Break the Day (Nightstar Book 1)

Fennrin had no idea what to make of Ainreth. On one hand, the man seemed rather rude to the people around him, and on the other, he seemed to care a whole lot. It made no sense to him. The way Ainreth treated Petre was a perfect example of this. He didn’t remember the family name of his lieutenant, and yet he treated them in such a generally positive way.

Fennrin didn’t get it at all. It was all just very strange.

But he supposed it didn’t really matter. As long as Ainreth didn’t treat him rudely, then it was none of his business, though that thought made him feel a little selfish. But then, he had been feeling that way the longer he stayed because Ainreth had been buying him food, and now he’d also given him a bed in his guest bedroom, which he apparently had. Fenn wanted to protest, intending on sleeping in the communal sleeping quarters of the army, where he had been offered a place, but Ainreth had insisted, saying that they were on the other side of the city.

And so Fennrin had given in. And he’d not slept so well in years. Whatever that mattress had been made of, it was incredible. He felt a little bad about all the things Ainreth had decided on giving him. Now he was twice as intent on learning everything he needed to help protect Ainreth.

He had been very torn at the library, at least until he heard that he could meld into other people’s shadows. If that were the case, then perhaps there was hope of being useful for this after all. He wasn’t certain if he was going to be unaffected by sound as a shadow, but he was willing to try all of this out. Assuming he would figure it out.

He followed Ainreth down back to the city, already dreading the way back. Ainreth had assured him that he’d get a carriage to get them up here, but Fennrin refused. He had already wasted enough of Ainreth’s money. If he could avoid using more, he would. Besides, it was good physical training. He needed to get stronger, anyhow.

“So, where are we going?” asked Fennrin after a while once he managed to tear his eyes away from the sight of Kyr-Toryl spread out below them. The city was so large, spreading so much farther than he’d ever been expecting, from one edge of the curved mountain range to the other. He wondered how many people lived here.

Perhaps he should read up on Kyr-Toryl also. It seemed quite interesting.

“Oh, just anywhere,” Ainreth said, looking over his shoulder to smile at Fennrin. With the sun shining behind him, making his black hair shine and his skin look almost golden, Fennrin almost paused for a moment at how handsome the lightweaver was, especially because today he wasn’t wearing his cloak anymore, opting for a red tunic and a leather jacket with emblems in the shape of the sun on his shoulders made with what seemed to be thin pieces of actual gold.

Because of course he would own something like that. Though Fennrin couldn’t even manage to roll his eyes at it. It looked too good on Ainreth for that.

Realizing that he was staring, he forced himself to get a hold of himself quickly, looking away. With what had happened with that librarian yesterday, Fennrin had the feeling getting involved with Ainreth would hardly be good for him.

“I wanted to bring you to see the city,” he continued as they headed over one of the many bridges, sticking his hands in his pockets. “And by that, I mean one of the less pretentious parts of it. There’s a lot of places with a bunch of narrow alleys and shadows when you leave the rich districts. Also, a lot of nice taverns, if you’re interested later.”

Oh. Fennrin hadn’t expected he’d be using his powers outside. Where people could see him. He’d thought they might head to some training rooms the royal army had at their disposal. But he supposed it would make more sense to train in natural conditions, and if he was to be useful, he would have to use his power outside anyway. He couldn’t freeze up for fear of people shunning him, not if he wanted to protect Ainreth against the soundsmith.

“Something wrong?”

Fennrin blinked. “Uh. No. Apologies.”

Ainreth had now stopped, looking at Fenn with concern. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“No, I do,” Fennrin immediately replied, giving Ainreth a nod. And despite his stomach twisting itself into knots, his voice was firm and decisive. The sooner he learned how to turn into a shadow, the better. Of all the things his ability allowed him to do, this seemed like one of the most important.

“Offer to carry you is still on the table, you know,” said Ainreth with a lopsided grin. Fennrin sighed. He didn’t need to be mocked like this. Given everything Ainreth had already done for him, he felt like he should tolerate it, but his pride wouldn’t let him.

“No. Please, stop suggesting that.”

Ainreth’s face fell a little, and Fennrin hesitated. Had he been serious? Fennrin had been sure Ainreth had been making fun of him. But perhaps he’d misjudged his intentions. Either way, he didn’t quite like the idea of being carried around in public, so it didn’t change his opinion.

“Fine,” Ainreth finally said, pouting a little, though he still had a happy spark in his eyes. Thank the moon. Almost immediately that spark grew as another grin appeared on Ainreth’s face, also. “Oh, I just thought of the perfect place to go. Come on.”

