Green Eyes and Blue Eyes FINISHED

AngelFyre had taken up residence at the base of a gorgeous Rowan tree. It was larger than those she had normally seen, and as always, she had to wonder if it was enchanted in some way to display such height and such branch breadth. Of course, she also noted looking around it that it benefited greatly from no other true competition for sunlight from other trees, so it was growing unusually straight and tall. It could realistically be due to either of those situations alone, or maybe due to both in conjunction, but either way, AngelFyre was greatly enjoying its beauty and comfortable shade. It was now late May and the the green leaves were becoming less and less visible each day as the branches were being covered in small white flowers.

With her art journal in her lap, she was happily engrossed in sketching out an idea she wanted to paint at some later date. It was a woman wandering alone in the Highlands, but she was not distressed in the least by this. She was debating on whether or not to put in a stone circle when she heard Colin's unmistakable voice. She stopped her sketching, but with quill still in hand, she continued to look down at her journal without focusing whatsoever on the page's contents. She was now completely focused on him.

AngelFyre was not normally a nosy person by any stretch, but she found Colin to be absolutely fascinating. He, like her dear friend Dave Howard, had a most unusual way of speaking, not that their styles bore any semblance to each other. It sounded as if he were in another trance, but this one was more subdued, and was accompanied by a lot of deep sighs. It sounded somewhat sad and bittersweet, and possibly too personal for her to just be sitting there and encroaching on his privacy.

Deciding it was time to let him know she was there, she loudly cleared her throat and flipped through the parchments in her notebook to give him time to hear her and to settle himself before any kind of conversation ensued. When she felt a properly decent amount of time had passed, she peeked her head around the trunk of the tree and smiled while giving him a little wave.

"Good day, oh Slayer of the Liche King's ferociously fanged allies!," and she laughed. "How does the kilted adventurer fare this fine day?"

Colin arose from the depths of reverie to the sound of rustling leaves on the forest floor. His lips moved slightly, as if reciting, his voice scarcely whispering. "And there among scattered leaves a-lying some beautiful elvish maid of bygone age waiting at the roadside as if foreknowing, the wandering warrior greeting, the knight wayfaring."

He blinked his eyes. AngelFyre had spoken, greeted him as the kilted adventurer. He smiled at her, his eyes merry and twinkling! She also called him the kilted wolf, which he rather liked. "Oh! Fyre Angel! You're here." He considered the Hufflepuff for a moment. They'd had a couple adventures recently and she seemed not only nice and open to friendship, but also trustworthy and wise. He was happy to see her. It was her particular wisdom that he desired to engage with. "I'm actually really glad you're here! Um. Would you care to join me? I'd --- like to talk with you about some things?"

He gathered up the scattered parchments into an untidy heap on the bench, making space for her to sit, if she chose to. Colin rocked back and forth slightly, staring at the ground. He sat silently for a moment, and when he spoke, it was softly, tenderly. "I reckon you heard what I just said," he smirked. "Sometimes I don't even know I'm saying anything weird. I reckon you also know about my --- my, er --- about her. Eyes of Sky. Um. Jarael." His smile broadened when he said her name. Still staring at the ground, Colin smiled again. "I wondered if you'd care to look at these. I've been working on some poetry, just jotting some ideas down. And sketches. Some of her. Some of places or memories. Some of dreams."

Colin traced the toe of his bare left foot idly on the stone. "Um. I know you ---" He looked up at AngelFyre suddenly and focused his gaze on her eyes. "--- You understand things differently. Things about me. That no one else has grasped. Except maybe --- her."

Colin wasn't quite sure what to ask AngelFyre, or even how to ask it. He know only that she held one of the keys he needed to unlock the understanding of what was going on inside his heart and in his mind. He desperately hoped she'd pick up on that. He sighed deeply, wiped the newly forming tears from his eyes, and looked out over the Courtyard.

He wondered if anyone else would come by. He'd also wanted to talk about this with Bailey. She possessed a different kind of wisdom, and he knew somehow he'd need hers as well. He hoped that the beautiful spring day would draw her down from her lofty aerie in Ravenclaw Tower down into the Courtyard. Colin knew he needed all the help he could get!

Interacting with: @AngelFyre McCubbin | @Bailey Glade || Mentioned: @Jarael Morningstar

Colin smiled when AngelFyre came over to sit with him. He listened carefully as she began to speak of what was obvious and what was less obvious. Ever since that day in the Great Hall when she first recognised in him what she called trances, Colin felt that this friend had a deep understanding of things than any other friend except perhaps Jarael herself. She somehow got that some of the things he said were not just coming from his unusually active imagination fuelled by reading too many old stories and too much fantastic poetry. When she'd said that to him, it really struck a chord inside his heart and his mind. Here was another friend that could understand his language.

