“Hey, Hopey.” Liam’s childlike nickname for me always makes me smile.
“Hey, Liam,” I tell him, coming up and giving him a kiss. Our hands slip easily together and we walk towards Dia’s estate. We meet here twice a week so we can walk to the overloridian’s house together to train to become the future leaders of Cuir.
I wonder how that must feel, I think to myself. To train the ones who will take over for you. To have concrete evidence that your days are numbered.
Probably a lot like this feels, Pilot says to me, thinking about the boy whose hand I am holding. My heart constricts.
Lima and I met several years ago when I moved to Cuir. My family wanted me to grow up in the eilemaiden, since I would one day take over and the overloridian. We happened to move in next to the Pendants, and the rest is history.
We were close from day one. The kind of clio that just clicked with each other. He’s the best friend I’ve ever had, and it didn’t take him long to get that way. He just gets me.
My parents had taught me to be quiet about my fate, but because of our closeness it didn’t take long for me to open up to Liam about it. I was so excited I caould barely contain my words when I finally decided to share my secret.
I wasn’t expecting a secret right back, though. Because surprise! Liam is also destined to become an overloridian. Cuir in specific, because of course.
The fates of Amelia are cruel.
It didn’t take long for us to realize one of us wasn’t making it to the other side of twenty, but somehow nothing changed. Except, well, also this. The gravity and tragedy of the thing pulled us together closer than ever.
I don’t regret a thing, of course. Well, nothing except being born with a cyan whisp.
It’s really your fault, you know, I tease Pi. You have to laugh, because the only other option is to be afraid every single day as we get closer and closer to settling.
“Let’s skip training,” Liam says suddenly, breaking our comfortable silence. We’ve been training together with Dia ever since we found out we were both destined for the same fate.
“What?” I ask him. “Why?” He’s always coming up with these crazy schemes to get us into trouble.
“I dunno. Why not?” he says with a smirk. He drags me off the path that leads to the estate and down another that I know lead to the cloud fields. My heart drops.
“This is dangerous!” I tell him, feeling my belly get warm. Why do his ideas always have to threaten our lives?
“Oh, pssh,” he tells me, blowing off my worries like usual.
I know he thinks we can get away with anything (“We’re the prince and princess of Cuir, Hopey! What are they gonna do?”) but he can’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that that doesn’t include getting hurt. Pain has no bias. Liam and his disregard for safety worry me.
“Dia is going to wonder where we are,” I protest, knowing I’m not going to be able to drag him back.
Not that you want to, Pilot says. And maybe he’s right. It’s hard to give up an afternoon of fun with Liam to go learn boring things I’ll have a lifetime to perfect, anyway. Even the thought of it dampens my mood.
“Dia can have the afternoon off,” is all Liam says on the matter. He loves Dia too, but I know he’s thinking the same thing as me.
And so we go. We’re at the cloud fields by lunchtime, a place you should really only ever go when you’re settled. It’s where the ground lets out in random places beneath your feet, leaving nothing but open sky. The earth has crumbled away where the land got thin. It’s hard to tell where the holes are, though, because of the pearly clouds that cover the otherwise grassy fields. Fog, but pretty. A perk of living in the sky.
“What happens if we fall?” I ask Liam.
He squeezes my hand reassuringly. “Look what I’ve been practicing lately,” he tells me with an excitement that makes me nervous. He leans in and gives me a quick kiss before dropping my hand and stepping away. Our feet are already covered in mist and it makes me hold my breath as he takes his steps.
He squints his eyes and gets this really concentrated look on his face. And then…then he’s floating. Hovering, really, but I can tell his feet are off the ground.
“Did you settle?!” I ask him, my body feeling with dread and relief all at the same time in the most awful of contradictions known to the history of Amelia.
“Nope,” he exclaims proudly, touching back to the ground.
This is relief. But I can barely appreciate the fact that he isn't dying. I feel like collapsing. The guilt crashes onto me in waves.
It was only a half of a second, but that initial relief was there. I'm ashamed. For half a moment I had been happy to think he had settled. Liam CAN'T settle before me, though all signs say he will. It won't happen. It can't.
I was relieved.
"Hellloooo? Earth to Hopey?" Liam asks, clearly disappointed. I store away my self-hatred and gather up the fakest smile I can. Despite my inner struggle, Liam's trick was amazing.
"How?" I ask, stumbling for words. It's an accurate representation of my thoughts, though. How is that possible? The extent of Cuir powers for an unsettled clio is a light breeze that might ruffle hair. Not flight. Even just a little hovering like he had done should be impossible.
