my shadow tilts its head at me,
spirits in the dark are waiting.
He laughs at her response. Not at her, but at himself. His own stupidity. Of course rabbit is gross. But still, she had seemed rather happy that he’d taken a bite of the thing, and he can’t say he completed hated it. Though he’s also relieved. In the end, he still prefers grass. Unlike her, he has to eat to live, and he really doesn’t mind plain old boring grass. After all, even that had been a luxury in one of his lives, the one where Beqanna burned to the ground. As abundant as grass might be in this life, he doesn’t take it for granted. Not anymore.
Maybe that’s why he’s not completely disgusted by the idea of eating meat. He knows what it’s like to starve, and to watch his friends starve even more than he had. Food was food, and he needed it to live. Though horses’ stomachs were not made for meat, and he cannot imagine making an entire diet of it.
He just shakes his head instead. “Well then,” he begins, pretending to be insulted. Though it’s obvious he’s not even remotely annoyed by being offered a ‘gross’ gift. He’s a terrible actor. And besides, he thinks she meant well. It’s the thought that counts, right? “Thanks?”
But he laughs all the same, something that both feels and sounds foreign on his tongue. He’d never laughed much, in his last lives. Perhaps this life wouldn’t burn to the ground around him, though he didn’t hold out much hope of that. All his lives had. Why would his luck change now?
She looks a little sad when he poses the question, but at the same time she says what he wants to hear. And no, he doesn’t want to hear it because it would earn him some promotion (he’s not even in a caste), but simply because he likes spending time with the girl. They are similar, they are creatures of the shadows, and he finds comfort in surrounding himself with others like him. He isn’t entirely sure how the girl will react to Rhynn, but they’d soon find out.
“I do, sort of. Mostly, my home is in the shadows. But there are many shadows in the Valley. He grins then. “We will bring every shadow we can find. And play with them all. Yes?”
And this is perhaps the most he’s ever spoken. But it’s becoming easier, particularly with her. He’ll probably manage to set her off an infinite number of times, because he’s too clueless to do otherwise. But he thinks he’s getting a little better. And with that, he nods in the direction of the Valley, taking a few steps toward a shadow portal that he pulls into existence. No point in walking, is there?
rhonan.
we can continue in the valley if you would like!