Words In Starlight Ink.

Hi guys! I could not resist writing a one-shot collection for Nightlight and Katherine. And with today being the fourth day after Valentines day, I have an excuse!

I will be completing one other story I have for these two by tomorrow, and I will reference that one some, but not too much.

So, enjoy!

This is set in the eighteenth century, when Valentines day would have been becoming popular.

Curled up in her bedroom, Katherine smiled at the book she was reading, not knowing of the plan that Nightlight was putting into action all the while.

It was the Fourteenth of February, Valentines Day. A day to spend with your loved one, showing them just how special they were to you.

And having spent some time in London, Nightlight had collected a lot of ideas for how to do just that for Katherine.

Katherine. His Katherine. His story girl. The girl for whom he had risked the almighty wrath's of Ombric Shalazar, the last surviving wizard of Atlantis who could easily turn him into a worm, and Nicholas St. North, who could do the same or set an army of loyal Yeti on him, in order to have permission to marry her.

Seeing as there was a gold band around Nightlight's still-existing ring finger, we can safely assume, dear reader, that he managed to not invoke the wrath of those two. Much.

He had a bit of a journey though, because what he was getting needed to be gotten just before he set his plan into action.

Landing in India, he searched around quickly for what he needed.

He found it almost immediately, though it was sacred to the people of this country.

A white jasmine plant.

He had learned from his time in England using his invisibility to unbelievers to hang around the courts of the important Tall Ones, (It still didn't make much sense to him, why should one person be more important than another and no one else could try and suggest a better plan. If that was the way the Guardian's worked than Pitch would have won long ago.), that the jasmine flower symbolized grace, elegance, amiability, quietness, and cheerfulness. And from his adventures in India, that here it stood for true love as well.

All of these things were what described Katherine to him. She was graceful from the training for battle she had from Toothiana, elegant in the way she held herself, always assuming a quiet wisdom in the room she was in, amiable in her constant kindness to all, quiet, merely because that was the way she was, and cheerful in her wish to always see her friends happy.

He knew if she heard him describe her like this, she'd blush and turn away, denying it all the while, but that was how he saw her, and nothing could stop him from doing so.

Although she was pretty when she blushed...

'No, no, stop, stop Nightlight!' He thought to himself. 'If you don't hurry you'll ruin it the plan!'

Setting to work, he dug out the small plant with it's few blooms, making sure that there was plenty of dirt around the roots, and set it gently to the side. He then filled up the small pot he had brought with partially, then placed the plant in, and filled it entirely.

By the end of it all, he had a lot of mud on himself, but there was a river near by he could clean up in. So he took the pot to the banks of the river, and then started to clean up.

Once the mud was off, (How did it get behind his ears?), he gently grabbed the large pot with the small plant, and flew up and towards Santoff Claussen.

Setting the pot at the outskirts of the town, at the foot of an oak tree, he then carefully climbed into his and Katherine's room through the window, laid the first note on the floor behind her, and tapped her on the shoulder before flying up to the ceiling.

Glancing around, Katherine saw no one, but then noticed the paper on the ground, and instantly headed towards it. Warily though, the last thing she needed was for it to be a trap of some sort.

Picking it up carefully, she saw with relief that it was nothing but a poem, and an interesting one at that.

Up I climb, down I step.

I take you where you wish to go.

The next one of me, you can find there.

So Nightlight was doing a sort of treasure hunt for St. Valentines Day. This was going to be fun.

Taking a quick guess at where she was suppose to go, Katherine immediately headed towards the stairs outside of Big Root. And at the foot of the stairs was the next note. Unbeknownst to Katherine, Nightlight had followed her out.

Opening it, she read,

Rose are red,

And violets blue,

Both smell sweet,

And guard us too.

It took her two seconds and a glance behind her, (What was that noise?), to figure it out.

The hedge of flowers with the hidden thorns.

