Filtered sunlight was the first thing the Qadir noticed when her eyes fluttered open. She shifted a moment under the thin blankets of the bed, noting that the majority had slipped off and onto the floor besides her, startling her though as she didn't realize for a moment where she was. Lifting slowly, the girl took in the surroundings around her, brows furrowed in confusion until she took the time to glance towards her right where she caught sight of the beloved, yet unexpected slumbering figure of Aedarhon. Her flinch of surprise must have awoken the boy, who grumbled in displeasure at his own coming to and slowly opened his own eyes to stare up at Azra, who was now sitting cross-legged on the bed besides him rather than curled up against him as she had been through the night.
"Since when am I home?" The young lady asked, confusion still written across her expression that brought a small huff from the boy besides her.
"Don't you remember? You came home last night," he replied in his haltering accent, a dark brow lifted as he pushed himself up to sit besides Azra in a similar criss-cross manner. "You came here and June visited-"
"-And you fell asleep before he had even left," Azra finished for him, her lips curling in amusement.
"I didn't fall asleep!"
"You did, too!" An odd flinch escaped the girl with each shout she or he had made, bringing her memories back to that of the clinic she'd been inside before waking up in a cell. A shudder coursed through her and she patted her knees with a frown, humming a moment in thoughts.
"Are you okay, Az?" Aed asked, lifting a hand to rest it across her shoulder. Her gaze flicked back to him, noting the concern he wore for her. Another moment of quiet passed between them before she sighed and nodded her head.
"I'm fine now. I just… I forgot I wasn't locked up in that dreadful cell anymore."
"What reminded you first that you were free? Seeing me?" The half-Qadir besides her smirked as if expecting a 'yes'- the answer that was not given as she swiftly shook her head in disagreement. "Then what did?"
"The sunlight," Azra replied, her attention drawn back to the window of the bedroom, gazing out it towards the empty yard in the center of the small circle of Slum houses.
"The sunlight?"
"Yes."
"Why is that?"
"Because, that whole time I was arrested, I didn't feel a single ray of light from the Sun, only a distant glow if I craned my head far enough to the left." A sigh followed her answer and Aedarhon drew her closer to his side, his arm drawn across her shoulders and holding her tight.
"Well, you don't have to worry about that now, you're free from those bastardly Shields."
Azra paused in answering, finding simply comfort in the other's presence before stating, "That wasn't the worst part of being there."
"Then what was- besides the fact that you couldn't contact me."
"The worst part is that the man that arrested me shared a similar background- a man grew up in chains same as I. Who knew that one slave could put another in chains, you'd think it impossible."
"Anything is possible in Regalia, dear Azra."
"A terrifying fact, indeed."