Still looking down at the stones of the courtyard, arrayed like marching soldiers in cohorts and legions of old, he smiled --- and blushed --- when AngelFyre said his infatuation or his love for the girl was written all over him, and all the time. There was no denying that, and Colin would never even consider denying that fact. Facing the truth wasn't his problem --- expressing the volume and complexity of what he was feeling in language utterly incapable of such expression, that was his problem!

Colin looked over at his friend as she encouraged him to celebrate his joy. This is what he needed! She held one of the keys and was even now fitting it to the lock. He looked at AngelFyre in wonder. She herself was gazing off into the distance as she spoke of what was less obvious. Of his trances. And the things he sometimes said and did while in them. He only nodded in agreement. Colin drew his bare feet up onto the bench and hugged his knees as he listened to AngelFyre speak of trances and their beauty and of love poetry. Those got his attention! He felt the key turning in the lock. It comforted him that she didn't think his trances were weird. Far from it: they were in fact a beautiful gift. Colin knew they could also be terrifying, and the cloud of that terror swept briefly across his face as she spoke.

When at last she finished speaking, Colin thought long about what she had said. He devoured her words but felt he needed still more. He laughed quietly: "Love poetry. Heh. I've never really read any before --- I never thought I'd need to! But I reckon I should start. It's a good think Sophia is going to help me out with that. She's a good friend --- well, she's more like my sister! --- and she's been cooking up a plan. She'd probably know why muggles put ball bases only in fields on the left side; but I think she'd agree that a dose of good love poetry will help me out a lot!"

Colin, too, fell silent for a long moment. "Um. Trances. Yeah. And the --- the nature? --- of our connexion. Those I don't really understand. How can two be people be connected that way? Why her? Is everybody connected this way?" He looked back towards AngelFyre. "Are you and Simon connected like this? Wicked."

He sighed very deeply. "There is --- one that happened recently. I was talking with Sophs and Hunter. It happened when I was with them. They were trying to help me with asking her to go with me. I remember trying to write some notes. You know, just trying some ideas..."

Suddenly Colin stood up on the bench. He smiled. "I remember calling out her name: Eyes of Sky!! I howled --- just for the joy of it. OWOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I saw her in my heart! And I called out to her again: Eyes of Sky!!"

He drew his wand as he strode up and down the bench, staring off into a different world. Colin shouted out across the courtyard: "I'LL SLAY EVERY MONSTER FOR THEE! --- EVEN THE LICHE KING HIMSELF!!!" He slashed his wand about as if it were Durandal itself! "WHATEVER WOULD HARM THEE, I'LL HUNT IT DOWN AND FIGHT IT FOR THEE!!!!" He made a jab and a graceful, sweeping slice. "TAKE THAT VILE LICHE KING!!!" And Colin knelt upon the stone slab, lifting his wand up in both hands. "Lady Jarael, o Eyes of Sky! My wand --- I give thee the victory this day!"

And then the light went out of Colin's eyes, and he sat upon the stone bench again. "I fell back on the table and called out to her again. But she didn't answer. I mean, I know she wasn't in the room; but I know I saw her, I talked with her. I said something. The girls thought it was just me being me, some beautiful poetry." Colin sighed deeply. "It terrified me."

His voice fell to little more than a whisper as he rocked back and forth and chanted:

walks in darkness, illness facing
lady blue in raiment grey wandering
she comes not here, where snake is calling
darkness creeps and shadows come advancing

Colin fell silent.

Interacting with: @AngelFyre McCubbin || Mentioned: @Jarael Morningstar | @Sophia Nelson | @Pax Zhang

Waking up, Bailey smiled. She had nothing to do today, so as she got dressed she decided to eat breakfast and then go outside. It was a pretty spring morning from what she could see out her window, so it would be pleasant outside. Bailey wanted to the Great Hall with a smile, excited for what the day might bring. Eating breakfast, Bailey smiled. She was dressed in a long red skirt, a white blouse, gladiator sandals, and some jewelry. Her hair was down and flowing- the tips her usual ombré of blue and purple.
Walking down the front steps to the lawn, Bailey started strolling down towards the lake. On sunny spring days like this, she would sit on the rocks and read, with her feet in the water. While on the way down, Bailey spotted a few of her friends talking- @Colin McCoire and @AngelFyre McCubbin. Not wanting to disturb them, Bailey would waive if they looked at her, but besides that she would just walk to her rock. Slipping her sandals off, Bailey opened her book, her feet spalishing a little in the water.
The book she had was A Tale of Two cities by Charles Dickens- quite a famous British author, and Bailey loved his writing. She had read A Tale of Two Cities many times before, and brought it out to read again.