She started to wonder how long it was going to take her to find the note, seeing as the hedge encompassed the entire village, when she notice the trail of small pebbles in a rainbow of colors.

Picking up each pebble, she soon came upon the next note, nestled between a rose and a violet.

Opening it, she found,

Silent unless speaking,

The most charming to all

But me,

I have one who bests her,

Gems are to her,

What flowers are to the hedge.

The Spirit of the Forest.

Now, how to find her?

Walking through the forest, she chirped to a sparrow, which told her where to go, and almost asked her if she knew who was following her, but hushed when Nightlight silently shushed it from behind.

Quickly walking towards the Spirit, she approached and asked for the note, which she have readily, with a smile to Nightlight when Katherine wasn't looking.

Reading it, she inhaled sharply at the note.

Go to the oak,

You know where.

And find the gift there.

You need only to remember me.

Remember me?

I remember you.

She remembers. The oak, the Fearling, the knife, his voice, the unknowing, the torment in his eyes, the kiss, the remembering.

And she walks quickly towards it. The oak with the root that formed the natural bench, a few yards away from the stream, which still had the scar from the lead knife in it, at the height where her head usually was if she was sitting on the bench.

She shook off those memories and went to the oak.

It still had the mark, but it had faded. And in front of the bench was a beautiful pot with a jasmine plant in it.

How did he know that she liked the plant? She had only learned of it a month or so ago.

There was a note at the base of pot that she picked up with trembling fingers.

Katherine,

I love you,

Do you love me?

Turn around to answer please.

And she turned to find him there, her best friend, her courter, her husband, her lover.

Nightlight.

She was instantly pulled up to his chest, where she could hear the steady beat of his heart, soft breathing, and could smell the scents of India, Indian dirt, and jasmine on him mixing with his normal scent of nighttime, wind, trees, and a metallic smell unique to his armor that wasn't unlike the metallic smells of meteoric swords.

Muffled by his armor, she muttered, "I love you, do you love me?"

And heard his silent reply.

'Always.'

Pulling apart enough to look at him, she said,

"We should plant it."

In response, he held up a small shovel.

They dug a small hole by the bench, put the roots in, covered them up, cast spells to keep the plant warm, and covered the dirt around the small trunk of it with the pebbles.

Grasping her muddy hands from behind, Nightlight pressed his lips to the top of Katherine's head before letting them go so they could get the dirt off them.

When they were both clean and slightly wet Katherine turned towards him only to be gently grabbed by her waist and pulled towards him. Pausing only a moment to search for any opposition in her eyes, he found none.

And proceeded to pull her over to the bench and kiss her thoroughly. No sense in wasting time.

Breaking the kiss for much-needed air, Katherine said,

"I like my gift, but should I give you yours?"

'And what is that?'

"Well," She said with the mischievous grin of someone with the promise of a grand and slightly naughty scheme. "We are the only people in the village besides the Spirit, the Bear, and the animals. Tooth and North are at Punjam Hy Loo working on something, Ombric, Bunny, and the rest of the village are in Rome, and Sandy is on the other side of the globe giving sweet dreams, so we do have all of Big Root to ourselves..."

And by this point Nightlight swept her up bridal style, shushed her with a another thorough kiss, and immediately headed to their room.

And barricaded it.

A/N: Slightly adult theme, but they are eternal eighteen-year-olds who are married. Teenage hormones plus marriage equals, umm...That.

Also, the bit about Nightlight not understanding why the English court was run the way it was then is not saying that countries with monarchies are bad, I'm just putting this in Nightlight's perspective while taking the way the court was run back then into account.

Those people did tend to marry their cousins, and the inbreeding through that is what caused strains of insanity to thrive.

That, and they believed that mercury and other such chemicals were powerful medicines.

Something definitely was wonky with our ancestors.

Anyway, I will clarify more on the bit with the tree, knife, Fearling, and the two of then later on in this collection, but now I am bidding goodbye my Nightstalkers.

Arigato!