really that scary? My skin isn’t monstrously pale or anything. “Well, knocking helps.” I took the clothes from her. “What time is it?”

“Um… Close to midnight, sir. Will that be all?” She seemed really eager to leave.

“Yeah, sure.” I waved her off, mentally calculating how long I had been asleep for. “Yikes. Half a day.” There goes whatever good mood I had from the fight earlier…

As soon as she left, I slid into the new clothes, a much warmer outfit than what I had been wearing. A thick wool dark blue shirt, and brown water-resistant pants. There was even a long leather trenchcoat, but I left that behind.

I fixed up my appearance in the mirror, not seeing any remnants of my wounds from the battle. The feeling of getting healed while unconscious was a little bothersome, but nothing felt off. I took a deep breath, feeling the air of the tree mixed with the smell of the storm outside fill my lungs to their capacity.

After a few seconds, I exhaled, my lungs still feeling good. I was still healthy, still living.

And that was enough to put me in a great mood.

Before anyone could come to investigate the earlier scream, I left the room. Navigating the castle was a little strange, but I figured while I was here, I should try to see the views from as high as I can, so I went up. I’m sure the princess would be fine without me, and I didn’t think Fulgora would ever go too far in her teasing.

Let me just say, but walking across massive tree branches hundreds of feet in the air was definitely an experience. The leaves kept them mostly dry, but there were also wooden structures built into the branches to keep your feet from slipping.

The branches themselves were wide enough at parts for two grown men to walk past each other, with their shoulders not touching at all. There were a few guards stationed on the further branches, the smaller ones that could still hold the weight of a grown man but not much else.

So I decided to stick to the shadows as I looked down at the city, barely able to make out the people walking around with the rain applying a gray tone to everything. Along with it being, you know, nighttime. The lanterns placed around might as well have been distant stars for how faint they were.

I always loved the rain, the cold splashes against your skin, the smell of the wet earth in the air, the sound it makes as it hits whatever. Whether it was a light drizzle or a massive downpour, it was always lovely.

My sitting alone wasn’t for long, however, as Fulgora appeared, jumping across the branches to plop herself down next to me, legs hanging over the edge, kicking lightly. “Hey, glad to see you’re up!” She slapped my back. “You definitely gave me a bit of a scare there!”

“I gave you a scare?!” My eyes glanced down to her torso, briefly wondering how her wound was. Her outfit didn’t look any different, except for maybe different tears. “You knocked my lights out!”

She laughed. “Hah, I did more than that! Your face was more like a smashed pumpkin…” She seemed to realize it wasn’t that funny because her tone trailed off as she spoke. “Yeah, I… uh… probably should have gone easier on you. I kinda assumed you were a demigod or something… Sorry.”

“You know what they say about assumptions…” A grin grew on my face. “Like I’d want you to go easy on me? Besides, I nearly gave as good as I got.” I slapped her back in return.

That got her back in the mood, eyes sparkling. I wasn’t going to take offense at my injury, and she picked up on that. “Yeah, you did some damage, but I still won.” She punched my shoulder. “Next time, don’t pass out before your opponent, ‘kay?”

I chuckled. “I’ll try, but no promises.”

“Yeah, well you’ll get plenty of chances to try. Gotta build up some muscles on you after all.” She snorted, and looked away.

“You’re saying you’ll train me?” Frankly, it was obvious that she was going to be traveling with us. I don’t think there was anything in the world that would have convinced her otherwise.

“Of course, Toothpick!” She wrapped her arm around my neck, and began rapping her knuckles against my head. “Better me than Miss ‘Perfect at Everything.’”

“She’s not perfect at everything.” I slid out of her grip. “Frankly, she can’t hold her drink.”

“She can’t- Sweet lightning, that’s amazing!” Fulgora began laughing. “Remind me to get her drunk later. See what secrets we can get to spill.”

I just snorted and rolled my eyes. “Just don’t get her too drunk. I’d hate to have to see her fight with a hangover.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She waved off my comment. “But what about your secrets? You’re clearly not a demigod. So who blessed you? Because I’ve never seen magic like that before. It didn’t look like you even gave a prayer!”

“Oh… uh, I’m from another world. So my magic is something I inherited from my mother, who was… part of a group of people who had magic.. So no gods or anything.”

Fulgora was silent. I had no idea how common people from other worlds were, but the princess took it in stride. “Huh… so what, you’re looking for a way back home?” She spoke in a surprisingly somber tone.

“Nah. I’m here to have fun. I was super sick back home. But now I’m 100% and getting better every day. So I want to enjoy life!” I leaned back on the branch, not caring if I got my back wet, or drops of rain splashed against my head. “Don’t get me wrong, I miss my family, but as far as I’m concerned, I’m enjoying life here way better than I ever had back home.”

Fulgora was silent, before mimicking me, laying back on the branch. “I can’t imagine that. Every day, I want nothing more than to return to my mom. I don’t care about ruling, I just want my life back.”

“You can’t visit?”

“I can, but dad- my father would be disappointed. He really wants me to take over the kingdom.”

“Can’t you bring your mom here?”

She scoffed. “Have you seen the way the king acts? I’d sooner send my mom off to Aureaton before bringing her here.”

“Yeah, he seems like a menace.”

“Menace is a word for it.” Fulgora raised her right hand in the air, sparkling with lightning. A moment later, a bolt of lightning struck through the leaves of the tree and hit her hand. Did she call it, or did she sense it coming?

I watched the electricity crackle around her body, before disappearing. The rain began to hit us harder, going through the leaves above us. “He’ll hate me for no reason, just because I was placed here by our god. I don’t even want the job!” She raised both hands up this time, but only as an exclamation. “But he only gets madder when I say that!” She didn’t seem particularly mad like when we first saw her arguing with the king, but instead more… lost and confused. “And then he assigns some other decorum class to bog me down.”

“What about the queen?” The rain was nice, but I wanted it stronger. I created my own lightning bolt in my hand, and fired it upwards, breaking off a tree branch, and letting a proper downpour begin hitting us. Fulgora seemed just as pleased to be drenched in rainwater.

“Her? She’s… nice, I guess. But she tries too hard to be a mother to me. I think she really wanted a daughter. I’m just not her! I’ve already got a mom! But still she’s pretty much the only person in the castle who shows me kindness. Constantly inviting me for tea, or gifting me the girliest of things. She was the one who decorated my room, you know?”

“Yeah, I figured.”

Fulgora seemed eager to change conversations, and looked over at me to see me soaked. “Should you really be out in the rain like that? Aren’t you worried about getting sick again?”

I waved off her concern. “Eh, not that kind of sickness. Besides, I love the rain. Wouldn’t trade this for the world.”

“You and I both, friend.” She leaned back on the branch, closing her eyes to feel the rain hitting her. “We haven’t been introduced yet, have we?”

“Nope.” I stated, thinking back to how the princess seemed more eager to get to business earlier than actually chat. “My name’s Gray, in case you didn’t catch the princess screaming it.” I extended my hand towards her.

Fulgora snorted, and actually took the hand, shaking it firmly with a brief shock like a joybuzzer. “Fulgora. Call me a princess or a lady, and I’ll break your face again.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

We stayed out there for maybe an hour more, chatting about stupid things, before deciding to sneak into the kitchen to steal some snacks.