It never occurred to him that stargazing would involve lying down together on a raised platform high above the city.
He looks back at the starry sky. It would be easier to see if he were to lie down.
“You don’t have to,” she says. “I used to come up here with my father before his knees kept him from climbing so many stairs, and we always lay on blankets like this. I just assumed...”
Her story touches his heart as thoughts of his own mother fill his mind. She’d love it up here. Perhaps if his parents visit again, Mother will be able to climb the stairs herself.
“Well. This was a bad idea,” Arisanna mumbles when he doesn’t respond. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“All right.”
She looks up at him. “All right?”
Rather than respond, he lowers himself to the blanket beside her, and soon, they’re lying side by side, staring up at the lights dotting the ebony sky.
Too Soon for Morning
Episode 15
ToElowyn’sdelight,halfthe clothes hanging in Rominy’s closet seem to be for her. Her own meager wardrobe looks pathetic beside the silks and satins and muslins and wool and even some fabrics she’s unfamiliar with.
Are these the gowns Arisanna decided to give to her?
There are even layers that must go under the other layers, but she has no idea how it all goes together. She’ll have to ask someone to show her how to put it on.
That’s a problem for tomorrow, though. Tonight, she just needs something to sleep in. She fingers a flimsy lace gown hanging alone and cocks her head to the side. Is this what human women wear to bed? She lifts it from the hanger and holds it against herself. Surely not. This must belong with the undergarments.
Suddenly the door opens, and Rominy looks up in surprise. His eyes grow large as he takes in the sheer gown she holds.
For a moment, neither of them speaks.
“I thought you were in the water closet,” Rominy eventually mumbles.
“I came in here to find something to wear, and I discovered all these gowns. Are these for me?”
His eyes keep straying to the lacy garment in her hands. “Well, since they’re not mine, they must be yours. I’m just going to—”
Before he can make another hasty retreat, she stops him. “Will you help me? I’m not sure what everything is.”
“H-help you?”
Judging by the look on his face, she may as well have asked him to kiss a frog.
“Is this for sleeping in?” she continues, undaunted.
“I...I”—he tugs at his collar and looks away—“I don’t know. M-maybe? I’m just...” He disappears again before he finishes talking.
She bites her lip and smiles at his hasty retreat. He’s surprisingly adorable at times.
Then she spots some more practical sleeping gowns made of one of the softest fabrics she’s ever felt.
That’s more like it.
After returning the sheer gown to its home, she heads to the water closet for another glorious shower.
BrightlightbehindRominy’seyelids wakes him from a deep sleep, and he groans. It can’t be morning already.
He waited long after the water for Elowyn’s shower stopped last night to venture anywhere near the water closet. After their awkward encounter in his closet—their closet—it became crystal clear that he needs to give more care to his actions before he barges in now.
