Jennifer woke up early. She felt great. A lot of burden had been recently taken off of her shoulders and they felt especially light today.

She turned her head to look at the window and greet the morning Sun like always (Ulte had three Suns, though two appeared at irregular intervals and not for long. The Sun she was looking at was called Antess and it would often rise in the morning in the direction of North-West and linger in the sky for two hours on average, gracing the world with its ember green light).

She noticed that standing in the corner there was a slim and tall woman with expressive snow-white hair and a pair of red eyes that were following her. The woman’s facial features were sharp and well-defined like most of the residents of Trelos-Agapi and the rest of her body was concealed behind thick robes that hung off of her delicate shoulders and brushed against the stone floor. It was a familiar figure that made Jennifer’s mood brighten just by being there.

Jennifer found nothing wrong with Lachersia looking at her sleeping face during the early morning hours and simply gestured for her to sit close and watch the view together to which Lachersia also silently agreed and glided over to the bed.

On Lachersia’s end, she was happy that the dim illumination concealed her features so that the bright redness of her cheeks wasn’t very apparent. She even had to employ a spell to levitate over in order not to stumble and embarrass herself.

She was unused to being unable to keep her emotions in check but when the things came to Jennifer, she couldn’t help but feel as if she had been reduced to being a teenage girl.

She felt very inappropriate and many things felt wrong and immoral for unknown reasons but she couldn’t help but enjoy the inappropriateness and feel as if she had succeeded in committing a crime and got away with it.

She awkwardly reached her arms out and half-timidly half-forcefully embraced the small frame of Jennifer.

Seeing that Jennifer didn’t resist or even act surprised but simply allowed herself to fall into Lachersia’s arms made Lachersia let out a breath and shake off the tension and nervousness possessing her before.

Jennifer seemed very interested in watching the landscape illuminated by Antess and all of her attention was focused on the picture one could easily see every day to the point she probably didn’t even notice what Lachersia had done.

The atmosphere was serene and the two people simply sat and looked at how the terrain was transformed under the soft ember green light until the trees and the fields began retreating into the darkness again as the Sun fell under the horizon.

Lachersia had never noticed the ephemeral beauty of the morning until Jennifer had entered her life. Now, after a whole week of them living together, she had grown attached to the moments that caused her precious little person to not hide behind her mask and openly greet the world that she seemed to love innately.

After the brief time when Antess appeared was over, Jennifer was still enchanted in her experience and continued to lie limply in Lachersia’s arms.

Lachersia was used to it. It seemed odd how Jennifer would have such a side to her but it also made sense to her. At the very core, Jennifer wasn’t just a person that wanted to lie to and deceive people. She was kind and loved the world no matter how much she wanted to deny it. She also didn’t seem to find company of people likable and felt endangered just by being around them. Which was why she hid behind the many veils and facades she was able to deploy at a drop of a hat.

She loved sincerity and wanted to be close to someone but had a very hard time trusting anybody and always kept whoever she seemed to be close to at a comfortable distance. It was a miracle that Jennifer was able to find the courage and strength to open up to Lachersia and, as Lachersia expected, they had grown much closer than they were before. She felt the immense trust that Jennifer felt towards Lachersia and Lachersia responded in kind by making sure that the trust wasn’t invested for nothing.

Such closeness and intimacy were absurd for two people who knew each other for less than two weeks but perhaps it was simply meant to be that way. They were both people that were lacking in what the other person could give and they were able to share those things with each other.

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Lachersia and Jennifer’s morning was quiet.

***

Elisa had no need for sleep, so her morning hours weren’t very different from any other time of the day.

Except, maybe her habit of watching the sunrise. She had heard that in the countries closer to the seas to the north they would be able to enjoy a sight of another Sun rising and falling before the start of the day. She felt quite envious.

Magicians would live for hundreds of years and it was simple for them to get tired and bored of many things. The small things making life beautiful would be overlooked and ignored because of their endless pursuit of their goals on the path of magic.

