[RQ] in the unsettled margins

Luka

Let's draw a line between us, paint a map back to the start
Leaving footprints to remind us -

That is the question, is it not? Luka deliberates for a moment, though it's over notions of privacy, not from any lack of understanding. Soleil had confessed most if it in hushed whispers in the night, sitting on his bed beside him with their backs against the wall because they are too old and big now to huddle beneath the blankets the way they used to.

"Most Halovians stay where they are born. We came here young enough that they scarcely remember we're Outlanders; and our homeland was so similar, it's hardly different even to us." His trowel works as smoothly as his words. Though Luka is not prone to them, he has an even tone and baritone range that befits storytelling. "There is an expectation to remain here. Be another generation of Halovians. But Soleil is an adventurer. She received a lot of opinions about that in school." Luka frowns at the crack in the wall as if it is to blame for the way his sister's heart is now torn between two loyalties, two desires. "She was on her way to Torchline from the Grounds when the impact hit. She couldn't get on a skyboat for days. She blames herself for being away, and for returning to work already underway." It would have been easy to say this alone, but Deimos' offer to spar with his twin is already miraculous to Luka, and he will arm the Warden with as much information as he can if it allows the Sword to break through Soleil's mire of self-blame.

Turning when the crack is filled, Luka regards his Warden for a long moment, and though he doesn't smile the way some might when feeling appreciation there is clear, naked gratitude in his eyes. "Thank you. Even exhausting her will help; though it will likely help me more than her," he adds with a tilt of his lips, turning away before he grins in truth as he injects a bit of brevity into their work. Soleil is notoriously chatty, and though she isn't currently, her energy is exhausting in its restlessness.

That where you go, I go
And if you fall, I fall