(no subject)

[blue_eyed_lord]

The days have been getting darker, these past few weeks. The clouds are so thick that it is impossible to tell where the sun is at any time of day. Noon is merely brightened, frosty twilight.

In the snowbound silence of noon, his shape an inkblot across the winterbound lawn, the Black Rider walks back towards the bar. His bearing is proud and arrogant, and above all, triumphant. His black-gloved right hand is closed around something.

Comments

[white_flowers]

Someone else is outside, as well.

Blodwen is a white shape, silhouetted against whiter snow-shadows under the branches of a tree near the lake. Soft laughter floats on the icy wind as she watches him.

"My, but how pleased you seem, cariad."

[blue_eyed_lord]

"Far more pleased than you seem." The Black Rider smiles, his teeth flashing white.

"But I have good reason for seeming pleased, you see." He holds up what was hidden in his hand, a tiny crystal vial. He knows she can sense what is held within it. The sheer force of the power inside the crystal vial is barely contained, straining to break free.

[white_flowers]

Ice-blue eyes narrow at the first words, but then she sees the vial. A moment's frozen silence, while she stares from it to him, and then the White Rider begins to laugh.

"Oh, well done. You have been clever, now, so very clever indeed. How did you manage to get such a pretty thing?"

[blue_eyed_lord]

"I know ways better than attempting to chain the power of others." His mouth twists into a smile both cold and mocking. "I let them give it to me freely. It has more substance that way, and is much less likely to fail."

[white_flowers]

"Now, now," she chides him, smiling gently. "You would have had so very little to find, had I not been so busy."

[blue_eyed_lord]

He turns the vial in his hands, watching the lack of light reflections. "Indeed. The power of your own rage at the undoing of some of your plans was quite a lovely addition."

[white_flowers]

Irritation is clear as she snaps,

"Cease your prattling, Rider. This is not the time for petty words, now is it?" A beat, and a forced smile that slides into something almost sincere.

"It will be so very good to have a true ally once more."

All the while she is watching the vial, in case she needs to seize it and its power for her own self.

[blue_eyed_lord]

Amused, "Just saying my thanks, Rider."

"Yes." He closes his hand on the vial, tightly. With the Dark power beating out from the inside and his hand seeking to crush the already heavily strained container, the pressure is too much. The vial shatters into nothing as it gives way. The power flows into the Black Rider, filling him. Suddenly, he seems taller, more erect, and he smiles.

"It will be very good." The sun has already passed its zenith, and is beginning its descent. The dark day is only going to get darker.

[white_flowers]

And then night will fall.

Twelfth Night, the time when the power of the risen Dark is at its height.

The White Rider's smile is cold with triumph. "Well, cariad," she says, and the light soft voice is so very pleased. "Had you any thoughts or plans for the evening, then?"

[blue_eyed_lord]

He smiles, his ice-bright gaze meeting hers. "I have a few plans that might be of interest to you, yes."

"Would you care to hear them? I am sure you have some to share, as well. We could walk as we talk, out here in the lovely weather."

Around them, a light snow begins to fall.

[white_flowers]

"Goodness, but I should be very interested indeed," she tells him, and takes his arm, comfortably familiar, as the two figures begin to proceed along the now-frozen path by the lake.

Above them, the light continues to fade, and the still-falling snow grows thicker, blanketing their footprints with white.

Soon enough, there is no sign of their passing.