bronze-colored light

Evie

There's no greater vengeance
Than learning to enjoy again

Fond exasperation has her rolling her eyes, though he likely won't see it as she feels his warm breath against her temple - encouraging her to tilt her head sideways so she might feel his lips there properly, forcefully stealing a kiss with a little headbutt. "It's an expression love," she sighs in feigned aggrievance that's ruined by the fondness that pervades every word she ever speaks to him.

Hesitancy is a far more fitting answer, and Evie subsides for a moment as she ponders their interactions with Noah. He'd vainly tried to involve himself more with Stormbreak, and had repeatedly declined their offers to free him from some of his duties so he might spend more time in the Grounds. Looking back, she sees it far more clearly now. "That's far more likely. There's new leadership there now, and I doubt he helped instate it given the timing of things." She doesn't even know who it is herself, the grapevine having only provided the news that someone had finally claimed the crown. "Someone else made the move to finally help shape the Grounds before he did - and that's a damning blow." And though her tone is mildly sympathetic to the notion of being entrapped in a land you don't consider home, she frankly can't conceive why Noah hadn't moved more quickly. Gotten it over and done with if he felt that way about it all.

Of course, she has far more personal feelings about his reluctance to actually help the Grounds, but as a native, she feels she's allowed the sense of injustice and offense.

Noah's involvement in regional decisions has never been troublesome or irritating, but Evie can't withhold her soft laugh at Deimos' little smile. One less political meeting for him to have to weather - he must be delighted. "Then we shall hold court with me in my blanket," she decrees loftily, smoothing her hands over the blanket in her lap imperiously before breaking with a smile. "Do you have any initial thoughts? I think training the Shields is still a good idea, especially given the season." And with alliances not being so necessary in Caido, Evie suspects every region will be looking out for themselves and abandoning the notion of trading in the wake of Safrin's departure.

Therapy is tiring
But so is hiding how you feel