Myarii smiled as the minute snake coiled itself around her fingers and blinked its big eyes at her.

"He's so cute. What's his name?"

"Barker."

She stroked the delicate feathery wings on it's head, watching the it close its eyes in the sunshine. It was funny how he nuzzled his head into her palm just like Lostdog did.

"I've never seen one like him before", she mused, noticing how the sunlight brought out pink and purple tones on its smooth green skin.

"Is that a good thing?" Evandar asked from his seat on the vast root of a tree.

"Yes," she answered, trying to figure out how to phrase her next thought. "I...like seeing new things."

With a sudden gleam of an idea in his eyes, he got up and unwrapped Barker from her hand.

"Ev, what are you-" she began.

"close your eyes."

She eyed him suspiciously.

"I can show you something new. Something you've never seen before. just shut your eyes" he pleaded. "please?"

"But I don't know what you-"

He came forward and took her hand in his.

"Suit yourself"

She blinked and the blacksmith's yard was gone. Stone dips and platforms had replaced it, the hollows filled with steaming water, a natural honeycomb of pools.

"the Cinely Springs. But how did you-?" she started in awe. Evandar grinned at her, slipped his fingers between hers and held tight.

She tried to keep her eyes open, but with the briefest black of her eyelids, they were suddenly standing on the ledge of a cold mountain, the sky a vivid blue in sunset. A huge ethereal dragon burst across the sky towards them.

It snapped its jaws and she was about to die, then she opened her eyes and they were at the foot of an astronomical tree gazing up through the branches as tiny jewel like flutterbys dusted the leaves with gold.

All the while she gripped Evandar's warm firm hand and he showed her sight after sight, each one only lasting the briefest of seconds.

She watched as a girl danced for gold in a city square, as a mother duck's egg gave way to her fourth tiny ball of feathers, as a crown was placed on the newly coordinated King, as a boy of five or six wandered lost in a crowd.

She felt her eyes rushed with water, from the power of it all. She turned to him, the background around them still flickering every few seconds to a new place, a new time.

"how can you-? I mean how do you?"

He traced a finger over the Time symbol on his face.

"Its my Halfelement gift," he said softly, "A moment any where. anywhere in time."
She’d taken on a hushed tone unconsciously, a mood of  reverence and respect replacing the playful one of minutes before.

"It is a true gift,". She brought her hand up to follow where he left off, tracing the lines and swirl on his cheek.

He grazed her nose, her eyelids fluttered shut.

"Ev?" she whispered, leaning her forehead on his.

"Mmm?"

He smelled of metalworkers chemical and daffodils.

"Tell me again. Tell me what a moment is."

He  passed his lips briefly over hers before answering.

“Eight heartbeats. A moment is eight heartbeats that are worth more than eight years.”

She kissed him, soft and carefully as the sun rose and creatures came to life and mourned for those who’d left it around them and they were lost in time and in the beauty of the world.