Very curious, Fennrin went after Ainreth as the man set off. Even though Fennrin didn’t know Kyr-Toryl much at all, once they crossed the large bridge leading to the palace, he was sure that they started heading somewhere else than where they’d come from yesterday.

They didn’t follow the series of bridges leading farther down, instead following a path leading down into what seemed to be a park of sorts, with tall trees and nicely cut grass, and benches along the stone path cutting through it. It was quite nice, being here, Fennrin decided as they kept going. Given how relatively close it was to the palace, perhaps he might go here later just to spend some time here if he was able.

Ainreth kept leading him farther and farther down until the perfectly painted houses with shiny roofs were replaced with ones with peeling, faded walls and old doors. But Fennrin wouldn’t call it uninviting. It was actually quite comfortable for him, the shadows cast by the city above and the houses all around them making the streets cozy. This was certainly closer to how he’d lived for the past years compared to the luxury at the palace and Ainreth’s house.

As they walked down the street, Fennrin started to notice just how many people passing them greeted Ainreth, if not verbally than by nodding their heads at him. And yes, Ainreth was very famous, but people didn’t act like this toward him at the palace. This seemed generally friendly. Fennrin wondered how often Ainreth came here for the people to know him well enough for this.

But he said nothing, continuing to look around curiously as Ainreth kept leading him farther down the road. They passed through a busy marketplace, pushing past the people shopping and browsing, walking past inns and taverns, before Ainreth finally stopped, looking into an alley on his right.

Fennrin peered in it as well, noting that it was narrow and dark, with only the gaps between houses letting sunlight through.

“All right, let’s try this out. Go to the other side of the alley and use that shadow form thing to reach me without me seeing you.”

Fennrin gaped at him. He didn’t even know how to become a shadow, let alone do it well enough to pass by undetected. From what he’d read about it, the book had claimed it should be easy, but that was incredibly subjective. “I don’t know how to do this.”

“All right, we’re standing in shadow,” Ainreth pointed out, spreading his arms to gesture around him. “Try it out.”

Sunder. Fennrin hated that Ainreth had said the obvious thing because he was apprehensive about trying this. He didn’t want to seem foolish by not being able to figure this out. But rationally, this was the logical thing to do.

Taking a nervous look around, relieved that at least they were alone, though there were people in the distance walking their way, Fennrin took a deep breath, closing his eyes. He had no idea what he was supposed to do, but there was no complex process to him creating shadows or modifying them. He just did it when he wanted to, much like moving his limbs. Maybe it was as easy as that in this case, too.

He took another deep breath, willing himself to become a shadow only to immediately feel like he was falling. Letting out an alarmed cry, his eyes flew open. But he was still standing in front of the alley. Nothing had changed.

“Are you okay?”

Fennrin focused on Ainreth and his somewhat alarmed face. “Yes. I just…I felt like I was going to fall.”

“You didn’t seem that way. You did start to, like, dissolve into shadow, though,” Ainreth said, his eyes still wide. Though he seemed a little excited aside from looking concerned.

Then perhaps feeling like he was falling had just been a part of that. He would have to try to ignore his instincts and let himself fall if he wanted to do this.

Shaking his head, he tried again, now the discomforting feeling of falling to the ground coming in almost immediately. But Fennrin forced himself not to react until it was suddenly over. And now he was on the ground. But also the walls. He could still see, hear, feel things, and yet he had no ears, no eyes, to allow for it. He could see Ainreth above him, looking around at the shadows, probably trying to spot him.

Fennrin could see the outline of his shadow among the others, a slightly darker shade, but he doubted Ainreth would be able to tell. It was incredibly subtle, and he suspected that the only reason he could see it was that he could feel himself as different from the other shadows. He tried to move, gliding along the cobblestone slowly.

This was very strange and disorienting.

“Um, can you hear me, Fenn?” asked Ainreth, once again looking a little concerned.

Right, he should return to his human form. A terrifying thought about possibly not being able to suddenly entered his mind, but Fennrin shook it off before it could make him anxious, doing what he’d done to become a shadow in the first place—will himself to be physical again.

And suddenly he was standing before Ainreth again, making the lightweaver flinch. It only took him a second to recover, though, certainly less than it took Fennrin to orient himself once more now that he wasn’t on the ground anymore, and suddenly he was being hugged and spun around.

Fennrin let out a cry, staring at Ainreth with wide, shocked eyes as the man set him down again, grinning ear to ear with his hands gripping Fennrin’s shoulders.

“You did it!” He almost sounded proud. It made Fennrin feel strange, his insides fluttering. He’d never been praised for using his powers before. Blight, he had never even been encouraged to use them. It made his head spin. “Knew you could.”

