The Phoenix/Nix belong to me
Leilana belong to __Moon_Goddess
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   Bare feet pitter-pattered against the grass as a young women ran through a forest with her light blue hair dragging on the ground. She did not pay any mind to her surroundings; such as the animals that had scurried away as she rushed past them, or the arrangement of golden leaves on the trees despite it being in the springtime. In fact, she did not pay attention to anything at all; not her aching breath, or the pounding in her chest, or even the pain in her feet everytime she slammed them into the ground. All she could do was look at what was in front of her and run, even if she had no idea where she was exactly running to.

"Eek!" She stumbled forward. She hissed in pain as she clutched her foot— seeing blood drip from a cut on her sole.

The bluenette let her foot go, looking behind her, she saw a stone slab poking out from the dirt with droplets of her blood on it. Sighing in relief, she turned back around and started to hop on one leg. She knew that she would not be able to get too far in her condition, what with her lost of breath and her new injury. She had to find somewhere to stay for the night at the very least; the gray clouds looming over more than guaranteed rain tonight.

As the young women hopped around on stone slabs she saw stone pillars with symbols on them that she did not recognize. They intrigued her. As she touched the symbol and wiped away the dust off of it, it almost seemed... familiar?

'That can't be...' She shook the thought out of her mind and looked away. Her eyes widened as she stared at what was in front on her— a temple that was as tall as the trees with the same symbols on it as were on the pillars. She slowly hopped over to the temple while occasionally darting her eyes from side to side. She took a deep breath before poking her head in the temple, expecting to see monsters, unspeakable horrors, or even worst: knights. All she saw, however, were stone stabs and an alter in the center of the temple.

"Who goes there?!" A stern but elegant voice boomed throughout the temple.

The bluenette jumped back, frantically looking around as her heart started beat faster and faster by the second. She looked up at the ceiling to see a flurry of red, orange, and yellow, flames circling around the temple. It startled her half to death until she realized that it was not a fire starting in the temple, merely being a bird flying overhead. The bird perched itself on the alter as she smiled and hopped over.

"Hey." She said with a soft voice, kneeling down to be at the bird's level. "You're..." She stared at the bird and was stunned. It was elegant and slender, with feathers that looked almost like gold, ruby, and sunstone, with flames at the tips. "beautiful..." She whispered as she slowly put her hand on the bird's head and pet it.

"What are you doing?" The bird asked.

She jumped and took her hands off of the bird, staying in silence for a few seconds before blinking her purple eyes, "...You can... talk?"

The bird's eyes, white and pupiless, tightened, "Yes... yet you speak as if you did not know."

"I didn't! I swear it! I'm sorry... I would have asked if it was okay to pet you if I knew you could talk." She said.

The bird's eyes widened, "You really did not know, did you? It's alright then. It was unexpected is all. Expect you to... pet? Pet me? Is that the word?"

The girl nodded in response, "You're really pretty, I just couldn't help myself."

"...Thank you. You do not have to sweet talk me, however. You are a human afterall, I know what you are here for. Please look away for a moment."

The girl did as she was told, as the bird watched her it lowered its head, plucking one feather out of its outstretched wing. The feather shined as if it was gold, and a few seconds after it was taken out of the bird, it lit up on fire. "You can look, now."  The bird said in a stern voice, tucking its wing back at its side. The girl turned back around, tilting her head with furrowed brows at the bird with one of its feathers in its mouth.

"You- you don't want this?" The bird dropped the feather and looked to the side, closing its eyes, "That can't be right... I am the phoenix! While you are human! Humans come here when they want my flames!"

"Huh? The phoenix? Oh no! You're mistaken! I didn't come here for anything. I just came here because I needed a place to stay for the night. But now that I know a creature lives here... well I probably shouldn't have disturbed you." The girl turned around and started to hop on her foot.

"Wait..." The phoenix uttered causing the girl to stop and turn around. They stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds, "No. You can stay."

"Really? Thank you!" The girl smiled and sat behind the alter, leaning her head against the stone surface with the phoenix standing over her, "Also, I'm Leilana! What's your name?" 

The phoenix blinked, "Ummm... the phoenix?"

Leilana giggled, "That's not a name. Are you telling me you don't have a name?!"

"I guess not... I have been living in this temple for as long as I can remember... alone... everyone who comes here solely comes for my flames and refer to me as the phoenix. It is nice to have someone here who stays."

Leilana smiled, "Well I can't just refer to you as just 'the phoenix' then. Hmmmm, how about Nix? If you like that?"

"Nix..." The phoenix closed its eyes, "Yes, I like it." 

Leilana looked up at the phoenix, "Nix it is, than!" She grinned and poked its beak. Nix sqawked and shook its head from side to side with its outstretched wings and flew off.

"Huh? Wait! Sorry! Was that too much? I won't do it again!"

Leilana poked her head from behind the alter and looked around. No sign of Nix. She sighed and sat up apond the alter, looking over at the shimming feather that was left since Nix plucked it out. Leilana picked up the feather as she closed her purple eyes, holding it closely to her chest. Nix— she was the only person, or more like creature, who was ever kind to her. She tied the feather around the strap of her dress, not to use it for its fire power but to always remember Nix.

"Oof!" All of a sudden Leilana felt a cushion hit her in the face and something else drop on her lap. She took the cushion into her hands realizing  that it was a pillow and that in her lap was a pile of blankets 

"I'm sorry. I did not mean to hit you in the face. I just wanted to make sure you are comfortable." She looked up and saw Nix hovering above her.

