[open] your string of lights is still bright to me

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you He nods at her first question, and again at her second. Her voice had changed, just a little, and while he is sure it is a positive change, Gale is not quite savvy enough to pick up on the admiration. “I did,” he adds, because he is rather proud of his success despite the final loss, “Second place.” Her laugh tells Gale that she is amused, and while Gale knows that one can fake such a sound, he’s sure enough of his limited social skills to be sure that this one sounds real. So he smiles, and when she asks if he lives on one of the islands, he nods agreeably. “I do. Islandres.” With his navy muzzle, he points toward it in the darkness – east and north. He is thinking of others things even as he does, things like Hourglass’ strange admission. She doesn’t live in any of the lands? Well, he supposes, she is in the Meadow, at a time when Monsters roam, so he supposes if she had a better place to hide she’d likely be there. Or perhaps she is like Aela, too young and bold for her own good, wanting to face the monsters and the darkness in some effort to prove herself. But no, Gale decides, she does not seem that sort. He doesn’t doubt that she might hold great powers, but her physical body reminds him of ice at the surface of a moving river. Strong, but fragile if struck without thought. “Have you always not lived in any of the lands?” he asks curiously, “What’s it like?” @[Hourglass]