Still too shocked by the turn of events, Fennrin couldn’t manage to say anything as Ainreth continued grinning happily. Only then did Fennrin notice just how young the other man looked. He was thirty, if Fennrin remembered correctly, which was still very young for a general, but since az-ari aged much slower, Ainreth looked closer to twenty than thirty.

“Want to try the alley now?”

Fenn blinked, getting a hold of himself. Right. Yes. They should do that. He looked at the alley again as Ainreth let go of him, frowning. “You said I should do it without you seeing me.”

Ainreth nodded.

“What about that strip of light?” Fennrin pointed at it, even though he likely didn’t need to. It was right in the middle of the alley, and very visible. “I can’t pass through that.”

Ainreth hummed. “Well, how about you create a shadow to obscure the light?”

Oh. Fennrin felt his cheeks warm. Why hadn’t he thought of that himself? It was so obvious.

Feeling more than a little annoyed with himself, he nodded, melding into the shadows once more. This time the discomforting feeling of falling was lesser, likely because he knew to expect it now, and once more he found himself on the ground again. This was so disorienting, but he felt like was getting the hang of this the more he knew what to expect.

He started to move, sliding down shadows of the alley, gradually increasing his speed as he approached the strip of sunlight where he stopped. He was about to create a shadow for himself to slip through, but then he paused, wondering what would happen if he tried to cross anyway.

He tried to move into the light, but he was stopped immediately, as if hitting a wall. He couldn’t push himself over the light, no matter how hard he tried. It made sense, of course—a shadow couldn’t exist in direct light—and yet it was truly strange to experience it.

Creating a shadow it was. But as he tried, he quickly realized the problem with that plan. He’d always moved his fingers to do that. And he had none right now. He tried to will a shadow to appear anyway, but it wasn’t working. The strip of light stayed the same, no matter what he did.

He wanted to sigh, but he couldn’t even do that like this. It seemed he would have to take on a physical form to pass through this. Or perhaps….

Fennrin slid onto the wall, following the edge of the light until reaching the roof where it ended. The roof was lit up by the sun as well, but just between the strip of light and the roof, there was a thin shadow, just enough for him to slip through.

Making his way to the other side, Fennrin felt a rush of excitement as he sped up, quickly gliding to the end of the alley before turning into his normal form again. With a smile on his face, he turned to look at Ainreth who cheered loudly, raising his arms.

“Yes!” he yelled, grinning. Fennrin felt his heart stutter. He sounded so excited. And Fennrin supposed so was he, though less openly. At least this power couldn’t harm anyone as far as he knew, not unless he went around melding into other people’s shadows.

Fennrin frowned. He should probably try that out, also, but he didn’t want to accidentally hurt someone. Maybe it was very easy to hurt people like that, what did he know? He was afraid of risking it.

Still, that was something to worry about later. He dissolved into a shadow again, returning to Ainreth the same way he’d come, trying to go as fast as possible. Like this it felt like he had no limitations, going faster and faster until he reached the other man, and changing to his physical form once more.

He would have to try out how fast he could go, if there even was a limit, later on sometime. This seemed like very important information.

“Whoa, you got back fast,” Ainreth commented, a big smile still on his face, practically glowing. He almost felt awkward, not sure to handle all of this praise. He wasn’t used to receiving any, so this was a bit hard to deal with. He didn’t want Ainreth to stop, of course, but he also had no idea what to do. “You’re already getting better.”

“I can’t pass through the light,” Fennrin said, sighing. “I tried creating a shadow, but I can’t, not when I myself am a shadow.”

Ainreth hummed, reaching into the inside of his jacket and pulling out a book. Fennrin’s eyes went wide when he realized it was the book about shadowforger powers they’d looked at yesterday.

“I didn’t see you borrow that,” he said, frowning at Ainreth. Surely he hadn’t stolen it. Surely.

Ainreth shrugged in mock innocence, smirking a little. “And no one else did either.”

“Ainreth,” Fennrin tried to berate him, but the lightweaver raised his hand, stopping him.

“I thought it would be useful, but those stuck-up librarians won’t let you take things outside of the library,” he said, already paging through the book. “I thought it would be useful as you train. I’ll return it later.”

Fennrin shook his head, though he supposed he could appreciate the gesture. That didn’t mean he had to approve of theft, however, even temporary theft. Especially because, now that he knew Ainreth had done it because of him, he felt responsible for it. What if someone else needed this book? What if it got ruined? The library likely had a copy given the information it contained, but that didn’t mean it was okay to take it.