"It's okay, and thank you." She smiled.

Leilana heard thunder outside. She could see as rain droplets splattering on the grass from the entranceway to the temple, the droplets quickly turned into a heavy pour. She jumped in front of the alter to see it better, leaning her pillow on the alter and cuddling up in the soft, cozy, blankets. She looked up at Nix and smiled at the bird watching her contently.

"Wanna watch the rain with me?" Leilana asked.

Nix landed in front of Leilana and looked over at the smiling girl, she giggled and shook her head. "No silly, next to me." Leilana opened the blankets up with one hand and patted the floor next to her with the other hand.

"I am not sure that will be conformable for you..." Nix said, with Leilana shrugging in response.

It took in a deep breath and closed its eyes, folding its wings over itself. Its wings glowed even brighter than Leilana had ever seen and become surrounded by a circle of fire. The fire slowly faded away to reveal a figure; Leilana could not peel her eyes away from the sight, and her mouth was wide open, "Y-you're!" In the place of the phoenix, was standing a girl. She had long curly hair that looked like waves of pink flames, freckles of tiny fire flecks, and pink eyes. This was not any ordinary girl, however, it was clearly the phoenix. Noticeably by the large wings on her back and feathery ears.

"You're a human?" Leilana asked.

"Not exactly. I have a humanoid form but the phoenix is my true form." She walked toward her, "No one has ever seen me in this form, expect now you have."

"You look beautiful in both forms."

"Thank you." Nix sat next to Leilana as she wrapped Nix in the blankets with her, "There. Now, you should be conformable with me next to you."  Nix said and leaned against her, a slight blush on her cheeks, and a small smile on her lips.

The two felt warmth in each other's presence. They watched the rain pour down onto the grass and stone slabs outside, and listened to the pitter-patter of the rain as it hit the temple. Leilana yawned and closed her eyes, humming to the rhythm of Nix's breathing.

"What are you doing?" Nix asked.

"Hmm?" Leilana opened her eyes, "I'm humming. You know, like singing? Please tell me you know what singing is."

Nix blinked at her, "You don't! I have to sing for you than!" Leilana said excitedly and jumped up, she thought for a moment and cleared her throat.

Leilana began to sing for Nix; syncing her rhythm of her song with the sounds of the rain outside. The songstress's singing was truly magnificent, voice soft yet clear at the same time, every pitch perfect, and filled with raw passion and emotion with every note. As she sung, some rain droplets spun and danced around her. Leilana bowed as she finished the song, rain droplets splattering on the floor, so in the moment that everytime around her seemed to fade away.

"That was wonderful." Nix said. Leilana smiled and sat back down next to her.

"Thank you. I absolutely love to sing. Well... actually... sometimes I don't." She grimaced and stared at the floor.

"What do you mean?" Nix asked.

"The reason that I'm here. I ran away. You saw what I can do when I sing. People want to use it, so they forced me to sing. I couldn't take it anymore though."

"I see. Your singing is a gift, its something personal that people want to use for their gain. You were right to run away... you can stay here for as long as you want, Leilana."

"Thank you Nix" Leilana leaned on Nix's shoulder, "...but what about you?"

"I wouldn't mind if you lived he-"

"That's not what I mean!" She looked up at Nix twirling the phoenix feather on her dress strap with her finger, "You said whenever a human comes in here that you give them your flames, your feather, but your feathers are apart of you and you just give it away! Why?"

"...because they need it... its makes them happy..."

"I've had enough experience to know that not everyone who says they need your magic actually needs it." Leilana retorted.

"What are you saying?"

"I... I saw all the feathers missing from your body. I mean you are still beautiful without them, but you still need them. Nix, you didn't even have a name before I came here. You should be happy too, not just try and make everyone else happy."

"I suppose you're right about that... Thank you... Leilana... I suppose this night has been the happiest I've ever been."

"I'm glad." Leilana smiled. She closed her eyes and clutched the phoenix feather tightly in her fist, yawning, feeling herself slowly drift off to sleep to the sound of the rain and the warmth of Nix.

Normally, she would have slept alongside Leilana but her mind was racing, pondered on what had just happened in a single night. Not just about what Leilana had said to her, but also her talking to a human from more than ten minutes, hearing singing for the first time, and going into her humanoid form. It was all new to her; and even though her experiences would dictate otherwise, Nix enjoyed all of it. Only when she had noticed the sun come up from the mountains on the horizon did she snap out of her thoughts.

Leilana had woken up much later than Nix did. She yawned loudly as she stretched out her arms, and rubbed her eyes. Looking over to her side, frowning at the empty spot once occupied by Nix. 'Had it all been a dream?' Leilana thought as she pushed the blankets off of her. She stood up but stumbling abit as she walked foward.

"Leilana."

Leilana wiped her head around to a familiar voice, smiling as she looked at Nix. Nix was back in her bird form, sitting atop her alter. She was glad that the night before wasn't a dream and that she really did befriend the phoenix.

"Nix, good morning. I know what you said yesterday but I'm really sorry. See, I can't really stay here all the time."

"I see..." Nix lowered her head.

Leilana frowned but quickly perked back up again,  "But I will come here every night! Every night I will come and sing to you. That's a promise!"

Though she physically couldn't, Leilana could tell that Nix would have smiled back at her, "Promise?" Nix asked as she picked her head up.

"Promise!" Leilana grinned, waving Nix goodbye as she left the temple for the day.