Cuiviénen by hennethgalad

Chapter 1

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Cuivienen

   The music seemed to turn to light as she opened her eyes. She knew they were at Cuivienen at last, and she could see the dance wavering in the air, the untrodden steps flickering over the ground, and the unmade gestures hovering in the air. He was lying beside her, still dim in sleep, his lashes curled over his cheeks, his chest moving lightly as he breathed.

  She looked down at her hands, the light which shone from within her seemed to have stopped growing in intensity, and beyond him she could see the others, most as bright now as her, and some even standing and moving. They were the only things, as far as the eye could see, which shone in any way, apart from the other lights, far far above, sparkling all over the sky. As the music receded into the background like a fading dream, she wondered if those lights were others like themselves, and if she had come from there, or perhaps she was going there...

   She heard him sigh and turned to look, his eyes, his beautiful eyes were open, and the light that played across her face as his eyes turned to hers was as solid as the breeze.

  He smiled joyfully and sat up, then leaped to his feet and looked around slowly, stretching his long limbs. He took her hand and looked from her to the water and back again. She smiled as they ran down the sloping sand to the smooth shallow water, seeing the light streaming out of them to meet the wavering dance and setting it in time.

   The lake was neither warm nor cool, and felt like air moving slowly. He slid through the water, illuminating the ripples from below and casting little shadows trembling across her skin. She looked at the shore, the others were moving together now, only themselves and a few other stragglers were left in the water. She touched his arm, and he stood beside her, the water gathered itself into knots and poured down him. They held hands and walked ashore. 

  The brightness of the faces turned towards them must have obscured her memory, for though she recognized everyone at once, she could not recall their names, or where they had just been. But now the dance hung above them in the air like a fountain of light, and they drew together into a still embrace, then lifted their heads and, all on one note, sang for joy.