T.R.o.t.M.-Chapter 2: The Light of My Heart

Matthew, for starters, was definitely not a Mars Adept like his mother. But he still rose as early as one, anyhow.

It was just before the start of dawn that he awakened, lying still on his side within the tent that he and Tyrell shared. You'd have thought that Tyrell would be an early riser, but no-he was still asleep, so soundly that even the volume of his own snores couldn't wake him up. Thinking about this made Matthew smile into the darkness, remembering how Karis had been the only one to be able to shake him out of his sleepy haven whenever they'd have camping trips as children. As time went on, Tyrell had subconsciously learned to stop sleeping so deeply (because the deeper he slept, the angrier Karis was getting him up) but since he had been a lot more physically active since the start of their journey, even the threats of a certain irritated girl with green hair couldn't stop him from completely crashing out at the end of the day.

Matthew silently arose from his makeshift cot of a sheet and a bundle of clothes as a pillow, swiftly put his father's dark blue trench coat over his undergarments and went outside to see the sun rise.

No one in the group knew that he had it. But in the earliest possible hours of the day him, Tyrell, and Karis had slept in a hotel at Carver's Camp, he got a package from Isaac that was delivered from a messenger bird. He had unwrapped the package to find the jacket his father always wore along with a note that said:

Dear Matthew,

By the time you get this, you'll probably be a good ways in to your journey. Though I have to keep this message short, I wanted to give you something to remind you that the uncharted territory of the world doesn't have to be so different from home. Stay safe.

-Dad

Before he could write anything back to his father, the carrier pigeon had flown away, and was already only a small speck in the sky by the time he was done reading the note. Ever since then, he had made sure the coat was always with him and slept in it on especially cold nights. At some points in time, it had been difficult keeping it hidden from the others, but with some smooth recoveries and made-up-on-the-spot excuses, he had managed to shield it from the knowledge of anyone else. But today, he thought, I'm not hiding it. I'm too close to home now for any last-minute secrets.

Sitting cross-legged on top of a particularly large boulder at least a few meters from the rest of the (mostly) silent tents, the silent leader of the Warriors of the Grave Eclipse rested his elbows on his knees and gazed, entranced, to the colorful sunrise; full of flame-like reds and oranges branching out from the dawning horizon in a slow, soundless dance of life.

As the newly born rays of sun hit Matthew's face, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath through his nose. Most people thought he was crazy for this, but he could actually smell sunlight. It smelled warm and fresh, like hot prairie grass in late summer afternoons. Though he hadn't seen his mother in so long he could barely remember her, the one memory of the red-eyed Mars Adept he could clearly think of was the smell of her. She had a bit of a whiff of something natural and sweet-mango or passion fruit? Matthew wondered aimlessly-but what he mostly smelled in her was just pure, golden sunshine. That was mainly the reason he got up this early in the morning. Being able to smell the start of a brand new day, the warmth and crispness of excitement and a fresh start, it made him feel like it connected him to his mother-even if she was countless miles away. Matthew could remember the first time Isaac had caught him up this early. He had been seven, almost eight years old, sitting on the edge of the cliff that overlooked the remnants of Mt. Aleph, when he had heard heavy, leather boots on the ground behind him. When the footsteps stops at his back, he craned his neck backwards to see who it was-not that he didn't recognize them, anyways.

"And just what do you think you're doing up this early, young man?", Isaac said, looking down at his son with a smile that clearly said, I caught you in the act, don't try to hide it from me.

Little Matthew shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the sunrise. His father walked to his side and crouched down so that he was almost eye-level with him. "When I said you and Tyrell were supposed to start waking up earlier, I didn't mean it like this. You were supposed to do it gradually so that your bodies would adjust to it."

Matthew chuckled to himself a bit. "I've been getting up this early for a couple of years now, Dad. Don't bust a vein about it."

Isaac looked down at the younger specimen of him and raised his eyebrows. "Two things; One, Garet would be the one busting a vein, not me. Two, since when has my barely eight-years-old son been waking up at and before dawn?"

The round-cheeked child tossed a pebble over the cliff with his thumb and started swinging his legs. "About...a few months after Mom left."

