Andria held her breath as she slowly and gracefully slid out of bed, walking over to the window and hoping she was quiet enough not to wake anyone else in the house. She slowly pulled back the French doors and stepped out onto the balcony, wrapping her arms around herself to protect from the chill autumn wind. She closed her eyes and let the soft glow of the moon illuminate her face. She rested her pale arms on the balcony railings, looking up at the starry sky, and let out a small sigh. Once again she was not able to sleep.

Her eyes started to roam around the vast expanse of land at the back of the house, it could easily have been mistaken for a field rather then a garden based on size alone. A small fountain stood in the middle of the lawn and beautiful purple flowers stretched all the way around the hedges that kept the garden private. There were trees and vines that provided plenty of shade from the sun in the heat of summer. When Andria first saw it she was in awe of it, spending as much time as possible there at night. She could rarely sleep and even if she did it was only for a few hours. She loved the dark and the feel of the damp grass beneath her feet. For some reason it was comforting to her. But tonight she wouldn’t take solace there. Tonight the garden was already occupied.

There was not a cloud in the sky and the moon was full, making any object in the garden light enough to see from Andrias balcony. She saw him running around the grounds, fast, as if the hounds of hell themselves were behind him. Her breath caught in her chest. Her heart was pounding in her throat and she felt her face burn. Bian still had that effect on her and it made her frustrated.

This night he was training, much like every other night. She knew he was revelling in the opportunity to be alone. He was such a solitary person, even more so then Andria it seemed. She stared at him for several minutes, lost in his rhythmic jogging, watching the sweat that was running down his bare chest and back as it was illuminated by the moonlight. He was pushing himself hard, punishing himself for some unknown crime as he always did. Andria sighed again and tore her eyes away from him. It was useless to try and understand Bian. She had spent the last seven months trying and she knew hardly anymore about him then she did when they met.

The wind picked up and blew the cold air against her, she had only pyjama bottoms and a camisole top on and it made her shiver. She slowly turned around and walked back inside her bedroom. She would not sleep but at least she would be warm.

---

Bian was angry. Not so much angry but in fact furious with himself. When everyone was in bed that night he had paced around his room, unable to sit down, the adrenaline still pumping around his body from the argument that had ended not moments before. He knew he wouldn’t settle so did what he had always done in these moments. He went to train.

He was far to annoyed to go to the large training room tonight, he wanted cold air and to feel the wind hitting his body, so he stalked outside to the garden. He knew that Andria was there most nights, no matter how much she claimed to Brishen that she never left her room after dark.

He did not much care if he would be interrupting her tonight, he would just order her to go to bed if she was there. But thankfully she wasn’t . On reflection he thought it was probably better he spoke to no one tonight, due to the mood he was in he would probably say something he would later regret.

He had been training for a good hour or so when he heard her open the balcony doors. He did not need to look up to see she was standing there, but he stole a glance at her. She was looking at the moon and sighing. He carried on running up and down the garden, pretending not to notice her and trying his hardest not to stare at her. She was the last person he needed to see right now, not after the argument.

He could hear her heart beating faster, could feel her eyes burning into him as she stared. He wished she wouldn’t look at him. It made it harder to ignore her. From the moment he had laid eyes on her, he knew they had a connection. He stopped running and rested his hands on the back of his head. He turned around to face the balcony but Andria was not there. She must have already gone back inside he thought. He let out the breath he had unknowingly been holding. He could not continue to train now, seeing her had cleared his mind of anger but it was now filled with thoughts of her instead. That tended to make him lonely rather then angry. He scuffed his feet as he walked slowly back to the house, not ready to go to bed but too sad to train.

---

Laying her head down on her pillow Andria closed her eyes and attempted to clear her mind from all thoughts. She knew it was a pointless endeavour . He was always in her head, pushing everything else aside. She placed her hands over her face and rubbed her tired eyes. She tired to remember how her life was before she came here, she really couldn’t remember much and that felt odd to her. So much had changed, she had changed. Things had happened that she would not have believed real . But they were very real, she had seen them. That had been just over seven months ago now...