AngelFyre laughed at Colin's enthusiasm over love poetry. "I am certain you will be well advised in Sophia's capable hands, and yes, given her accent sounds very much like mine, I am quite certain she would be able to explain why muggles and we muggle born 'put ball bases only in fields on the left side', but that is really neither here nor there in the moment. But do remind me that you and I must make a date to view a baseball game at some point in the future. They are marvelous fun!"

Sitting beside Colin in those moments, she had that rare feeling that they were destined to be great friends throughout their time at Hogwarts. She had had it only come upon her two other times really, once with David Howard and once with Sarah Night, but AngelFyre was learning to trust these feelings of hers more and more often. Simon, of course, was in a category all his own. He would be with her always.... she was certain.... even if he was not yet aware of it. She could be patient. She felt she knew how the story ended, but she was eagerly anticipating how it would all unfold in getting there.

"Colin, my friend, here is the thing I have noticed about poetry. Poetry is a very personal form of expression when written, but does not always subjectively hit the mark with the reader or the person with whom you may want to share it. That is not to say you should abandon it on your quest for expression, but be forewarned of this as a possible outcome at the outset, and do not take it as a failure or a rejection of you. Poetry, like some foods, is an acquired taste, but happily, there are many flavors, so there is bound to be something for everyone. That being said, here is why I think it is so incredibly worthwhile." She looked over to him, gratified to see that she did not seem to be boring him.

"Love poetry is often such a tangentially creative mode of expression. It uses metaphors and similes, even glorified events made more spectacular than perhaps they really were to press a point on the reader's heart or mind. Some love poetry is often pretty straight forward, a roll call of here are the facts and only the facts, but it can nonetheless be moving and lyrical in its own way. The main point here is that your particular imagination is so brilliantly active and creative that I believe it could open you up to horizons of communication with your Eyes of Sky even more vast than you can imagine right now. That is is not to say I think you will be quoting poetry to her, because lad, you already do that in your trances. Your trances are poetry. But reading the stuff might help you to see the world and the expressions of love within that world in new and wonderful ways."

She felt another smile transforming her face as she thought of Simon in response to Colin's question. "No, Simon and I do not connect quite in the way I think that you and Jarael do. I think it is different for every couple. I hope so at least, otherwise it simply would not be special or unique in any relationship. Simon likes to say we are magnetized. And he is right in a way. We are definitely drawn to one another physically, but it is so much more than that. Our strongest mode of communication is proximity and touch. We quite often do not even have to speak to one another to convey thoughts or feelings, though we happily are quite adept at that as well. There is a lot to be said in our case for being able to know or feel something from your partner through a look or the squeeze of a hand, or even something else. Simon's most beautiful love language is his music. He can say everything he wants to say to me sometimes by playing for me or singing to me when he feels he cannot find the words. That is what I mean by it is different for everyone." She stopped for a moment, wondering if she had said too much. Wondering if she had gone far off track from what Colin wanted to know.

"If I think about it, the nature of your connection seems to be almost the opposite of ours. You seem to connect with her even when she is not necessarily in your line of sight or sitting right next to you. It is almost as if you can sniff out her location in your mind's eye -- ." AngelFyre stopped dead in the middle of her thought as another more pressing thought about Colin himself suddenly exploded in her brain. She turned to her friend to see if there was anything about him physically that would support a sudden belief she held about him, but no. There was nothing. Nothing visible anyway. Now she was even more intrigued by her friend, but she would not press.

She listened as he told her, in his delightfully theatrical and Colin-like manner about his recent trance. It ended with him not deliriously happy but quite forlorn and saddened.... worried even. "Colin, do you have a sense that Jarael is in some kind of danger or distress?" She would have followed up with more, but just at that moment she saw Bailey walking by and waved to her. Knowing how close Colin and Bailey were, she motioned for her to come over. Colin might just need all the support he could get right now.

Interacting with @Colin McCoire and @Bailey Glade
Mentioning @Simon Kincaid and @Jarael Morningstar

Colin laughed as AngelFyre talked about her accent and knowledge of muggle things. There was so much he didn't understand about the muggle world. He kept in mind that here was another friend who might be explain their complexities and curiosities! "So, ballbase --- it's a game! Well, that sounds interesting!"

Colin watched AngelFyre as she sat quietly for a moment. She seemed to be watching something. A very faint smile seemed to play about her lips. He didn't say anything, but he thought her expression was most curious.

As she started talking, Colin turned to face her. He drew his knees up under his chin and set his bare feet together. His eyes were riveted to her face and he listened to every word. She really does look like an Elvish maiden, or an angel! he thought as she began to talk. He cocked his head slightly to pick up every sound. He really wished, and not for the first time, that he could swivel his ears.