After a few moments of coming to a realization of how long ago that was, Isaac furrowed his eyebrows in concern and opened his mouth to say something. But before he could, his son held up a hand and said, "Dad, don't worry about it. Just close your eyes and take a deep breath.

Following the young Venus Adepts instructions, Isaac did as was instructed. He adjusted his position so that he was sitting with his legs over the cliff, just like Matthew. After a few minutes of the breathing, he reopened his eyes to see that his son had been doing the same. "Do you do that a lot? The breathing thing, I mean?"

Without opening his eyes, he spoke. "Yeah. The smell of the sunshine calms me down and reminds me of-"

He muttered the next word, speaking so quietly not even his father could hear him. "Reminds you of what, Matt?"

"It reminds me of...Mom. The warm feeling the sun gives me reminds me of Mom hugging me before I go to bed at night. The smell of it reminds me of her, too, because she smells just like the sunlight. As if just being around her were like being given a fresh start in life, a new way of looking at things. It helps me not miss her, because it makes me feel like she's right there with me."

Isaac sat in silence for the rest of the morning and afternoon. During training, he barely spoke at all, only telling Matthew and Tyrell how to make their fighting stances better and telling them they did a good job at the end of the day. But before his son could disappear into his and his friend's shared bedroom for the night, he pulled Matthew into a tight embrace. Little Matthew, of course, was shocked by this unusual display of affection, but hugged him back just as tightly after a few seconds. And since that day, about two to three times a week, his father would come out to the cliff (or sometimes the roof, when the edge of the cliff would grow weak and was about to give away) with a tray of herbal tea and sit with him in silence while watching the sun rise and sipping steaming cups of dark, flavorful liquid. It was in that manner in which Matthew and Isaac bonded over the years, silently sharing their yearning for Jenna and their determination that she would come back one day.

But while Matthew was thinking this, someone else had come up behind him.

"You are up early this morning."

With a startled jump, the blue-eyed early bird turned to see Sveta, already dressed in her usual day attire. Her long ears were perked up from finally getting some sleep and her light green eyes seemed to shimmer in the low, golden light of the morning. And though anyone else would have been annoyed, or angry, Matthew couldn't help but to smile at her. His usually wind-blown hair was even messier than usual, like a fuzzy, blonde mess to go along with the rest of life's stressful plot, but Sveta found it one of his best physical traits. The way it hung into his eyes made you want to run your hands through it and comb the locks away from his face, and multiple times already Sveta had to stop herself from doing just that.

Matthew patted the space on the boulder next to him. "I couldn't help but to hope that you would accompany me this morning, so I saved this seat for you." He joked, with a playful grin. Sveta rolled her eyes slightly at his failed attempt to flirt with her, but sat down anyways. She eyed him up and down for a few moments, and then asked, "Where did you get that jacket?"

Matthew looked down to the garment in question. The dark blue color of the fine, worn material matched his eyes perfectly, and was so big on him that it went far past his knees and stopped only an inch above his ankles. The size of the jacket's arms were so large that two people his size could ease into it with no struggle at all. "It's my dad's. He let me take it for the journey so that I could feel safe."

Sveta searched his face cautiously, looking for any sign of sad or angry emotions. When she saw nothing but peace and serenity, she smiled and ran her hand over the cuff of one of the sleeves. The texture of the old clothing was a little rough, but somehow soothing. It was easy to see why Matthew seemed so comfortable in the over-sized coat.

But after a minute or so of her doing this, Matthew looked down at her hand, then at her, and asked, "Want to see what it feels like when you're wearing it?"

The beastwoman dropped her hand from the jacket. "No, I could never..."

"It's fine. I won't even have to take it off." With Sveta still refusing the offer, Matthew shifted her onto his lap, pushed her arms through the sleeves of the garment and wrapped it's lapels around her warm body. Shocked from the sudden contact, the Jupiter Adept blushed furiously and couldn't even talk, because she knew that she would stutter embarrassingly if she did. But after some time of getting comfortable with the feeling of Matthew's arms around her, Sveta relaxed and snuggled herself closer into the safe haven of the Venus Adept's body, sighing with contentment from the warmth.

And it was in the strong, loving embrace of one another that both of them felt that they were finally, truly home.