Liam shurgs, that proud grin returning to his face. "Just practiced," he tells me.
I turn to Kyrie, his daemon. "Change shape." I need to know for certain. She complies, changing from the blue jay on his shoulder into some sort of little cat. I breathe a sigh of relief. Oh, Gods. Things will be okay.
"How?" I ask again. But now that my adrenaline rush is gone, I shouldn't be surprised. If anyone could pull this off it would be Liam. There is no doubt in my mind that this boy in front of me was destined to be an overloridian. He'd say the same thing about me, of course. But this? This strength?
"You're incredible," I tell him before he has time to answer. I walk carefully over to him so I can plant a kiss right on his lips.
"Only 'cuz I have you," he tells me, returning the affection.
"You're gonna teach me," I tell him, pulling away and squinting my eyes at him. "Tell me all your secrets."
"Patience, grasshopper," Liam tells me with a wink. He takes my hand and leads me into the clouds.
Now it makes sense. He wants to test his new skill. "Liam..." I say, trailing off as we wander into the unknown.
"Trust me," he says. But my heart is pounding, and though I am sure he is confident in himself, I'm not quite faithful enough to think that that his little bit of floating will actually protect either of us from free-falling to our deaths.
Still, we walk hand-in-hand for sometime, me carefully brushing my foot out in front of me before every step. So when Liam's hand slips out of mine I am suddenly paralyzed with fear.
"Liam!" I shriek, unable to move.
I hear a laugh from below me. Looking down I see Liam's dark hair peeking out from the clouds.
"Lay down, silly," he tells me. I scowl at him and plan his death in five seconds, but do what he asks.
One of the holes is in front of us, small but gaping.
I can't wait to fly.
Cuir is above Solas, and looking through this sky hole makes that obvious. Bursts of light shoot up into the air from all over the eilemaiden.
"It's beautiful," I say, peering down through the hole in the earth.
"Only the prettiest for my pretty," Liam says with a smile that tells me he knows how cheesey he's being.
I lean over and rest my head on his shoulder, infinitely happy we ditched training.
"Love you, Hopey."
I smile, my heart warm and tingly. "Love you, Liam."
“Hey, Liam,” I tell him, coming up and giving him a kiss. Our hands slip easily together and we walk towards Dia’s estate. We meet here twice a week so we can walk to the overloridian’s house together to train to become the future leaders of Cuir.
I wonder how that must feel, I think to myself. To train the ones who will take over for you. To have concrete evidence that your days are numbered.
Probably a lot like this feels, Pilot says to me, thinking about the boy whose hand I am holding. My heart constricts.
Lima and I met several years ago when I moved to Cuir. My family wanted me to grow up in the eilemaiden, since I would one day take over and the overloridian. We happened to move in next to the Pendants, and the rest is history.
We were close from day one. The kind of clio that just clicked with each other. He’s the best friend I’ve ever had, and it didn’t take him long to get that way. He just gets me.
My parents had taught me to be quiet about my fate, but because of our closeness it didn’t take long for me to open up to Liam about it. I was so excited I caould barely contain my words when I finally decided to share my secret.
I wasn’t expecting a secret right back, though. Because surprise! Liam is also destined to become an overloridian. Cuir in specific, because of course.
The fates of Amelia are cruel.
It didn’t take long for us to realize one of us wasn’t making it to the other side of twenty, but somehow nothing changed. Except, well, also this. The gravity and tragedy of the thing pulled us together closer than ever.
I don’t regret a thing, of course. Well, nothing except being born with a cyan whisp.
It’s really your fault, you know, I tease Pi. You have to laugh, because the only other option is to be afraid every single day as we get closer and closer to settling.
“Let’s skip training,” Liam says suddenly, breaking our comfortable silence. We’ve been training together with Dia ever since we found out we were both destined for the same fate.
“What?” I ask him. “Why?” He’s always coming up with these crazy schemes to get us into trouble.
“I dunno. Why not?” he says with a smirk. He drags me off the path that leads to the estate and down another that I know lead to the cloud fields. My heart drops.
“This is dangerous!” I tell him, feeling my belly get warm. Why do his ideas always have to threaten our lives?
“Oh, pssh,” he tells me, blowing off my worries like usual.
