Lahnthean Aria

10

"Blue," Kiran breathed.

Noorh's hair was a midnight blue under the morning light. It seemed pure black in the dark, but it had a bluish sheen whenever light brushed its soft strands at an angle.

It was the first time that a male stranger around her age carried Kiran like a bride. She wasn't sure how to react when he effortlessly lifted her up from the ground, let alone when he started leaping into the air.

The awkwardness and embarrassment she felt at being held made her rigid and stiff, but the queasiness that filled her senses with every jump Noorh made against the cliff eventually left her too nauseous to care about it. She even found herself desperately wrapping her arms around his neck for dear life - a gesture that he didn't seem to mind.

As if the whole ordeal wasn't enough of a torment, her body started reminding her that she hadn't eaten anything for dinner the previous day nor for breakfast that morning. Seeing Noorh proceed with their journey without a thought about meals or any bag that might hold food made her wonder if people in his world didn't eat at all.

Would telling him about her hunger pangs cause him more inconvenience? How would they even secure food along the cliffside? Rocks weren't edible, right?

The thought made her stomach grumble. She winced and decided to hold her hunger in. The sooner they could get down the mountain, the sooner they might be able to find food. And since she couldn't for the life of her look down to see the path that Noorh was taking, she opted to look up at the sky and the steps that they had left behind.

It was at that moment that she noticed Noorh's mussed mop of hair.

"What's blue?" Noorh suddenly asked, breaking Kiran's train of thought.

A hint of red filled her cheeks as she turned away in shame.

"Your hair," Kiran shyly admitted, casting her eyes at the steps slowly disappearing along the curve of the cliffside behind them.

She instantly regretted muttering loudly to herself. It was a habit she developed from talking to herself whenever she was alone. There were instances when she was too far into her thoughts that they would slip out of her lips without her realizing it. People who heard her mutterings called her weird.

That made it difficult for her to be comfortable around strangers and make friends. Even when she spent a lot of her time with Remy, she kept some of her guard up and prepared herself for the time when they would eventually become acquaintances.

"You find it odd," Noorh said.

"No! It's not like that at all. I like your hair! I've always wanted to dye my hair blue; not the bright blue or the mermaid blue kind of blue. The blackish blue, like your hair! It looked really dark last night that I thought you had pitch black hair. Now that I'm looking at it in the daylight, it's actually blue. It's really cool. I wish I can dye my hair to look like yours."

Noorh stared curiously at her as if he was trying to figure out if she was being serious. "You want to dye your hair to look like mine?"

"I think it's really beautiful, and it looks really soft and silky! Usually, when hair gets dyed, it becomes dry but yours look so smooth and healthy even when it's messy. Is that your natural hair color?"

"It is."

Kiran sighed longingly as she watched his hair dance in the breeze. "I wish my hair is that pretty. Maybe I'll try to dye my hair in that color-"

"You can't."

Kiran stared surprised at him. Did he find Kiran's fascination with his hair color offensive?

"At least you can't do it here," Noorh clarified, casting his sights forward and away from Kiran's curious doe eyes. "It's illegal."

"Dyeing hair is illegal here?"

"Dyeing one's hair isn't illegal. You can dye your hair here if you want, just not with the same color as my hair."

"So…dying my hair blue is illegal here?"

"Just the shade of blue that my hair has."

"Why? Is it against your people's beliefs?"

Noorh pursed his lips in thought. "Something like that."

"What do you mean?"

Noorh wasn’t sure how he should respond to the question. Thankfully, a loud grumble interrupted their conversation. He paused on a step and stared at Kiran who was already scarlet and wincing away from him.

"You're hungry," he deadpanned.

"N-no, I'm not!" Kiran weakly defended. "Oh hey, the sky is so pretty!"

A louder series of growls that vibrated against Noorh's torso contradicted Kiran's claim. He bit back a snicker while Kiran buried her flush face into the crook of his neck.