Page 42 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
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The next morning dawned,gray and foggy, with Nora tramping down the sidewalk toward the park before the sun had fully risen. She was sure there were dark circles like bruises under her eyes, and she hadn’t even brushed her teeth, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Nobody was hanging around the Bean this early in the morning to see her disheveled state anyways.
She mechanically stepped through the portal and weaved her way through the hallways of the Sanctuary to the training yard. It was odd to enter the space and not find Ezra waiting for her at the other end, eyeing her as he considered the best way in which to put her through her paces.
Nora positioned herself in the middle of the ring and fell into her usual warm up routine of kicks and punches. Her limbs heavy with exhaustion, she pushed every hit as hard as she could. She imagined every blow connecting with the sickly gray Shadow from the plane yesterday until he dispersed into clouds of mist.
With every kick that she performed that didn’t meet her standards, she pictured Adam’s blue lips as he lay sprawled on the cabin floor. She kicked until the sweat ran into her eyes, burning until she could barely see, but still, her strikes weren’t strong enough. She spun around, hands flying to her sweat-matted hair as if to tear it out.
A polite cough echoed from the far end of the courtyard, and she froze. She lifted her eyes to find Antony perched on the edge of the fountain. In the bright sun, his softly curled copper hair shone like a new penny.
“Hello Nora,” he greeted her, his voice warm.
“Hey Antony,” Nora looked around, wondering how long he had been sitting there. To her surprise, a peacock was hovering around Antony’s feet, picking at what looked to be pieces of torn up bread. “I’m sorry to bother you.”
“On the contrary, I just came out to feed Pags here, and I’d enjoy some company.” He turned his face up to look at the sky. “Although, I’m afraid if you’ve come out here to find shapes in the clouds, you are out of luck. We don’t have any clouds here.”
Nora followed his gaze upwards and found that he was right. The sun was shining in a clear azure sky, and there wasn’t even the slightest wisp of cloud to be seen.
“It makes me sad that we never have clouds here. I always did have a good time pretending they were dragons or trying to spot Pegasus.”
Nora couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth, and she made her way over to the fountain to perch on the lip next to Antony.
“If you miss them that much, feel free to visit us in Chicago. We have more than enough clouds to go around there.”
“Maybe I will sometime.”
They enjoyed the sunshine in silence for a moment, but even the quiet company and the warmth could not banish the anxiety still gnawing at her gut.
“How do you find it in yourself to watch clouds go by when you are constantly at war with the Shadow?” she asked him eventually.
Antony dropped his eyes and tilted his head. “How do you mean?”
“I just mean that… Well, Adam told me about what the Shadow can do, and then we were attacked on the plane and…” She struggled to articulate her thought but pressed on anyways. “It’s all so terrifying. How do I go on with my normal life when I know what’s out there, constantly endangering everything I care about?”
“Well I guess that’s the point, isn’t it,” Antony’s dreamy eyes grew serious. “If we don’t take the time to enjoy our lives then the Shadow has already won. By being afraid, we give it exactly what it wants.”
“But you march into battle to fight the Shadow. Isn’t fear and hostility part of the whole package when you’re in battle?”
“Yes,” Antony conceded. “But when your enemy is fear itself, you can’t just fight it with more fear. You can’t forget that we also express our connection to the Light through poetry and art and music. People don’t talk about that as much because it lacks the same drama as hacking Shadows to bits with a spear. Between you and me, though, I think it’s the more important part of what we do.”
“So, you are saying we can fight the doom of the world with…art?” It sounded a little ridiculous to Nora when she said it out loud, but Antony nodded seriously.
“And love and joy and hope. The best part is that normal people do it every day and they don’t even know it. You fight the Shadow by putting so much of yourself into your work at the museum. All that beauty and history—it keeps the Shadows from taking over everybody’s minds.”
Nora considered. “I suppose that’s good but… I could do more to fight back. To help stop the Shadow.”
Antony peaked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Then I’m sure you will. But don’t forget that it’s the little acts of beauty that add up to save the world.”
“You guys really take being warrior poets to the next level, don’t you?”
The twinkle returned to Adam’s eyes as he responded. “Don’t forget dancers. We used to have the best dances here.” He turned his dreamy gaze back up to the sky as he talked. “Adam was always a fantastic dancer. It’s a shame that it has been so long since he’s had a partner.”
Nora was glad that Antony was looking at the sky when her cheeks turned hot—not just from the sun.
“It’s too bad I don’t know of any good dance partners for him then. The best I can do is the chicken dance,” Nora deflected.
Antony just hummed knowingly and continued to study the sky.