“Don’t worry about it, Fenn. I promise I’ll take good care of it.” Then Ainreth smirked again. “Figured you’d be a bookworm.”

Fennrin scowled at him. “I didn’t touch a book in nine years before coming here.”

Ainreth’s face fell a little, but he quickly changed his smirk for a genuine smile as he squeezed Fennrin’s shoulder. “I didn’t mean that as a bad thing, you know. We’ll get you some books. I have some, but we can buy more if you don’t like them.”

And suddenly Fennrin felt guilty again. Not only for assuming that Ainreth had just made fun of him, which apparently was not the case, but also because he was once again reminded that Ainreth was spending money on him, with Fennrin having no way to pay him back. And now Ainreth was suggesting buying something as expensive as books?

The man was mad.

“I can’t make you buy me books, Ainreth,” he weakly argued, still a little shocked that the lightweaver had even suggested that. How much money did he have?

Ainreth let go of Fennrin’s shoulder, shaking his head, his face growing serious. “Very few people can make me do things, Fenn. You’re here to act as my bodyguard in case that soundsmith lady shows up again. I think it’s more than justified that I make sure my bodyguard is well-fed, well-dressed, and entertained, no?”

Fennrin wanted to argue back that he had yet to prove his worth as a bodyguard, but he knew Ainreth wouldn’t take that argument seriously. The man had clearly already made up his mind. But it didn’t really help Fennrin feel less guilty about any of this. He felt like he owed Ainreth so much more than he could ever repay.

It simply felt strange to struggle in poverty day after day, and then suddenly to be free from all that, to not have any material worries anymore, and it was all due to one person who was paying for it all.

“It’s nice to be able to spend my money on someone I like, you know,” Ainreth continued, his smile widening, his eyes sparkling. Fennrin felt his stomach flutter. Ainreth liked him? Well, actually, that had been obvious before. It was simply different to hear him outright say it. “Sun knows I have too much of it.”

Fennrin raised an eyebrow. He failed to see how having a lot of money was a problem, but he said nothing, still reeling from what Ainreth had told him before to manage it. Far be it for him to tell Ainreth how he was supposed to spend his money, anyway. Fennrin would just hate to take advantage of this.

“Anyway, let’s find out more about the shadowmelding,” Ainreth said without missing a beat, turning his attention to the book. Fennrin waited for him to finish reading whatever passage he had found for a moment, only for Ainreth to let out a disappointed hum. “Hm, well, that isn’t very useful.”

“What did it say?”

Ainreth shrugged, turning the page. “Not much. Just that you can move really fast. But we’ve noticed that already. Maybe you can’t combine your powers like that.”

Fennrin was starting to think that as well. He couldn’t help but feel a little dissatisfied with that. This power seemed less useful when he needed to rely on shadows. But he supposed he shouldn’t look at it like this. It would still be very useful going forward, especially if he truly were invulnerable like that.

“Oh, but we haven’t tried how you can meld with the shadows of people yet,” Ainreth said with newfound excitement, grinning as he slammed the book shut. “Let’s do that!”

Fennrin felt his stomach flip, but it was because of fear this time, not whatever he’d been feeling before. “Is that a good idea?”

“You seem to have pretty good control over your shadow form, right?” Ainreth’s smile turned softer. “And you didn’t know you could do that before trying it just now. So what could go wrong?”

Had Ainreth truly had to ask that question? Now, something was bound to go wrong. Fennrin swallowed, feeling his anxiety double. “What if I hurt someone?”

“Why did you sprain that cat’s tail?”

Fennrin blinked at the sudden change of topic. He looked away as the memory of that day came back to him. It had been haunting him since it had happened, even though it had been so many years. “It was an accident.”

“Yes, of course it was.” Fennrin would have suspected sarcasm, but the man had sounded so earnest. He looked into his deep, dark eyes again, grimacing. He expected judgment, perhaps for Ainreth to laugh at him again, but the man was staying completely serious. “But how did it happen? Did you lose control?”

Fennrin sighed, recalling that awful day despite his best efforts. “I was…moving her tail a little. By grabbing her shadow. I don’t know what I was thinking. My parents made it clear when I first found out about my abilities that they never wanted me to use them.”

Fennrin took a deep breath, feeling his heart clenching. It felt good to tell about this to someone, but at the same time, it almost caused him physical pain to do so. He’d been keeping it all to himself. It felt like a personal failing on his part, a very foolish thing he’d done at seventeen that was accompanied by so much shame.

“And then my mother walked in and I….” He shook his head, looking away. “I panicked.”

Ainreth nodded, his face serious, but his eyes kind. Fennrin couldn’t bear to look into them. It made his own burn with unshed tears too much.