He screwed up his nose a bit when she said not to take it as a sign of failure or rejection --- that was certainly a bit worry of Colin's! Everyday words seemed to have so little power to convey what he was feeling --- he'd have to take extra care when wielding poetry, then! He nodded as she went into similes and metaphors and gloriously overspectacular events! Those were his specialty --- he could take the most mundane of happenstances and turn it into a perilous and doomful Quest imposed by a terrible and awesome queen! He noted that love poetry can come in a variety of forms, not just the mythical or fantastic; and his eyes popped open really wide and his jaw hung open when AngelFyre spoke of communication with Jarael even vaster and deeper than they had heretofore enjoyed!

Colin sat up on his haunches and his face was alight! "Really? Do you really think we'll connect even deeper?" He grinned when she said his trances were poetry. He loved how she smiled when she was about to talk about Simon. He knew that smile! He'd felt it in his own heart all spring! He'd never met the boy, but was sure he must be brilliant if Fyre Angel was moved so deeply. He lowered his eyes briefly. Her face looked like the Sun when she was happy!

"Hmm. I wonder how it is me and Jarael connect? We --" he blushed very deeply "---we haven't held hands or anything. But I've given her two nose doops! And I could swear she --- um --- almost kissed me once!! --- um!! I think we've got a thing with our eyes. Maybe? I think we see things --- differently from other people? Like, I think we'd both see the beauty in worms and dead grass and stars and forests where other people might not see anything." Colin sighed deeply. A smile spread across his face. "I'd love to play my music for her, too. Music I think talks more than words. Or at least --- maybe it's more likely to say the right words?" He laughed merrily! "I don't even have the right words to explain it to you!"

Colin's interest was piqued when AngelFyre said she thought he sniff out her location in his mind's eyes. Well, that was true! He did have a sort of knack for that! And when he thought about it, he did know the scent of her hair and her skin, from the two times they'd put their faces close together. He didn't think that was what AngelFyre meant. But she had fallen silent again, which also piqued Colin's interest.

Colin watched AngelFyre as she sat quietly for a moment, just like before. She seemed to be watching something inside him. A very faint smile seemed to play about her lips. "Whatcha lookin at, Fyre Angel? Only, Seanmamó always says to me when I zone out like that: Three kinds of folk into trances fall: the poet, the seer, the fool. And thou Colin McCoire are neither seer nor fool!"

Colin laughed as the memory of his seanmamó. But as AngelFyre asked him a question he saw Bailey coming through the Courtyard. Colin felt oddly torn --- he wanted to talk with Bailey as well as Fyre Angel! And AngelFyre's question needed to be addressed before he exploded!

"BAAAAAIIIIILLLLLEEEEEYYYYY!!!!!" Colin called out, in a kind of sing-song voice. "Come back and sit with us!" He hoped she'd turn around and join them!

Interacting with: @AngelFyre McCubbin | @Bailey Glade || Mentioned: @Jarael Morningstar | @Simon Kincaid

Colin tried to get Bailey's attention, but perhaps she was too focused on her own thoughts to come over. He shivered slightly. Not from cold, just a funny feeling, like someone was watching him. He shrugged and turned back to AngelFyre.

She was indeed staring at him. Colin blunk his eyes a few times and tilted his head to the side. Anyone else might have broken her concentration or waved their hands in front of her face to see if she were awake. Colin didn't know what she was doing, but it was clearly something important to her. He smiled. That was how he and Jarael looked at each other sometimes. She'd tilt her head one way and he'd tilt his own the other way. But it soon crossed Colin's mind that AngelFyre wasn't just --- staring. It felt more like she was examining him in a way. He felt exposed, naked, like she could see everything. But it didn't make him uncomfortable. It was more like an embrace, a cementing together rather than a picking apart. Colin leaned back on his arms and let AngelFyre take her time. He wiggled his feet and toes to an interior music and enjoyed the moment.

He looked up into the sky and watched as a cloud that looked like an airship floated overhead. Colin knit his brows together, wondering why it was muggles would play a game only on the left side of a field and how the ball and the base fit together. Perhaps the base was like a goal hoop!? His eyes widened in wonder. Perhaps they had to cast the ball at the base to score a goal!? He nodded to himself with a look of satisfaction on his face for having sorted out yet another muggle enigma.

Suddenly AngelFyre laughed.

"Fyre Angel!" said Colin. He sat up straight again. "You've come back from the Otherworld! What did you see? You should meet my Seanmamó. She'd love you! Only that's what she always said to me when I was off wandering from my head." He nodded recalling the millions of sayings she had stored up in her own head. "Colin, laddie, she'd say. There are three tales from the fire in the head: the tale of love, the tale of woe, the tale of wisdom."

Colin tilted his head to one side again. He wondered what AngelFyre would have to say about that!

Interacting with: @AngelFyre McCubbin || Mentioned: @Jarael Morningstar | @Bailey Glade