Solo Courting the Shadows

[Miles]

58th of Winter, 512 AV It was nearly dusk when MIles left the house. He emerged from a rather long day of sliding knives across the floor to the timid Sun, giving rise to Night. He wore dark commoner's garb, nothing flashy enough to stand out, and his cloak was the deepest of grays. Tonight, he would venture to a place where shadows and silence would be his only friends.

He sat in reverence as, for the first time in recent history, he watched the day fade into Night. This time however, it was not the light diminishing that he studied, instead he focused on the growing, deepening Shadows. He needed Shadows, depended on their privacy, and would truly be needing them this eve. He studied them for the better part of an hour, watched them swell and deepen as night began its journey anew before he set off.

He walked at a casual pace, enjoying the darkness around him, moving from shadow to shadow as if by a matter of course. In each spot he stopped and viewed the world as with new eyes, he watched patrons coming and going, wrapped in the silent world of darkness- able to see and hear the world outside, but transposed- somehow enveloped in something darker.

Sneaking did not quite capture it. Miles was not shying from the light- from other people, from danger even- Miles was more warming up to the natural surroundings of Shadows in the alleyways of the evening. He interacted with no one- seemed more intent on his next shadow than anything else. He made a circuit of the city this way, learning pathways and back allies, using his knowledge of the Zeltiva street plan in a new way- categorizing places to listen, places to hide, places to ambush and places to be wary of.

Once the night was at its darkest, Miles began to make his way home- unrestrained by direction or time limit, the man seemed completely at his leisure. His dark clothes to mask his movements, his slow and wide gait to hide any unnecessary sound from his walk he fancied himself a shadow, often passing by the unwary with no one the wiser. He froze when groups came by, enveloping himself deeper into the safety of the shadows he had come to know. He was a part of the darkness, an observer without aggression. He caught many a conversation this way- learned the secrets of the night within the shadows.

Before he was finished, he was home- and dead tired. Miles hadn't been this tired since his time with Besnik and the Hunt. He walked into his darkened home, and felt comfortable, falling asleep just as he hit the pillow.

The Moon shone high over Zeltiva, bathing Miles' small home in iridescent light- casting shadows all along it. Miles dreamt they protected him, the Shadows themselves watched over him and his home. Tomorrow, East Street. Tomorrow-- the world.