Verse 1, second movement:

Darken rose from his bed in the temple the next morning. Cale had been none the wiser about his sneaking out, or at least showed no surprise. . .He shook the sleep from his head and rose, dressing himself quickly. Another day of training awaited him, and he had but a few hours to himself.

He drew on his robe and tunic, and quickly affixed his Eagle Clasp to the scarf around his neck. Then he walked to the balcony of his room and leapt off, into the sky.

His wings caught the wind almost immediately, pulling him out of his dive and higher into the air. He began to ascend rapidly above the canyons where the temple was and higher, until the trees of Deinyra were just a sea of green. The air was a cool shock to his lungs, but it felt good to fly again.

He mulled over the event of the previous night. After months of singing by her window in the castle, she had seen him. It was almost as much of an exhilaration as flying. If only had got a chance to talk to her before the Seraphim had seen him. He banked away form a low cloud and pushed higher into the sky.

He found his thoughts drifting back to her. How he longed to speak to her, to hold her. It sometimes seemed to him that all his life, he had been waiting for someone like her. Someone who he could love. Someone who didn't care of he was different.

Wait a second, he admonished himself. You haven't even talked to her yet. How do you know she's not like the other Angels, who'd like better than to--

He was cut off by a rush of air screaming beside him. Another jetstream, he thought. Another person is flying!

He flew up. Cale had taught him to use a slipstream to pursue them, so he ascended to follow them. He could barely see the other flyer, they were moving so fast through the clouds, almost as if the flyer knew they were being followed.

Darken could feel them descending, below the clouds. He opened his eyes. Now he could see the flyer. They began to slow down, and Darken could see the suggestion of wings. White wings. . .

An Angel, he said. Here? It must be a Seraphim! Dammit, I tried to lose them! He ascended above the Angel, trying to get a better look from above. He saw none of the armor or weaponry that marked a Seraphim. As matter of fact, it looked almost like. . .

He dove down closer. Yes, it was! It was her. . .

"What are you doing here?" Darken asked her, evening his velocity to hers.

"I've been looking for you for five mornings," she said. "I've been trying to find you ever since I first saw you singing outside the palace."

Darken felt a million emotions in his heart flying madly about. It had worked, he thought. Now what?

"I've been wanting to see you for a long time," he said. "I've wanted to ever since I saw you in the palace court."

He reached out to her as they flew along over the green expanse of Deinyra. She took his hand, the two of them gliding back toward the mountain range. Darken turned underneath her, matching her flight path and taking her other hand.

"Do you trust me?' Darken asked.

"I don't even know your name," she said. Her brilliant eyes glowed like radiant stars.

"Nor I yours," he said. "But I feel like I've known you all my life."

They flew together, hand in hand, down into the canyon, toward the waterfall. Darken had flown through it many times. It had been Cale's way of getting him to control his flight no matter what he went through. Most Angels never had to do it, as they had no rivers in their sphere.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and flapped his wings rapidly for enough speed to keep their ascent. Then, ever nearing the waterfall, he pulled her close to him and kissed her, as they went under the waterfall. There was a cold shock to their skin as they broke the surface. Beautiful liquid blue all around them. They were only under it for a matter of seconds before they broke the surface again.

He pulled back from her. She looked shocked, perhaps from the cold of the water against her. Darken said nothing, just smiled at her as he led them to a small verdant patch at the edge of the waterfall. It had been Darken's secret place for a long time. Now he wanted to share t with you.

They set down gently enough. "I'm sorry if the water shocked you," he said.

She smiled, shaking the water out of her hair and wings. "Not really," she said. "That was amazing. We don't have anything like that in Nycheladra. It's beautiful."

"I like it," he said. "You still haven't told me your name,"

"You haven't told me yours," she said.

Darken sighed. "Well, I guess, I should then. . . my name is Darken Blackangel."

"I know you," she said, waving a hand at him in recognition. "You're Tabris' son. I heard about your mother. I'm so sorry."

