Page 16 of In Your Light

“Oh blight, please don’t get all cryptic on me like Cern does. That man talks in riddles.” The wind whipped around Fyn, and he laughed.

“Lucky he likes you,” Hadeom said. He was half tempted to ask Fyn how old he was, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

“I’m twenty-two,” Fyn volunteered. “Human equivalent. Not that you asked.”

Twenty-two. He was barely a blink in Hadeom’s years.

Young. Far too young.

Far too bright and cheerful. Not that Hadeom should be thinking of Fyn in any particular way. Or even at all.

Yet he couldn’t help but like him. He liked his sunshine, his warmth.

He’d spent so long in the dark and cold, he’d forgotten how wonderful it could be. How nice it was.

Hadeom knew they could be no more than acquaintances, perhaps even friends, but he could allow himself to revel in Fyn’s warmth. Surely he could allow himself that much.

And friends.... Another thing Hadeom had gone so long without. He had Cern, of course, though they were more colleagues than friends. He’d been alone so long, he’d convinced himself he needed solitude.

Now he was beginning to think otherwise.

“Sorry,” Hadeom said quietly. “My conversation skills aren’t...”

“Very conversational?” Fyn supplied.

Hadeom chuckled. “I was going to say oft used.”

He snorted. “Oft used. You really are old.”

Hadeom’s mouth fell open. “Wow.”

“I’m not wrong, though.”

“No, you’re not,” Hadeom said. Then he let out a sigh. “I spent a very long time giving nothing but orders and statements. Ultimatums, even. This back-and-forth thing is new.”

“You should talk to my brother. You’d get along.” Then Fyn winced. “Sorry.”

“Don’t apologise. You’re not wrong again. I probably would get along with him. The only time I ever spoke was to give orders and statements, so...” He shrugged.

Fyn’s narrowed gaze met his before he turned his attention to the river. His jaw ticked, his teeth clenched. “Right.”

“But I wish to be more like you,” Hadeom admitted quietly. “You long to know real freedom, and you want more from your life. It’s taken me a long time,” he said, like that increment wasn’t an understatement, “but that’s why I’m here. I couldn’t exist like that for one more second. Something inside me broke, I think.” He tried to smile but failed miserably. “I can’t go back to what I was. It felt as if one more day of it would kill me.”

Fyn looked at him then, his sad smile etched with sympathy. “You came here to heal.”

Hadeom’s returning smile was rueful. He wasn’t sure he could heal, and he was most definitely sure he didn’t deserve sympathy.

“And to find your true form again,” Fyn added. “That’s what Cern said.”

“I’m not sure I can do either,” he replied. Then he laughed at himself. "I’m being pitiful right now. Ignore me.”

“You’re allowed to feel sadness,” Fyn said. “You’re allowed to let yourself be sad.”

Hadeom’s heart ached at his words.

Then Fyn offered him a smile that Hadeom felt soothe him in real time.

“You’re also allowed to feel happiness,” Fyn added. “You’re allowed to be happy.”