After finally recognizing him, she greeted him with so much bright excitement. He blushed harder, still smiling with his head a little ducked bashfully. She asked how he was and pranced a graceful circle around him, looking him over and exclaiming how grown up they've gotten. He tried not to squirm self-consciously, tried to hold so still.
He nodded. They were nearly all grown up. Her too, he hadn't failed to notice. Her body was rounder, fuller. She had soft curves in places she hadn't had the last time he'd seen her. But her eyes, though. They were just the same and so beautiful. She was captivating.
"How are you doing Merry? With the plague I mean. Is this your home now?"
His eyes glanced around them, at the trees and the sunlight and the beach. Then he came back to her again with another nod. "Yes. This is our new home, safe from the plague. We don't leave so that we don't get sick. Momma says not to leave."
He looked at her closer, frowning with concern. "Are you sick, Mary?" He instantly worried. Would she die from it?? That would be so terrible. He wouldn't know what to do. Could she be healed, maybe? Yes, actually. There were healers here and ways to cure it, but she lived in a land open to the spread of disease and what would keep her from catching it again?
His eyes saddened, and his voice fell so quiet. "I can't come to Sylva. I could get sick and Momma would be upset. You should stay here where it's safe. There are healers here."
[ Cimmerian ]
try to make a fire burn again
@[Mary]