It is easy to be in his company, she thinks—or, rather, as easy as anything was these days. He does not goad her into fury or push her into unpacking her emotions, and she is grateful that he can accept that is simply not ready to discuss it. She prefers the quiet between them. The way that he falls into step next to her and lets her simmer in her rage and confusion—living in the breaths of the hurt that exist within her.
“Maybe I don’t like to remain mysterious,” she says with a flicker of a smile, something like humor that catches the edge of her lip and then disappears. “Maybe I just am mysterious.” It is not a word that she often prescribes to herself. To be honest, she doesn’t do much self-reflecting of any kind very often, and she finds it strange to think of others trying to understand her more than she understands herself.
She rolls a shoulder and then falls quiet again.
Far be it for her to tell Risk what to think about or not.
She laughs at his next jest, feeling the warmth of his massive shoulder against her own. She doesn’t balk or step away and it is the only way that she knows how to tell him that she enjoys his company. His next words though cause her to flick her silvery gaze up to him, narrowing slightly. “It has been a long time since I’ve considered Hyaline home,” she muses. “I’m not certain that I am ready to see it again.”
Last time someone had led her there, she had been a pawn in a political game. A child traded between kingdoms. The Sanctuary hadn’t treated her poorly, but she always remembered what it meant to be someone passed between kingdoms without any true agency—even if she had volunteered for it.
“I would not mind spending more time with you wandering though.”
Then she turns her gaze back to the path before her.
she said a war ain't a war before both sides bleed
![[Image: sochi.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/rs3xFJR0/sochi.png)
I was less than graceful, I was not kind
be out watching other lovers lose their spine