Her grip might have loosened, but before Tal could become anxious about Alys's response her fingers began to move across his hand, a silent reassurance while she thought. He swallowed back his worries and nerves, trying to give her the same patience she'd shown to him while he'd been getting up his courage to ask her to uproot her life and start a new one with him in a new region. He nodded, the motion jerky from nervousness but understanding what she meant about Halo being home.
He would never have been able to take the leap alone, either. It had taken Ru to show him that it was even an option, but once she had...
Well. Maybe in King's End he could find a fresh start. Could build a home where he felt welcomed instead of merely tolerated. One where he wasn't alone... It all depended on whether or not he put his foot in his mouth with Sunjata, he guessed. And if Alys chose not to come--
He stopped the thought with a sink of teeth into his own lip, biting down to distract himself from jumping to conclusions. His innate pessimism warred with his trust in his partner, everything still so new and dreamlike that he was afraid he would wake up at any moment and find the whole evening to be just a dream.
But Alys's voice wrapped around him, quiet as she worked through her feelings. Tal squeezed her hand carefully and then released it so she could continue her patterns, afraid to speak lest he break the spell. If she stayed and he left, they would find a way to carry on as they always had. He had prepared himself for that, or so he thought. But it was hard not to hold on to the slender thread of hope. Gods, he hoped. And then she took a breath and smiled at him and--
"Hail," he breathed, voice shaky as his eyes began to light up first, followed by a smile that felt like it just kept spreading across his face until his cheeks hurt with the elation of it. "I want that, too. Havin' a 't'gether' with you. Long as y'want me in your life." He couldn't hold back anymore, a quiet whoop! of happiness escaping as he pulled her into a hug, heart threatening to float right out of his chest with relief and pure, giddy joy. "Thank you, Alys!" Boreal added her own croon of jubilation to the mix as well, scaly tail sweeping across the floor in echo of her companion's emotions.
He would never have been able to take the leap alone, either. It had taken Ru to show him that it was even an option, but once she had...
Well. Maybe in King's End he could find a fresh start. Could build a home where he felt welcomed instead of merely tolerated. One where he wasn't alone... It all depended on whether or not he put his foot in his mouth with Sunjata, he guessed. And if Alys chose not to come--
He stopped the thought with a sink of teeth into his own lip, biting down to distract himself from jumping to conclusions. His innate pessimism warred with his trust in his partner, everything still so new and dreamlike that he was afraid he would wake up at any moment and find the whole evening to be just a dream.
But Alys's voice wrapped around him, quiet as she worked through her feelings. Tal squeezed her hand carefully and then released it so she could continue her patterns, afraid to speak lest he break the spell. If she stayed and he left, they would find a way to carry on as they always had. He had prepared himself for that, or so he thought. But it was hard not to hold on to the slender thread of hope. Gods, he hoped. And then she took a breath and smiled at him and--
"Hail," he breathed, voice shaky as his eyes began to light up first, followed by a smile that felt like it just kept spreading across his face until his cheeks hurt with the elation of it. "I want that, too. Havin' a 't'gether' with you. Long as y'want me in your life." He couldn't hold back anymore, a quiet whoop! of happiness escaping as he pulled her into a hug, heart threatening to float right out of his chest with relief and pure, giddy joy. "Thank you, Alys!" Boreal added her own croon of jubilation to the mix as well, scaly tail sweeping across the floor in echo of her companion's emotions.
