An Ache of Longing

The sky was endless tonight; the stars caught my breath as I stepped outside. They seemed to be a mere arms-reach away, as though I might stretch out a hand and pluck them, glowing, from the sky.

I sat quietly on the porch in my rocking chair, with a woollen blanket draped over my navy cloak and my hair bundled messily beneath my hood, a poor attempt to ward off the icy air drifting from the peak of the Mighty Mountain. I had tried knitting but my fingers were too cold to handle the yarn so as I sat, my knitting rested quietly in my lap and my hands were curled around my body beneath my cloak.

Still I sat, entranced by the night sky, unwilling to go inside to the warmth of the fire. The elflings were all sleeping, the night was still. And I was at peace.

The crystal moon rose over the peak of the Mountain as I watched. It moved so slowly that I had to wait a while to see the Man of the Moon in his little rowboat, hidden was he by the snow-capped point. He rowed slowly across the inky sky, illuminated by the shining crystals of the winter moon. I could hear his soft lullabying as he passed overhead, an old ElvenRealm tune that my own mother had sung to me as an elfling, one I sing to my own elflings now I am older. It sent an ache of longing through my heart, for those long-ago times, and for future me who would long even more for these beautiful days I'm currently passing through.

I wondered if the Man could see me, bundled darkly in my woollen clothes, a shadow in the shadow of a rocking chair, a single candle burning in a lantern at my feet. I wondered if he knew that I was listening to his song.

I wondered if he knew how grateful I was for it. How the ache it caused ached so beautifully.

Because it meant that I loved. And was loved in return.

Farewell for now

Miss Evelyn x