I still couldn’t believe it sometimes.

The Elf stood out in the rain, covering her gorgeous face with her hand as she peered through the sky. Drops fell on her clothes and tinkled against the tetrarmid plaques she wore. Her long straight hair fell in a waterfall of pure gold, contrasting delightfully with her sable skin.

“I think it is about to stop raining,” she said in her smooth voice, turning her grey eyes towards me. “You are looking at me. Is something amiss?”

“Maybe,” I grinned, covering my mouth with the back of my hand. “Maybe I just miss it when you are not here. Come back inside, I don’t want you to get a cold.”

“I would sooner sprout wings than get a cold,” she replied tilting her head. “Between my constitution and the blessings of Ansàrra, I’d wager I will never get a— and why are you laughing again?”

“You are so precious,” I said, standing up and walking towards her. A few drops fells on my face but Kishirra was right. The rain was about to leave. I wrapped my arms around her back, feeling the crinkling plaques and I set my cheek against her strong back. “I am not letting go of you.”

Kishirra blinked, then smiled, rubbing my arms with her hands.

“Was I being a ‘dork’ like you say sometimes?”

“Yes!” I chuckled.

“Then I am making good use of my time. Even if you keep using more of those weird terms from your old world.” She let me settle against her, breathing in her scent against that of the damp earth and the passing storm.

We had managed to put the tent up and hide from the worst of it but now that the bad weather was gone I really wanted to just walk out with her… holding hands, under the sun and the silver ring cleaving the sky.

“I am not letting go,” I repeated.

“Not until it’s time for me as well. Will you?” Kishirra whispered. The sheer hope in her grey eyes pierced right through my heart.

It also reminded me once again of the true purpose of her Quest.

She was here to let go. She was here to escape the cycle that had doomed her people.

She was here to die.

“Maybe I will just hold on for a few months after. I am not going to make any promises.”

Kishirra chuckled, entwining our fingers.

“It’s all so new for me. Enjoying the rain with someone else, taking a stroll over the hills… having hope for the future. I might need some time to get used to it.”

“We have all the time we can ask for,” I mumbled against her back, then paused.

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The thought that she would go… it was still bitter. It tasted foul, like something rotten I had eaten once and I wanted to never bite again.

But one day I would be forced to.

“Will you give us a bit of time?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Her hand left my arms and she turned to face me, tilting my head so that I was looking straight into her eyes.

Oh, was she gorgeous. The delicate tips of her ears stuck out of her blonde hair so teasingly.

I had to rattle my head

“I—” I wanted to grow old and grey next to her.

Kishirra would never change, of course. She had passed through the fire of the Epochalypse, at least two further rebirths and she was just as beautiful and as precious as the first day.

I just had a human body and a human soul — nothing that could compare to her strength.

I was the person to get a cold after all.

“I want to be an old lady with you. I want people to point and look at us and say: why is that old and wrinkly woman with that gorgeous Elf lady?”

Kishirra laughed again, a sound like raindrops falling on silver petals.

“Perhaps it is not just I who is precious. Or a ‘dork’, as you have said.” She leaned forward to kiss my brow. “I cannot make such promises. It is mostly up to my body, how long it can keep up against the ravages of my soul. And up to Ansàrra, of course.”

“Of course…” I sighed.

In my heart or hearts sometimes I had a few choice words for Kishirra’s sun goddess, but I had decided I would always keep them to myself.

“I cannot say how long we have,” Kishirra whispered against my ear in a silky voice. “I cannot foresee and I dare not. But were it even one day, I would gladly spend it with you.”

“I—” I choked on the spiny mixture of sorrow and joy that was stuck in my throat. “It’s just that… I’m very selfish.”

“We share our flaws, then,” Kishirra said, then she held my cheek as she placed her soft thin lips upon mine. My eyelids fluttered and for a few moments I forgot even the raindrops falling over my face as we shared the kiss as well, together with the very last of the storm.

When we departed, a blade of sunlight pierced the heavens and painted the grass a shiny grass, gleaming over the fresh dew.

Kishirra laughed with joy, capturing my lips once again.

“Was that a…” I looked at the blades of sunlight. A good omen?

I had a brief imagine spot of Kishirra’s goddess waiting on the doorstep, giving me a once-over: ‘so you are the one who wants to marry my favourite paladin aren’t you? Let’s see your resume young lady!”’.

“I’m just a herbalist…” I replied to the imaginary vision.

“More than enough for me,” Kishirra said, running her hands through my damp hair. “If you will be so kind to have me, I will have you. For all the time I have left.” She held up our entwined hands.

“… and maybe a few months after that,” I huffed. “I told you! You’re my Elf GF! I could never get enough of it!”

“I like it when you say it,” she grinned, teasing my cheek with her index finger. “That and all your strange foreign slips of the tongue.”

Kishirra kissed me one more time, briefly, then turned to see the clouds parting for good. A warm wind from the west rose and washed over the damp grass. Far in the distance, the white mountains surrounding the Mar da Candéa gleamed with fresh snow.

“You better get used to listening to them a lot,” I blushed.

“And I will be grateful for each day,” she replied with a flushed smile. Her cheeks growing even darker. “You have given me something to look forward to, after all. I think I am the one who is in debt with you, Lugana Delebasse.”

“Then how about we do something I had always wanted to?” I grinned as I quickly took off my shoes. The grass was fresh and wet and it felt feverish against my bare feet. Neither of my mothers would approve — in either world.

I pointed at the large apple tree in the distance, which had just started putting on new flowers, scattered amidst its branches like tiny soft white stars. “Race you to the tree!”

And I sprinted off on the grass. Kishirra’s eyes widened, she chuckled and was quickly after me.

As she ran at her leisurely pace for an Elf, she even pretended to put some effort into it.

“Wait for me,” she cried out.

Every day, I replied in my head.