Right, well, these are the tales of a slightly unusual, everyday couple. The one that you're about to hear I think should come first. But let me know if you think otherwise. After this there will be a (growing) list of further stories. These are in whatever order you should desire...
He soared upwards, through the low clouds to the place beyond, where the stars shone more brilliantly than they ever did from the ground. He reveled in it, lost himself, his worldly cares and burdens.
But, eventually, he had to return.
He landed at the back door of his house, and there was a woman standing there, silhouetted against the light coming from the kitchen. He was still calm from the flight, and said merely, "Hello."
She stepped forward, and he recognized her. Her name was Rosie, and she had moved in next door to him a few weeks previously. They had hardly spoken, though, because this was not a street where you met your neighbours.
"I just saw you flying. I'm not mad, am I?"
He considered for a second.
"Is the only reason you think you may be mad because you thought you saw me flying?"
She smiled then.
"Well, not always, but on this occasion, yes. So, I'm asking you, Matthew, can you fly?"
"Sure, can't you?" He grinned at her, waiting for her response.
"Well, no, actually. Oddly enough. It's a little unusual for your average human."
He walked around her, and pushed open the back door.
"Would you like some coffee? Or maybe a cup of tea?" She nodded, and followed him inside. "Everyone has something that makes them unique from everyone else. It's pretty normal really."
"Tea please." She sat at the kitchen table, and considered what he'd said. "Hmmm.... ok, I'll give you that, but you have to admit that there are very few people who can fly. In fact, until tonight, I wasn't aware that any could."
"Now, there's all sorts of reasons for that." He fussed with the teapot, and she watched him. He was tall and thin, but not skinny, with short dark hair, and extremely blue eyes. She'd noticed these almost as soon as they'd met. She was suddenly aware of a slightly ludicrous side to the evenings events.
"You're taking this very calmly." She noted. "I mean, you go flying, and when you come back there's a woman you've hardly met waiting for you at your back door. So, you make tea for her at 1.00am. People might almost think you're used to this kind of thing."
He laughed at her interpretation of the evening. She liked it when he laughed. His eyes crinkled and flashed
."No, I'm not used to it." He admitted. "In fact, that's probably why your getting tea. If I was used to it, I'd have probably found some way to get rid of you much faster than this!" He reconsidered. "Not that I want to get rid of you, currently." He reached for some mugs, and asked, "Milk and sugar?"
"Just milk. Cheers." He handed her the mug.
"Do people not normally notice when you go flying or something?"
"Nah. You'd be amazed how blind most people can be." he considered her for a minute. He took note of the hair, which was shorter, slightly, than his own, and the way that it matched her eyes almost exactly. Her mouth had laughter lines at the corners, but she looked no older than him. She had faint scars from mild acne, he guessed. "In fact, you must be pretty special yourself, to have spotted me."
"Me? Ha!"
"Come on, give over. You said earlier that you sometimes thought you're insane. There has to be a reason for that."
She leant forward, looking deeply into her mug, watching what she found there carefully. "Sometimes ... " She began slowly. "Sometimes I feel that I am invincible. Sometimes, my ears are pointed, and there are stars on the inside of my eyelids. The moon is my sister, my Goddess, my friend. And occasionally I am lost, alone, and vulnerable.
But I have never flown, alone, the way you do."
"And you want to. Even with everything else you have, you want to fly."
"So typically human, really, isn't it? As though what I do have is not enough. What I have will last a life time (I hope) and I will never have enough of it, but I would like," She looked up at him, met his eyes, and her mouth quirked a little, "no, would like is too polite. I want more." She paused a little, then shrugged. "Go figure."
Matthew had sat down opposite her, but now he got up, and wandered over to the window. The cloud he had flown through earlier had broken up a little, and he could see the stars in the gaps. He turned back to Rosie, who was looking at him, waiting for him to say something, comment on her admissions.
"You see stars when you close your eyes?" She nodded. He turned back to the window, and half whispered to himself, "I would like that."
Rosie heard him, and went to stand behind him. She touched him for the first time, just put her hand on his shoulder blade. Matthew glanced at her over his shoulder, and Rosie saw again the blue of his eyes. She closed her own eyes, she suddenly felt her ears grow pointed again, and the stars reappeared, and she was sure that he could learn to do the same.
"I think I can help you to see the stars." She stated, quietly.
He turned around completely to look at her. "You really think?"
Her hand had dropped to her side again, and her brown eyes met his blue. She creased her eyes at him.
"Yes, I really think. A few people wouldn't believe it if you told them though." He caught the joke, and grinned.
"I guess, if you could teach me how to see the stars without flying, I could teach you to see the stars without closing your eyes."
He was rewarded with a huge grin, and his soon matched it. He swayed towards her, and she suddenly went still.
"I should go."
Matthew put the back of his hand to her cheek, and watched her eyes. He could see the flicker in them now, overlaying yet an integral part of the colour of her eyes. She moved her head slightly against his hand, but then said, "I..." and moved away towards the door.
"Let me guess. A vulnerable patch."
She blushed slightly. "Uh-huh. Sorry."
"No fuss. Can I take you out for a drink at a more conventional time, tomorrow maybe?"
"Conventional? Oh, before midnight you mean." He nodded, and grinned, and they worked past the awkward patch. "That would be nice. I have... enjoyed myself tonight."
"I'm glad. Me too. I'll call for you around eight then?"
Rosie yawned suddenly, then looked surprised. "Ach! I forgot how late it is. Until eight tomorrow, then." And she let herself out of the back door.
So the stargazer learnt to fly, and the bird learnt to see stars, and both learnt more than that as well.