Ascian

He stepped forwards and pressed himself into my palm. His fingers sank and entwined with mine, melting into one.
Soft chimes rang in my ears, chipping away at my mind. He stepped forwards and I stepped back. More chimes started ringing. The squealing of wind turned into a melody. Then he stepped back and I followed.
I didn’t know what this was that he was performing, but in a moment I was entirely engulfed in whatever glimmer just swallowed the both of us. We stepped back and forth, back and forth… I glanced above myself and saw a monumental chandelier of glass and crystal, the walls and floor were flashing with little refractions of all sorts of colors dancing along with us. We were moving so slow, yet I felt overwhelmed by the flurry of movement around us. I hardly kept my balance but he held me tight and he led me steadily across the marble, spinning me around and rocking us back and forth in a dance which’s complexity felt so simple yet I couldn’t keep up.

His hands gently caressed my side. It wasn’t my side as I knew it, my waist was tiny and my skin felt tight. I felt his fingers run over my back. Immediately, my mind jumped to my husband. There were others all around us, others just like Ascian, tall and slender, not at all dragon-like, and they were likely looking. But I couldn’t see any faces, any figures, just blurs shimmering all around us and yet giving us space in the middle of the ball room. They were coming and going, I felt presence after presence press into my senses. Not one I could identify, no smell either. They were flying by like waves in a storm.
Even in this feverish commotion I saw my Arpaad in a glimpse. He was not himself, did not have his face, but he was giving me his comforting smile I could always recognize.
I felt wronged, like I was dragged into this intimate situation although I couldn’t tell how much of it was real. I jolted, but Ascian clutched me tighter.

“Let the music finish playing.” He whispered.

I was pulled back into the enchantment. I’ve never heard his voice before. Although it felt like just my ears ringing in my own head. There was music, I just realized. Long, drawn out tones, no drums. I thought it was just the wailing wind singing to us, but now I could recognize the violins and the choir.
I was back in this world of his, fully enamored. The dance continued. I swayed along with his body, at some moments he leaned in closer and at some points he longingly gazed in my eyes and thought of my husband again. But this time I thought to myself about how much this must matter to Ascian. That’s when the music faded out and I felt the wind back at my fur.

I stared for long at him as the lights around us fizzled out and his face turned back into the one of the glass monolith I knew. It felt like ages came and went, swirled around us while we danced and then took us back to where we stood. But the place didn’t change. I couldn’t shake the thought of the ball room around us. Like it was at some point truly here. Like it was a memory. Just not my memory.
Arpaad didn’t say anything. He never even asked. I’m not sure he even noticed what went on. I’m not sure anything happened at all. Ascian has shared this moment meaningful only to him with me for a reason and I am willing to keep that a secret between us.

But the place. Oh, that field does not look the same to me. I see it there so vividly. This town, this clan, it’s haunting. Every bone in me tells me to run far, yet I always find something that lures me back in. I know that by now I cannot get away from it. All of my thoughts, all of my dreams, they collapse into that dreaded sinkhole. It’s a place of wonder that instills terror.