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There were eyes, and then there were eyes.
And then there was Indigo.

What could she possibly have been?
Alone in the bar at the docks, that lone girl, a frown upon her lips as she drained another tankard dry. Hands sheathed in strange cat-paw gloves, neko-pon, she called them, brushed idly through her short raven blue locks. She was out of place, strange and wrong, a creature not of this world.
But her eyes were perhaps the strangest thing of all. Storm grey eyes, brimming with fire, eyes burning with anger, burning with memory.
Oddity that she was, people just left her alone.

But the first time she'd set eyes on him, he didn't realize that she would eventually follow him to the ends of the earth.
Or, at least, the islands.

She was something of a stranger to everything. She lived life in a daze, wandering where she pleased, where the world would take her. She said she was on something of a journey, though with no supplies, no proper gear, no money, it seemed hardly possible.
Nobody knew just where she had come from either. She had just... appeared in the wilderness one day, and had made her way out from there...

Little to say, she was intriguing. She could sit in complete thoughtfulness, calm, utter seriousness for hours on end. She was good at mathematics, and was quite a scholar. And yet there was another side to her. There were many sides to her, like the many facets in a precious gemstone...
She could fight as well as any man, in only those beaten gloves. She said her 'father' had taught her the art of 'pyromancy', so she could cast flame as easily as Mizuti and Xelha could. She could create lizards out of fire and make them dance over her enemies, laughing at their pain and suffering, until the final blow, where she could snuff their lives out as easily as brushing her gloved paws across their throats.
Indigo was just like a man in many ways. He suspected she hadn't grown up with much female companionship. She laughed like one, fought like one, drank like one, contradicted herself often, and surprisingly, she could even snore like one if she was taking a catnap.
And strangely, above all that, there was the nature of a child dwelling just below the surface. A child which cried out for companionship.
"I've taken a liking to you, you know? Can we be friends?" Her lighthearted smile, her sweet innocence had taken him by surprise. It was as though a shell had been dropped, just for a few moments because something about him had struck a curiosity in her. Her demeanour, for that small instant, was not one of a shady character that had previously been slugging alcohol just a few seconds ago.
If he tried to inquire why she was this way, she'd just flutter her wings at him and send up a dust cloud.

Although he grew to appreciate her stoic, serious nature, it was this childish side of her that he eventually loved. She was constantly curious and dozed often. But when she was paying attention to him, she would always be at his side. She had even started to call him 'Lyudekin', when she snuggled against his chest every night.
They were like friends but not like friends in that sense. She said from the start that she wasn't looking for another brother, she'd already had one and he would be her only one. He didn't completely understand her. But then again, he didn't think anyone did.
And in later times, he would find himself looking back and wondering how it came to be that one strange girl had ended up dragging him all over the islands.

He never realized that travelling in the company of this stranger would lead him to fall in love. She was gentle and sweet, when she wasn't playing the role of a mercinary. And she was perfectly capable of loving him back. Too much at times. But the two of them were perfectly happy with each other. They hardly ever fought, but when they did, it often resulted in her disappearing for half the day, leaving him alone. Once, annoyed with her attitude, he'd moved on only to find her curled up under a tree sobbing her heart out later in the evening.
She clung like a leech, and it bothered him at times. But she was happy when she was with him, and if nothing else, it at least made him smile.
It did more, but it was going to take him a long time to admit it.

He had never imagined that they would part company and that they would never see each other again. It had been just over a year since their first meeting when Indigo began to get distracted. He saw less of her cheerful self and more of the serious outer shell that she used to be. Night time became torment for her, plagued by dreams of... something. She would never say. Just accepted the fact that he was there... and it was all very well comforting her on those dark nights, feeling her tremble against his skin, knowing he soothed her with his touch and with his words, but there would always be the lingering feeling of wanting to do something more.
Afterall, weren't they lovers?
But... she drifted further and further. He could only watch as she became a shadow of her former self. She would smile, but it wouldn't reach the fear in her eyes. Every step was taken warily. She was fleeing something, something from her past, something she refused to tell...

And then had come the fateful night.
That final night, where he lost himself in her embrace, keeping her close. That last night, where she had dropped her shell and the woman inside was herself again. He knew she was going to leave. But he didn't want to let her go. Listening to her apologies, feeling her lips brush his own... it was so soon. So sudden.
He wanted to face the dangers with her, at her side, but she refused. She didn't want to lose him too. And she let him know everything. Every last detail about her past. He could finally understand. Finally know what she was afraid of.
But she refused to let him protect her. This was her destiny, she said. She had to face it alone.
And so, they spent the night in each others arms, waiting for dawn. Painfully waiting.

She left him a feather.
A single, white feather, tipped with the red of suffering. She wanted him to remember her, their time together. She had enjoyed every moment. She had loved him. But now she was gone.
There was no trace that she had ever been in the islands. Nobody had seen the strange raven haired girl in the cat gloves. It was only months later that a scrap of red fabric was found in the deserts. The same tattered scrap that could only have come from her blood red scarf. They found no body, only a scattering of white feathers. He found he was on his own again.
But yet there was always the strange feeling in his own heart. A feeling that she hadn't died. He didn't grow cold the way he thought he would have. There was the possibility that she was still alive. Idly he twirled the small white and red feather between his fingers.
No matter where she was now, no matter what she had endured, even if she was gone forever...

He held in his hand a peice of her heart.
He could never forget her.