“So, you lost control because you got startled?”

Fennrin shrugged. “I suppose.”

“Great. So we’ll make sure nothing startles you.”

Fennrin stared at him. That was why he’d asked? He wasn’t sure if he was annoyed or relieved. And yes, it was true that a large part of why he’d hurt the cat was because his mother had barged in on him. But that didn’t mean his powers weren’t dangerous, much the opposite. If he could hurt someone because he got surprised, that was a horrible risk to take.

“And you can do it to me.”

Fennrin’s eyes snapped back to Ainreth’s, widening. “What?”

“Meld with my shadow.”

Fennrin couldn’t get himself to respond for a moment, too shocked by how casually Ainreth had suggested that. As if it was no big deal. As if Fennrin accidentally hurting him wasn’t the worst thing he could ever do for a variety of reasons.

“What if I hurt you?” Fennrin asked the moment he found his voice again, his words shaky. But Ainreth kept smiling, patting his shoulder.

“You’re not going to. I trust you.”

Fennrin bulged out his eyes at him even more. “We’ve known each other for two days.”

Ainreth put the book back in whatever pocket he had on the inside of his jacket, his grin widening. “What can I say? I have a good feeling about you.”

That was probably the first time someone had thought that. Fennrin truly didn’t understand anything, but he should definitely stop trying. He supposed he trusted Ainreth too as much as he allowed himself to trust someone so quickly after meeting them, but Ainreth was a famous general, who had a history of being trustworthy, even if he was rude sometimes. What did Ainreth know about Fennrin to trust him like this?

His heart still beat erratically as he nodded, despite his reservations. If Ainreth believed in him so much, maybe he should use that to try to fool himself into doing the same.

“Come on, it’s going to be fine.”

Fennrin stared into Ainreth’s warm gaze for a little bit, letting his smile calm him a little before shutting his eyes and sighing. He still felt incredibly paranoid, but he would do his best. He had to figure this out sooner or later, anyway.

“Okay.”

Dissolving into shadow again, Fennrin felt a little comforted by the fact that this process was becoming more and more natural. Though he had so many questions about it. Could he stay like this indefinitely? Could he grow hungry like this? Or thirsty, tired? He would have to read up on this further, or try it out himself. This was important information.

He slunk underneath Ainreth’s boots, trying to find his shadow, just to get this over with. At first, he was worried he wouldn’t be able to find anything, given that the part of the street they were standing in offered no sunlight, but somehow he could tell immediately where Ainreth’s shadow was, stretching from the cobbles to the wall of the house next to him. Fennrin couldn’t really see it, but he could feel it. And he didn’t think he could tell like this in his physical form.

Interesting.

Sliding into Ainreth’s shadow, copying the exact shape of it with ease as if he’d done it hundreds of times before, Fennrin would have gasped if he could as he suddenly became aware of every single movement Ainreth made. He swayed with the shadow as Ainreth turned around, not even feeling like he was the one doing that. It was as though his form had attached itself to Ainreth’s shadow, staying within it.

Feeling some of his paranoia leaving him, he wondered just how he was supposed to do anything to cause physical harm to people like this. Of course he didn’t want to hurt Ainreth, but he didn’t understand what he was supposed to do in general.

Perhaps if he tried reaching out—

He immediately froze as he felt himself brush against Ainreth’s hand, making the man flinch. Fennrin quickly withdrew as the lightweaver chuckled.

“Is that you, Fenn?”

Fennrin immediately turned himself back into his human form, blushing, rubbing the back of his neck, and avoiding Ainreth’s gaze as the man turned to look at him. He hadn’t meant to do that.

“You know, if you wanted to hold my hand, you could have just asked.”

Fennrin’s face turned a shade darker. Embarrassed, he longed to become a shadow again, but he didn’t want to disappear like that. Ainreth would probably worry if he did that. “It was an accident.”

For some reason that made no sense to Fennrin, Ainreth was now pouting when he risked a glance at him, as if he was disappointed. Fennrin wasn’t going to unpack that right now, though.

“But hey,” Ainreth said after a second of silence, grinning again. It seemed nothing could bring down the man’s mood for long. “You didn’t hurt me, just like I told you you wouldn’t. I hope you start trusting yourself a little now.”

Fennrin sighed. He should probably do that. If he had no trust in his abilities, he was going to make for a poor bodyguard. But it was still terrifying, especially after reading about all those evil shadowforgers throughout history. What if all of this power went to his head?

He hoped Ainreth would keep him in line about that.

“I’ll…do my best.”

