[Sasan]

“The Ascent started this way back, didn't they?”

Catching her smile amid glints of moonlight, Sasan blinked. “What?”

“The Nox!” Arryn did a little pirouette, arms spread to the night. Sasan was worried she'd trip.

He cleared his throat, stalling to think. She couldn't possibly think he was some sort of expert on ancient history, could she? “Well, yeah,” he managed, “They used t'worship the moon, I think?” He must have sounded like a fool, but Arryn didn't seem to mind. He tried to come up with something more informative. “I mean, y'know, when no one could read and loincloths were chic.”

Arryn giggled at that, and Sasan was laughing too, though blushing a little. “I suppose it was still the same, though. Saying goodbye t'all the people we've lost, being there for the ones left behind.”

They'd come to it, finally, a small clearing on the edge of the riverbank, secluded and lit by the warm shadows of distant bonfires and the candles on votive boats as they passed downstream. Toamna was clear above, massive in the sky, glowing with soft light.

“It looks cold,” Arryn murmured, staring up at the moon. “And lonely.”

Sasan thought of all the souls up there, all the fires that had been lit across the world tonight. He hadn't lost anyone this year, or for a long time. Even still. “Let's see about warming it up a little,” he said, kneeling to set his boat in the water, pausing to light the tiny wick extending from its mast.

Arryn followed suit, crouching by his side. “Have a nice trip, little souls,” she trilled, looking over and meeting his eyes.

They sat there, watching them float away, for some time, little drifts of light in the darkness beyond.

Whatever Nox was before, this was what it had become. And that didn't seem so bad.