---

You would not join me? Kairos asked playfully, in the sky, we could go anywhere. To be a bird, winged and free, oh, she had thought about it indeed. Toed the cliff edge and wondered if like a miracle, she might take flight. It was all fancy, the scene in her head, and though she was often a woman who moved with spirit and freedom, she knew that she was forsaken to be rooted to the ground. She was no bird, but she would always try to fly regardless.

His head leans down, pointing at her, and Kairos is drawn to his gaze as he speaks again. He's always so wise though he never makes her feel as if she were little and useless, but instead encourages her to listen. For him, the pages to come were endless, blank and ready to be written on. She's invited in. He's careful, he's quiet, but he's open. Francis allows her glimpses of him, the true him, and Kairos is always so delighted to be gifted with them. Yet here, right now, amongst flame, ash and woodland, he invites her in. Her gaze of ice and fire search his features, his elegant cheek bones and bright eyes, the arches of him that make up the valley of his visage and she smiles. It's soft, it's warm, and it's... grateful.

I permit it, she murmured, I am... honoured, to see any of your pages. With her, it was easier. Easier for him to be open, and Kairos' belly churns; she cannot help but think of her parents in that moment, how it was their teachings that had helped her blossom. We shall discover together, then, Kairos settled for them.

The tears don't fall but they threaten, and Kairos casts her gaze down to the ground as he murmured. I shan't, she said, but you must know, you must know, Kairos stressed, you matter here. Because again and again he would throw himself into danger, because he thought it was the right thing to do. A gallant Knight indeed.

He gives in; he lays down his sword and they come to an agreement. She releases a breath she hadn't realised she had been holding, and smiled up at him with understanding. Fine, she thought. She could accept his ways, so long as he accepted hers. Thank you, Francis, Kairos whispers as he draws closer, closer than he's let himself get before, and he brushed his nose against the shell of her ear. Kairos' eyes fluttered closed, maple surrounding her senses as she breathed him in, and for a moment, she allowed herself the reprieve.

She feels the tickle of home, and for the first time, she doesn't think of the rest of the Parthenon clan and mourns what she is missing, because right here, she is discovering.

---

In the sky, we could go anywhere, Long-disposed of childhood dreams bloomed to life within Francis in that moment, a gust of hope sweeping him off his feet in his heart. Anywhere?

He'd dreamed of travelling to distant lands, once. Read every book he could get his hands on; the Amazon, arid Egypt, even the harsh Siberia or richly forested Germany's secrets called to him, waiting to be unveiled by an intrepid wanderer. It wasn't his fate, of course. That silver spoon he'd been born with had quickly morphed into a gilded shackle, tying Francis to his duties to his people and his family. It was the latter that had finally made him more willing to settle into his role as heir; holding his baby sisters, he'd realized he would gladly give up the world to make sure they were never hurt. And so he had.

And it had still not been enough to save them all.

Hmm, He began, If I knew I would have your fine company with me on our travels, I could be convinced. Francis finally conceded, with a soft smile held mostly in his eyes.

The wildfire herself agreed, to permit him to continue to uncover each new page in her story alongside her. The prince's stomach flipped, some foreign but not unpleasant emotion battering within him as if a bird to be freed.

Still, any joy he felt in those moments was stilled and silenced as Kairos' eyes shone with unshed, glittering emotion. Francis' ears tilted forward, keenly attentive, before wilting back as she repeated herself. Kairos needed him to listen, and he did. But it wounded him to hear her so desperate to reach him. He frowned, sorrowful instead of disapproving, and nodded firmly to ease her concerns before he yet had the words to speak. Then we have reached an accord. He confirmed, softly, painfully aware of the exhale of his speech bending the fine hairs of her pelt.

Mutual aid, and promised efforts of understanding; this was a friendship he could have never even dared to imagine for himself in his previous life.

He remained there a moment longer, drinking in her scent and nearness despite the minimal contact they were in fact sharing. She was alive, and she was here with him, and that was more than enough. But Francis didn't let it linger too long; fears and doubts rearing their heads, and the smoke still coursing across the highlands all urging him to break the fragile bubble of the moment despite the way it pained him. Shall we get you back to the castle? The lower levels should be sheltered from all this smoke, and resistant to the flames encroaching on us.