Instead of saying anything, Ainreth pulled Fennrin into a hug, which the shadowforger was too startled to react to until he was encircled by Ainreth’s strong arms. “Of course you will, Fenn. You’ve been doing that the entire time.”

He sounded so completely sure way he said that was so mindboggling to Fennrin, but he decided to just accept it. Maybe he wasn’t meant to understand this. Or Ainreth in general.

He considered hugging him back, just for a second, but before he could decide, Ainreth drew away, patting Fennrin’s back. “I wonder if you could immobilize me.”

Fennrin blinked. “What?”

“You know, stop me from moving. You can do that by keeping my still shadow, the book said,” Ainreth added, a big, excited smile on his face. As if he was giddy for Fennrin to do something like that. It sounded very disconcerting to Fennrin to imagine suddenly not being able to move. But it also sounded like a useful skill that would be useful to protect Ainreth, so he supposed he had no arguments against it.

“I suppose? I would have to try.”

Ainreth nodded quickly. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

Fennrin still felt awkward from accidentally touching Ainreth’s hand before, but yes, this was important. And at least Ainreth didn’t seem offended by what had happened. He had made fun of Fennrin for it, but that seemed to be a rather common occurrence.

Agreeing, Fennrin turned into a shadow once more. The transition from standing to being on the ground was getting less and less disorienting, also, now that he knew what to expect. That did make him a little excited, no matter how nervous he was about using his powers. At least he was getting better at it.

Moving into Ainreth’s shadow again, he tried to pull at it, make it motionless. The shadow obeyed easily, doing exactly as it was told, which resulted in a half-surprised, half-impressed noise from Ainreth.

“Okay, this is a bit too effective,” he commented, making Fennrin focus on him. The lightweaver was stuck in place. Fennrin could see his arms shaking with effort, but he wasn’t moving. And it didn’t even take much effort to keep him like this. All Fennrin had to do was keep his shadow in place.

Suddenly feeling strange about this, Fennrin let go, slinking off beneath Ainreth so he could turn into his human form in front of him.

Ainreth ran a hand through his hair, making a few strands of it fall down in his face. Fennrin had been worried that the man might regret allowing him to try this power out on him, but instead, Ainreth was grinning still, looking very impressed.

“Okay, that will come in handy for sure,” he said, nodding. “I could do nothing against that. I couldn’t even move my fingers enough to summon light.”

Oh, Fennrin hadn’t even realized that, but that was what he’d done, wasn’t it? He’d not only taken away Ainreth’s control of his body, but he’d also made it impossible for him to use his power. Now he felt doubly as dubious about doing this to Ainreth, even if the lightweaver himself didn’t seem bothered.

“Hey, think I could keep you from doing that by shining light at you?” Ainreth asked, his face suddenly pensive. “You know, like this?”

Fennrin blinked as Ainreth suddenly started glowing, forcing him to squint at him for a moment, the harsh light far too bright in the dim street to not be blinding. For a moment Fennrin could do nothing but stare at Ainreth.

He was so beautiful like that, there was no getting around it. Ainreth’s entire body had a golden halo of light around it, lighting up every corner around them, chasing away shadows. Even his eyes seemed to shine as Ainreth beamed at Fennrin. He didn’t look real, almost.

“Um.” Fennrin cleared his throat, remembering that there was a reason Ainreth had done this. “I will try.”

Changing into a shadow once more, Fennrin tried to get close to Ainreth, but he kept hitting invisible walls, unable to get within even a foot of him, his light keeping him away. Ainreth didn’t even have a shadow that Fennrin could control right now, the glow having erased it.

Like this, Fennrin couldn’t touch him. And strangely, he was comforted by that idea. At least Ainreth could easily defend against him if necessary.

Making himself physical again, Fennrin shook his head. “I can’t even get close to you.”

Ainreth’s glow disappeared as he twitched a finger, nodding. He didn’t seem pleased or displeased, apparently simply accepting the information. “Right, good to know.”

Fennrin was still a little too stunned from what Ainreth had looked like just a moment ago to give his thoughts, but as ever, Ainreth didn’t seem to mind or care as he pulled the book out again and started paging through.

“Hm, there doesn’t really seem to be anything about shadowforgers fighting lightweavers,” he said, frowning down at the pages. “But I don’t want us to fight each other. So that’s fine.”

Fennrin nodded grimly. He too would rather avoid fighting Ainreth. Even though Ainreth would no doubt win for many reasons, including what had just happened, and also Fennrin’s lack of physical strength. Not to mention his experience as a soldier.

“Here’s an idea, though,” Ainreth said, smiling again as he put the book away. “How about you chase me?”

