The prompt used: dancing in the night.
While Ria seemed to be safe to be with, the first nights we spent at the same camp I could not help keeping my guard up. Taking her with me had been risky and reckless enough even though the Harmony Blade seemed to approve it. She could easily turn on me in my sleep and hex me — she had been a powerful mage even on angel standards before falling, and it appeared that that had not changed. Only now she was far more capable of using hurtful magic, as the magic over the ruins had proved. She had told me that she still could use mending magic the way she used to, but her status as a fallen angel and the heartbreak had made her more focused on hurting everything around herself.
Whether that is true or not remains to be seen. Ever since leaving the ruins, she has not used magic at all — there hasn’t been any need for it — so I have no proof of her capabilities yet.
On the seventh night after leaving the ruins, when I was drifting to sleep, I heard her get up. However, her footsteps did not come towards me but went away instead. Once I stopped hearing the footsteps, I turned to see where she was going.
Then I saw what was going on.
She was dancing in the meadow we were camping next to. The crescent gave only a little light, but she still danced around the flowers without a single slip or stumble. I could only barely see her face, but I could have sworn that I saw her smile.
At some point, she stopped and came back to the camp. I decided to close my eyes and wait for her to come back. She probably did not want me to see her dance.
Once at the camp, Ria sat down and said, “You were watching, weren’t you?”
I snapped my eyes open and sat up. “How did you know?”
“Angels have a better eyesight than humans even at night.” Ria leaned back to look at the stars. “It’s been ages since I last danced. It was… it was before I fell. I had forgotten how good it felt.”
“I take it you’re quite artistic,” I noted. “Your violin, that dance. Few I know do so much in arts.”
“I suppose I am. Most angels take up something to augment their magic, a weapon, an instrument or some other object. I chose a violin. Music eventually made me learn to dance. They complement each other, you know.” Ria looked at me, an unmistakable smile in her eyes. “Combining the two helps with learning to maintain the rhythm.”
“I see.” I paused. “I couldn’t see it that well because it’s so dark, but I think your dance looked lovely.”
Ria’s eyes lit up even more. “Thank you!”
I could have sworn that the Harmony Blade hummed in approval.
“You know, we should probably sleep,” Ria remarked. “At least I could use the sleep now.”
“Yeah, me too,” I replied.
Ria nodded, lay down and pulled her blanket over herself. “Good night, Unar.”
I lay down as well. “Good night, Ria.”
I fell asleep, more at ease now.
Perhaps you can’t judge a mage by their capabilities at hurtful magic after all.
WindySilver 