06-11-2021, 12:12 PM
He is not a thing accustomed to being needed.
(He is here because he could not stomach the sadness that abounded in his family in this darkness, so many of his siblings reduced to bones. He is not useful in times of trial, Lumineer. He is a thing that runs, not a thing that stays.)
But she is here and she is okay, though her breathing is still labored and her chest still heaves, and she’s saying she doesn’t know what she would have done without him. And he wants to comfort her, he wants to tell her that it’s all going to be all right but he doesn’t know for sure that it will be and he doesn’t know how to lie. (And still his canine stomach clenches with the poison and he aches all over with it and he wants so desperately to shift back into his equine form, he wants to be more comfortable, but he is too weak to try.)
So all he can offer her is a wolfish smile, his great, furry head, a wet nose.
“Just rest,” he urges. “I’ll keep watch.” He’ll protect her the best he can, he thinks but doesn’t say.
But she continues speaking and he studies her face as she lies there and she looks so beautiful, so serene and he remembers how she had emerged from the water and how simple he had been then. How simple he is now.
He swallows thickly, his tongue still burning, and he nods. He is on the verge of speaking when she stops him short, when she catches his eye and speaks this new truth into existence.
How had he not realized it before?
Of course he loves her. How could he not?
“I would be a fool not to, Rosebay,” he whispers and lies down beside her.
(He is here because he could not stomach the sadness that abounded in his family in this darkness, so many of his siblings reduced to bones. He is not useful in times of trial, Lumineer. He is a thing that runs, not a thing that stays.)
But she is here and she is okay, though her breathing is still labored and her chest still heaves, and she’s saying she doesn’t know what she would have done without him. And he wants to comfort her, he wants to tell her that it’s all going to be all right but he doesn’t know for sure that it will be and he doesn’t know how to lie. (And still his canine stomach clenches with the poison and he aches all over with it and he wants so desperately to shift back into his equine form, he wants to be more comfortable, but he is too weak to try.)
So all he can offer her is a wolfish smile, his great, furry head, a wet nose.
“Just rest,” he urges. “I’ll keep watch.” He’ll protect her the best he can, he thinks but doesn’t say.
But she continues speaking and he studies her face as she lies there and she looks so beautiful, so serene and he remembers how she had emerged from the water and how simple he had been then. How simple he is now.
He swallows thickly, his tongue still burning, and he nods. He is on the verge of speaking when she stops him short, when she catches his eye and speaks this new truth into existence.
How had he not realized it before?
Of course he loves her. How could he not?
“I would be a fool not to, Rosebay,” he whispers and lies down beside her.
Through the darkness to the dawn
@[rosebay]