Apparently, everything the man said today was going to surprise Fennrin. “What do you mean chase you?”

“I run, you go after me as a shadow, try to stop me,” Ainreth explained in a tone that suggested he thought Fennrin was silly for even asking. As if he couldn’t have meant anything else. Fennrin was dubious about this, but it sounded like a good idea for training. Whoever he would end up needing to use his powers on wasn’t likely to just stand there and wait for him to meld into their shadow, would they?

“Okay, let’s try,” Fennrin said, feeling his heart give a lurch. He hadn’t hurt Ainreth yet, but this would be a more hectic situation. Though he couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be to catch up to Ainreth and stop him. He was very fast as a shadow.

“All right. Give me a head start,” Ainreth said, and without waiting for Fennrin to respond in any way, he bolted, running down the street at a speed Fennrin hadn’t expected from him. He turned into a shadow, watching Ainreth get farther and farther away, two people walking the other way staring at him. Fennrin was very glad that at least he wouldn’t be seen like this.

Deciding that if he didn’t get going now, he would lose sight of Ainreth, Fennrin began to move, sliding along the shadowed street as fast as he could, quite quickly halfway catching up with Ainreth as he went from the cobbles to the brick walls and back, avoiding any sunlight that would stop him from advancing.

At least until Ainreth threw a sweeping arch of light at him. Fennrin was thrown back as the light hit, disorienting him enough that he had to stop and gather his bearing for a moment. He should have known Ainreth wouldn’t make it so easy. But he wouldn’t let him stop him so easily.

Setting off again, Fennrin followed Ainreth even faster, this time managing to avoid the light the man threw his way next because he had been expecting it, but before he could catch up and make Ainreth stop in place, a new problem appeared—a thick strip of sunlight in a gap between houses with no place to get around it.

Fennrin stopped in front of it, annoyed. He could give himself his physical body, cross it, and then make himself into a shadow again, but that felt like cheating for the purposes of this training. So instead he turned right, heading down a dark alley, hoping that he would be able to get around the light and then follow Ainreth directly again.

Rushing down the alley as fast as he could, he was relieved to know that the connecting street was half in shadow, allowing him to move over the houses and quickly find another alley leading him right where he needed to go.

When he got to the main street again, he didn’t even look around before continuing his mad dash to catch up with Ainreth, even though he couldn’t even see the man anymore. To make things worse, another strip of light in his way forced him to go back a bit and turn left this time, once more looking for an alternative route.

However, once he got back on track again, he spotted Ainreth in the distance, and he forced himself to go even faster, only noticing that Ainreth wasn’t running anymore when he was about twenty feet away.

There were four young children standing around Ainreth, which gave Fennrin a pause. He slowed down, curious what this was about, gliding along the street to get close enough to hear the children talking over each other with excited voices, and Ainreth’s chuckle that made Fennrin’s heart flutter, even though he didn’t think he had one right now, technically.

“Can we see the dragon, Mr. Daybreaker?” asked the smallest child, a girl of maybe five, bouncing up and down on the tips of her worn shoes. The other children immediately voiced their wish to see whatever dragon they were talking about, practically vibrating.

Fennrin immediately had so many questions.

“Oh? Where would I be hiding a dragon?” Ainreth asked, his grin audible in his words. Fennrin moved so he could see the lightweaver’s face, surprised when he did at the soft, gentle smile he was wearing.

“My sister said you can make one appear,” one of the boys said, looking pleadingly up at Ainreth, the other children joining in and begging. Ainreth gave an exaggerated sigh, pretending to give in as his shoulder sank.

“Fine, you little blights,” Ainreth agreed, shaking his head, though he was still grinning. Fennrin couldn’t look away. Ainreth had seemed so short with strangers. From what Fennrin had seen so far, anyway, but it had happened many times. So to see him be so happy and gentle with these, as far as Ainreth knew, random children, it made him see Ainreth in a different light.

He watched with fascination as Ainreth raised his arm, moving his fingers in a whirl, and suddenly something began to form right above his hand. A gold, glowing shape that quickly turned from a blurry blob to something with wings, four legs, a tail, and a long neck with a sharp head. Fennrin watched in fascination as the image cleared, sharpening until it became unmistakably a dragon, casting light all around it, and forcing Fennrin to move a little back.

The children cheered and gasped at the sight as the little dragon as it began to fly around, flapping its wings soundlessly. How was Ainreth doing this? Fennrin inched closer to him, watching him closely, noting that the lightweaver was twitching his fingers constantly, but all that confirmed was that he was using his powers to summon this dragon, which Fennrin had already known. It was the only possible explanation, after all.