I know he thinks we can get away with anything (“We’re the prince and princess of Cuir, Hopey! What are they gonna do?”) but he can’t seem to wrap his head around the fact that that doesn’t include getting hurt. Pain has no bias. Liam and his disregard for safety worry me.
“Dia is going to wonder where we are,” I protest, knowing I’m not going to be able to drag him back.
Not that you want to, Pilot says. And maybe he’s right. It’s hard to give up an afternoon of fun with Liam to go learn boring things I’ll have a lifetime to perfect, anyway. Even the thought of it dampens my mood.
“Dia can have the afternoon off,” is all Liam says on the matter. He loves Dia too, but I know he’s thinking the same thing as me.
And so we go. We’re at the cloud fields by lunchtime, a place you should really only ever go when you’re settled. It’s where the ground lets out in random places beneath your feet, leaving nothing but open sky. The earth has crumbled away where the land got thin. It’s hard to tell where the holes are, though, because of the pearly clouds that cover the otherwise grassy fields. Fog, but pretty. A perk of living in the sky.
“What happens if we fall?” I ask Liam.
He squeezes my hand reassuringly. “Look what I’ve been practicing lately,” he tells me with an excitement that makes me nervous. He leans in and gives me a quick kiss before dropping my hand and stepping away. Our feet are already covered in mist and it makes me hold my breath as he takes his steps.
He squints his eyes and gets this really concentrated look on his face. And then…then he’s floating. Hovering, really, but I can tell his feet are off the ground.
“Did you settle?!” I ask him, my body feeling with dread and relief all at the same time in the most awful of contradictions known to the history of Amelia.
“Nope,” he exclaims proudly, touching back to the ground.
This is relief. But I can barely appreciate the fact that he isn't dying. I feel like collapsing. The guilt crashes onto me in waves.
It was only a half of a second, but that initial relief was there. I'm ashamed. For half a moment I had been happy to think he had settled. Liam CAN'T settle before me, though all signs say he will. It won't happen. It can't.
I was relieved.
"Hellloooo? Earth to Hopey?" Liam asks, clearly disappointed. I store away my self-hatred and gather up the fakest smile I can. Despite my inner struggle, Liam's trick was amazing.
"How?" I ask, stumbling for words. It's an accurate representation of my thoughts, though. How is that possible? The extent of Cuir powers for an unsettled clio is a light breeze that might ruffle hair. Not flight. Even just a little hovering like he had done should be impossible.
Liam shurgs, that proud grin returning to his face. "Just practiced," he tells me.
I turn to Kyrie, his daemon. "Change shape." I need to know for certain. She complies, changing from the blue jay on his shoulder into some sort of little cat. I breathe a sigh of relief. Oh, Gods. Things will be okay.
"How?" I ask again. But now that my adrenaline rush is gone, I shouldn't be surprised. If anyone could pull this off it would be Liam. There is no doubt in my mind that this boy in front of me was destined to be an overloridian. He'd say the same thing about me, of course. But this? This strength?
"You're incredible," I tell him before he has time to answer. I walk carefully over to him so I can plant a kiss right on his lips.
"Only 'cuz I have you," he tells me, returning the affection.
"You're gonna teach me," I tell him, pulling away and squinting my eyes at him. "Tell me all your secrets."
"Patience, grasshopper," Liam tells me with a wink. He takes my hand and leads me into the clouds.
Now it makes sense. He wants to test his new skill. "Liam..." I say, trailing off as we wander into the unknown.
"Trust me," he says. But my heart is pounding, and though I am sure he is confident in himself, I'm not quite faithful enough to think that that his little bit of floating will actually protect either of us from free-falling to our deaths.
Still, we walk hand-in-hand for sometime, me carefully brushing my foot out in front of me before every step. So when Liam's hand slips out of mine I am suddenly paralyzed with fear.
"Liam!" I shriek, unable to move.
I hear a laugh from below me. Looking down I see Liam's dark hair peeking out from the clouds.
"Lay down, silly," he tells me. I scowl at him and plan his death in five seconds, but do what he asks.
One of the holes is in front of us, small but gaping.
I can't wait to fly.
Cuir is above Solas, and looking through this sky hole makes that obvious. Bursts of light shoot up into the air from all over the eilemaiden.
"It's beautiful," I say, peering down through the hole in the earth.
"Only the prettiest for my pretty," Liam says with a smile that tells me he knows how cheesey he's being.
I lean over and rest my head on his shoulder, infinitely happy we ditched training.
"Love you, Hopey."
I smile, my heart warm and tingly. "Love you, Liam."
