Gently he kissed the top of her head. Her fragrance was a calm warmth surrounding him. Sighing contently she snuggled deeper against his chest, face buried in his arm. Ash looked up at the distantly twinkling stars. Each one unique, he thought quietly. Each star on fire and yet, the world remained dark and cold. The only warmth he could experience was her warmth. She was his star, the only one that provided any warmth at all.

“What are you thinking about, Ash?” she whispers softly up at him, her face hidden within darkness, within his embrace as another cold wind tugged at the cloak covering them.

“I am curious Nadia. About men and stars. About the fire that drives them and consumes them. Have you ever thought that stars and men may all be alike?” he paused, mind racing with possibilities, searching for the right words. “What I mean is that both burn with an internal fire. Yet, the very fire, the light that defines them, also consumes them. The more they shine, over time, the less they become, until they are snuffed out in a blink of an eye.”

Nadia shivered against him, listening to his deep voice resonating through her entire body. It was a pleasant, comforting feeling.

“If all we are is a light that burns for no reason…” he paused, frowning within the darkness. “Nadia, what is the purpose for all of this? The battle with Ire. The farmer planting his crops? The cobbler repairing boots, or even the lawmakers scribbling down their new laws? Why do we continue to do this when everything we attain to do might be swept away at any time?”

“Ash, you know why we do this.” Moving away from him slightly, making sure that she was still wrapped up within the cocoon of the cloak they shared, her eyes twinkled within the darkness like two sapphire stars. “We fight Ire because some must fight so that all may be free. Free to plant their crops, free to write down laws and repair boots.” She kissed him then, softly, gently, pulling him back from his dark thoughts.

When she pulled away from him, he noticed the first snowflakes of winter falling slowly all around them. Playfully Nadia pulled her hand out from beneath the warmth of their cloak, catching a stray snowflake in the centre of her palm. She watched as the tiny snowflake melted against her warm, bare skin, leaving a teardrop shining within the darkness. “Even if we eventually are swept away, burned out, we leave something behind, a sign that we were there. That what we did mattered.”