The children giggled as they tried to chase the dragon, the beast swooping down and flying up randomly, twirling in the air. But Fennrin was too lost staring at Ainreth, at his gentle smile, the genuine happiness sparkling in his eyes.

“You can come out, Fenn, you know,” Ainreth said quietly, making Fennrin actually flinch, his shadow jerking a little. “I sure hope you’re here somewhere, or I must look really stupid right now.”

Deciding that he should probably turn back into his human form, otherwise he was basically spying on this scene, Fennrin moved behind the corner of a nearby house with no one around to see him, changing his form, and then walking back to Ainreth hesitantly.

The children hadn’t noticed him yet, still running around, reaching for the dragon as they tried to touch it.

“Oh, you are here, thank the sun,” Ainreth said, grinning at him. The incredibly gentle expression was gone, but he still seemed very happy, so Fennrin didn’t have to feel too bad for intruding on this. “I hope I didn’t hurt you when I threw that light at you. I didn’t really think about it.”

Fennrin quickly shook his head, not liking at all that Ainreth’s eyebrows were now drawn into a worried frown. “No, of course not. You simply slowed me down.”

“Oh good.” And the grin was back. Fennrin felt the corner of his mouth twitch up, but before he could properly smile back, the children came up to Ainreth again, looking disappointed, the youngest one especially, with her head hung low.

“The dragon disappeared,” she complained, which made Ainreth chuckle.

“Sorry, got distracted talking to my new friend here,” Ainreth replied, winking at Fennrin, which as always made him blush, not helped by the fact that now all the children were staring at him. “Fenn here is a shadowforger.”

The moment Ainreth said this, the children gasped and hid behind each other, with the oldest one at the front, looking terrified but still shielding the others. The reaction was unsurprising, expected even, and yet Fennrin felt his heart ache. He wondered how they’d react to seeing him meld into shadow. It probably looked quite disturbing.

“Hey now, Fenn is nice,” Ainreth berated them, putting his hands on his hips. And while nice of him to defend him, Fennrin had to wonder why he’d brought it up in the first place. Fennrin would have been happier like that. Not to mention that these children were no doubt going to tell everyone about what he was. “Aren’t you, Fenn? You’d never hurt anyone here.”

Fennrin shook his head, though he kept his head down. Now he felt like a child being scolded, even though he’d not done anything, the weight of all his predecessors’ crimes heavy on his shoulders.

“Fenn can do tricks too, you know,” Ainreth continued, making Fennrin’s head snap up to meet the other man’s eyes. He risked a look at the children, who seemed to be very hesitantly moving out of their little huddle.

“Tricks?”

Fennrin swallowed. What was a trick he could do that wouldn’t make these children run away?

He immediately got his answer when he gave it a second of thought longer, and he wanted to smack his forehead for not thinking of this immediately. He’d spent years creating and controlling shadow puppets. And he knew for a fact that children had liked those.

“I’ll need some more light,” he told Ainreth, who just gave a nod and a smile, raising his hand. Immediately the shadowed street brightened up, earning impressed noises from the children.

Fennrin raised his hand as well, moving his fingers as a small, circular shadow appeared on the cobblestones. The children watched it with apprehension but also with wonder, their eyes wide and fascinated.

Fennrin moved a finger, modifying the shadow, giving it long ears, four legs, and a small fluffy tail, forming the silhouette of a rabbit. The children’s fear had now mostly melted away as they reached to touch it. Before they could Fennrin made the rabbit bolt, running around the children, jumping up on walls and back on the cobblestones.

And the children cheered as they watched it, some attempting to pet it as the rabbit ran around them. But the fact that they were touching the cobbles instead of a rabbit didn’t seem to deter the children as they continued trying to catch it.

Eventually Fennrin let the rabbit disappear when the children seemed to be getting tired, and to his absolute shock, they rushed to him right after, staring up at him with joy in their eyes. And all Fennrin could do was stare at them, frozen in place, with no idea how he was supposed to react when they started babbling about how awesome the bunny shadow had been.

The audience of the shadow puppet shows did cheer at them, but he was sure they wouldn’t if they knew who had been doing them. So to have his power outright celebrated like this was a little shocking, to say the least.

And yet it made his heart soar.

He looked at Ainreth, who was grinning at him with so much happiness that it almost made Fennrin a little lightheaded. He almost looked proud, which wasn’t something Fennrin had experienced before, he didn’t think.

It made him hopeful. Maybe one day people wouldn’t shun him for his power. Maybe he could truly earn people’s trust if he tried hard enough. He was certainly willing to try.