A more glib man might have found a compliment to the goddess's beauty dancing from his tongue. Hadama simply gazed upon Safrin, drinking in her light and delicate beauty as she eclipsed even the stars in his eyes, and he could no more tear his eyes away from her to look to the sky above than he could tear his own heart from his chest.
"Safrin..." he prayed, and for the first time in seasons drew a honeysuckle breath without tightness in his chest. If she had not regained her full strength, still she was whole enough to answer him.
It was enough.
Her smile washed over him like a cleansing tide and the mermanta was buoyed upon it, the tension easing from the corners of his eyes. He smiled in return, a small curve of the corners of his mouth, but it changed the planes of his face, chasing away the stern set to his jaw and shedding years from his brow.
"Yes," he acknowledged with a single small nod. "I have traveled much since Starfall." And even before then, thanks to his aquaportation. But in the last season he had indeed exercised his ability to the utmost. "Gathering allies among the other leaders and regions. Strengthening ties. Requesting aid." Halo, Stormbreak, and King's End had all sent what they could. He had met with Deimos, Evie, Sunjata, and Sohalia. His letter to the Hollowed Grounds had gone unanswered... though other citizens had offered help in the face of Danta's silence on the matter.
And Phoebe was missing, neither he nor Noah able to find out where she had gone.
"It is... difficult... to relax in Torchline," he admitted after several moments of stillness. "The new island is... a weight on my thoughts." And he had no wish for his prayers to be disturbed by voidshell tumseas or enshadowed delphinids. "Is it what you fought?"
"Safrin..." he prayed, and for the first time in seasons drew a honeysuckle breath without tightness in his chest. If she had not regained her full strength, still she was whole enough to answer him.
It was enough.
Her smile washed over him like a cleansing tide and the mermanta was buoyed upon it, the tension easing from the corners of his eyes. He smiled in return, a small curve of the corners of his mouth, but it changed the planes of his face, chasing away the stern set to his jaw and shedding years from his brow.
"Yes," he acknowledged with a single small nod. "I have traveled much since Starfall." And even before then, thanks to his aquaportation. But in the last season he had indeed exercised his ability to the utmost. "Gathering allies among the other leaders and regions. Strengthening ties. Requesting aid." Halo, Stormbreak, and King's End had all sent what they could. He had met with Deimos, Evie, Sunjata, and Sohalia. His letter to the Hollowed Grounds had gone unanswered... though other citizens had offered help in the face of Danta's silence on the matter.
And Phoebe was missing, neither he nor Noah able to find out where she had gone.
"It is... difficult... to relax in Torchline," he admitted after several moments of stillness. "The new island is... a weight on my thoughts." And he had no wish for his prayers to be disturbed by voidshell tumseas or enshadowed delphinids. "Is it what you fought?"