Elisa used to be like that too until she met her fated one. With him, she was able to regain the love for the small and wonderful things in life and she became happier in general. They would greet the rising Sun together every morning and see how the treetops would begin burning in the Sun’s golden light.

They would go to the shore and look at how the waves would crash against the ground, how the clouds would lazily crawl across the skies and at night they would look at the star dome and try to peek at the infinity hiding behind the empty abyss of space.

Even the most ordinary time could become unforgettable.

Remembering all those things brought a smile on Elisa’s face, making it even more enchanting as mesmerizing. But those memories made her feel bitter on the inside.

Not a single morning after Jeremy had escaped was as happy and beautiful as before and the shortness of the sunrise would remind her of the shortness of their time together. Every small and beautiful thing in the world they both loved so much was tarnished in her bitter feelings and never felt the same.

Now, looking at the sunrise she wondered if her fated one was also looking at the same Sun and what he was feeling. Would he feel sad or sorry? Would he still be enchanted with the contrast of the retreating shadows and the coming world of light? And would he be sharing those feelings with anybody else? Would he even remember her?

Elisa’s morning was bitter.

***

Claudia met Jeremy in the city’s park. It was a relatively large plot of land with many trees and walkways and several ponds and fountains. It would open at 4 am and Jeremy would always be there on time.

Claudia also liked that park. It would have few people in the early morning and it reminded her of home. Her people had a culture that treasured nature and enjoyed even the smallest of its wonders. The place was rather modest but it still was able to bring her the warm memories of her past life.

One time Jeremy asked her why she came to the park so early and so often and she replied that it reminded her of home. Jeremy was very interested in her previous home and Claudia wanted to tell somebody about it, so they began a long conversation about it. When they exhausted the topic, they shifted to another one and after that, they continued to talk until it began getting dark.

From then on they would meet at 4 am at the park and start talking about many different things, and sometimes one topic would be completely unrelated to another but they still found a lot of fun in their conversations. It turned into a habit for them to meet every day. It was how their friendship began.

It began getting cold and the weather began changing. They found fewer opportunities to talk to each other and not meeting in person didn’t feel the same. That was why one time Claudia forgot that her friend was an ordinary human and she used magic to find him and only by the time she knocked at the window of his rented apartment on the eighth floor did she remember her blunder though it was already too late as Jeremy had noticed her.

Contrary to her expectations, Jeremy simply shrugged his shoulders and let her in as if it wasn’t a big deal. They both kept quiet about this odd episode and now Claudia would fly over to his apartment and they would meet there. Jeremy somehow was forced into preparing meals for her by following the recipes she would give him so that she could have a taste of her home cuisine.

One time when she arrived, Jeremy didn’t open the window. She checked and found him lying on the floor with life slowly seeping out of him.

He was apparently poisoned because of the affairs of his family which left Claudia completely enraged.

She took Jeremy with her and froze his state with healing magic and had to take care of him for a week until he was able to wake up.

He had to stay in her lair for a whole week to recuperate. They talked a lot again and grew much closer as the topics became more personal. During one of the conversations, he said that he owed her his life which she remembered with unnatural clarity.

Their relationship changed before they knew it and Claudia became more possessive as the time went by. She didn’t restrict him too much but she began to feel that he belonged to her. But overall their relationship was very harmonious and they were both happy.

But during one of their conversations in the morning Jeremy and she got into a playful argument. She still didn’t understand what happened and why that happened but the argument began getting out of hand and it began to feel that it was only an excuse for them to argue. She tried to calm Jeremy down but he continued pushing the argument into further chaos and then escaped.

She thought that maybe her possessiveness made him feel angry or displeased and decided to give him some time to vent but she couldn’t find him even after an hour passed.

As the hours passed by without him being found she grew more agitated and angry.

And by when it was clear that he had disappeared, she was full of anger to the point where it affected the physical world.

Even now she would remember the time he ran away in the morning and not understand why he chose to do so.

Claudia’s morning was full of confusion.