Night Watch I: Eliza, Ward of Andrew

*Andrew's POV*

I lay in my hammock, surrounded by memories. Juliet wrinkling her nose at my suggestion for a quick snack (I liked sweeter berries, she had liked tart fruit- yuck!), Juliet laughing as we raced to the lagoon when we were younger, Juliet punching me in the face after I kissed her when we were teenagers...

Juliet had been so angry, she convinced the world she hated me for a long time after that, myself included. Being a bull-headed, idiot teenager, I responded in kind, and we had settled into antagonizing each other for years. The glowering and snippy comments had endured all through Training, until we were posted together on the Night Watch.

I remember sighing in relief when I had felt myself choose the Night, only to recoil in horror when I saw Juliet the next Day, standing with the group of Night Fae at advancement. She had swelled with pride when she was posted to the Night Watch. I had also been very pleased with my posting, until the Council had announced that we had to work as partners, as we were Initiates. We had stared daggers at each other as we accepted our assignment.

So many evenings together, walking the paths of the Village and the Walls, sitting at lookout, eventually sitting together at meals in Commons. Endlessly talking. I remember the Night I realized I loved her. When I kissed Juliet for the second time, a ball of nerves but unable to stop myself, she hadn't punched me. Instead, she had taken me by the hand to a small grove, undressed me, and we had lain together.

From then on, we were inseparable. Juliet moved her hammock and things to my shelter. Femme and Crow had found their way to us. I ran through what snippets of memories I could summon up of her lying next to me in our bed, of her and I coupling at Dawn after every Night's Watch, the iridescence of her finely-veined, transparent wings, her delicate antennae…

Inevitably, I always came to my final memories of her. I'd run through them so often, I could no longer be sure what was a real memory and what was an embellishment or adjustment. The sweat running down into her eyes, how she began to tremor and grit her teeth after she had killed that rogue troll, how she bled out...

I knew a few things for certain: Juliet gave her life to stop the Soul of the Forest from being stolen. Her death meant something; she saved the entire tribe and more. I would spend the rest of my Nights as a capable Watchman dedicated to ensuring the safety of the Soul, that her sacrifice was not in vain. But I would spend the rest of my life missing Juliet and mourning her loss.

Notes

:( bummer