"It's all right," Darken said. "I just wish I had known her before she died."

"Everyone said you were dead," she remarked.

"I know," he said. "and it's better they think that way, or else I'd be killed too."

"If that's the way you feel," she said. "Then why do you keep coming to the place in Nycheladra?"

"Because I come to see you," he said. He reached out to touch her snow-white skin. His other hand brushed her long dark brown hair out of her face. "I don't know you. . .not even you're name, but--"

"Maryna," she said, covering his hand with hers. She started planting kisses on his palm. "Maryna Cyclade."

"That's a beautiful name," he said. "For a beautiful woman. I couldn't get you out of my mind after I saw you that first day in the palace."

"I couldn't get you out of my mind the night I first heard you singing outside my window," she said. "I think you are my destined."

"Destined?" Darken asked.

"Our goddess, Phoenix, says that we are each of us destined for another," Maryna said. "If we find them, then we will spend the rest of our days in the light. If we don't then it's said Phoenix weeps for us in her realm."

Darken looked away for a second. He felt the sun rising and warming him. Still, with the water on him, he felt cold.

"Maryna," he said, looking at her glowing eyes. He felt his angel eye, underneath his hair, wanting to react, to link wither her. "I know you don't know me, but, ever since I saw you. . .I've been in love with you. Every night that I see you is a gift, every time I hear your voice is a song of joy. I want you to know that I would risk anything just to stay like this with you, forever."

He leaned forward to her, gently raising her face to his. He pressed his lips to hers, with a rushing of breath, he kissed her. He felt the strength of her body, the warmth of it, even though the water. He pulled her closer.

The hair covering his angel eye was brushed way by her tough. He pulled back and looked at her with both eyes. As he expected, his angel eye glowed, as did hers. Suddenly he was in her mind, and she was in his. They knew, in an instant, every hope and fear, every love and dream they had.

Darken felt a rush of fear. His heartbeat quickened. Now she knows, he though. What if she leaves? He suddenly felt silly--any confidence he had was gone like leaves in the wind. But her hands, so soft and gentle on his, suddenly steadied him. He felt her move closer to him.

Her hands reached inside his robe, exploring the sinewy flesh within. Nervously, he reached for her, kissing her again. She began to undress him, and he did the same for her. There was no thought between them now, just love desire and passion.

Her hand felt along his white skin like a gentle rain. Darken felt sensations that he never knew were possible rising like wildfire through him. At the same time, his soul was on fire with emotion. They were linked, and he felt everything she did, reflected back at him, as did she. She knew his fear of this kind of intimacy, as he knew her desire for him.

He finished undressing her, being careful not to rip her robes on her wings. Her skin was so soft, it felt like the warms of the sun. He pulled her close, the warmth of their bodies seeming to boil away the water.

She reached down, her soft hand encircling him. He gasped. Strange, he thought, that the warrior arts are so familiar, yet the gentle touch of this woman is what terrifies me. He let his breath steady then helped her move atop him as he lay down in the soft grass. She looked at him. Such love him her eyes, he thought. Such love in her heart as in mine.

There was a feeling of warmth as he slid inside her. Darken felt a feeling so profound that it almost hurt him. He breathed slowly, evenly, as did she. She leaned down, feeling his pulse against her fingertips. To the rhythms of life, they added once more.

He held her hips as she moved against him. She held his hands in place. Her wings outstretched unconsciously, as if she were rising from a dream. Darken closed his eyes as he felt the release building in him like a supernova. There was no Darken Or Maryna anymore, they were one in every way that mattered.

Darken felt tears coming from his eyes as he let go inside her. Maryna's voice rang out like a song in the verdant plain.

She looked down at him. He looked up at her with shining eyes.

"I love you," he said. "I always will."

She lay down on to of him, covering their naked bodies with her wings. Darken had never felt so comfortable in his life. It felt wonderful. And even though he knew he couldn't he wanted to stay that way forever.