<<Why do you stare so longingly at my hand, Aurelie>>?

I felt myself blush and hoped he could not detect it in the evening light.

Slowly, he unfurled his fingers and waited.

I slid my own against the curve of his palm until my hand was nestled against his. He curled his fingers around mine.

<<You have had many troubles during the past suns>>, he meant. <<A great many. As have I>>.

I noticed when he meant this that he was tired, his eyes darker than the last time I saw him, and his handsome mouth downturned into a slightly deeper frown. With my free hand, I touched his cheek in an effort to soothe him.

To my surprise, he reached his hand to my cheek and kept it there. <<I have not been attentive to you>>, he intended.

Oh, but I did not need attention from Alexander. I needed to understand what he was. What he was to me. To my story.

I brought my face to his, leaning my forehead against his and looking into his eyes. If only the truth could flow from his mind straight into mine.

He gazed into my eyes, and I could see as he did—that the night was hazy purple and gold and that the moon shone like a sweet, milky star above us.

<<You seem…willing. More willing than usual>>.

I sighed, for his hands on my cheek both quenched my thirst and quelled my hunger. I felt life flow through my muscles once more. And I understood then that if ever I wanted to know how to free my pyres, I would need Alexander’s help. And if ever I was to understand Alexander, I would need to let go of myself and let him in. I would have to let him speak to me. I would have to listen.

Luckily, I was a very good listener.

Episode 72: A Pyre And A Young Woman Learn To Know One Another

Alexander swept the loose strands of my hair from my face, connecting his eyes with mine. A hint of a smile on his lips. <<What madness are you plotting this moon, my dear>>?

How strongly I could feel his meanings now, almost as if the current was sourced from my own body. Where before I might only have received a general sense that he was curious, now I could tell that he thought me clever and that he held me dear as well. How deep did his sentiment for me go? How well did he wish to know me? I sighed with the frustration of not knowing. It was exhausting to try to understand this pyre.

<<You wish to know me>>?