Gale
this is going to break me clean in two --
this is going to bring me close to you
Later, when he is alone, Gale will wonder how he was able to remain so still in that moment, how he was able to keep his usually expressive face as blank as a northern granite cliff. It is not a skill he usually possesses, but in this moment he does not question the ability or even wonder where it came from.
He is too busy watching Mazikeen, and the way the tears in her eyes shimmer with more shades of orange than he has names for. He wants to name them far more than hear his failings ticked off, though still he remains impassive. At her final accusation, that he wants to fight when she’s at her lowest though, he does flinch a little. That hadn’t been intentional. Not wanting to see her again isn’t the same as wanting to take advantage of her weakness. But defending that would mean saying something, and Gale is still not sure he trusts his mouth to not run away with him.
Maybe it’s better that Mazikeen thinks him capable of kicking her while she's down. Maybe it’ll make her miss him less, Gale thinks, though he knows better than to expect her to miss him at all after this.
Maybe it’s better this way.
He repeats that to himself as she turns away, and he watches until she disappears even from his observant eyes, remaining as still as a rock on the mountainside.
“It’s better this way,” he says aloud, and releases a long sigh. If only that meant he felt better too, but the emotions remain despite Mazikeen’s absence. Regret and sadness and even the embers that he now recognizes might have grown to love. No need to stoke them anymore, Gale thinks, and takes to the sky as an osprey to return to Islandres.
@[Mazikeen]
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