// I tried to scream but my head was underwater //
Doing as she was told, perhaps more literally than he had intended, she really looked at Remi. It wasn't something she did often, and it felt almost intrusive to so blatantly take in his features. The little crows feet at the side of his eyes, nicks and notches in the skin, laugh wrinkles and perhaps beginning to age wrinkles - though no gray hairs yet that she could see? - and above all, the calm assurance resting in his smile, in eyes so startlingly green they hardly seemed real.
A sigh passed through her, and a huff of either laughter or despair - it was hard to tell which - but at least she laughed. "Point taken."
Squeezing his hand back, she brightened at the mention of something warm to drink. "Tea would be lovely," she nodded. And rather than seat herself and wait to be served, if there was a need to fetch and carry and heat water she would simply go with him, readily offering her flame to speed up the process. The memory of his touch lingered on her scalp and made it easier to breathe, easier to set one foot in front of the other until they were both seated on the couch, with blankets draped over shoulders and knees - at least she couldn't get too warm - and her legs pulled up comfortably beneath her.
"To start with... how much do you know about the Ancients? Has anyone told you about their past?" Any version of it - Maea wasn't sure if it would help her start talking, but at least it was a relatively safe topic to start off with. Gods, but she should just start telling the damn story, it was just... hard. Somewhere it felt like breaking a confidence, like condemning people who weren't even involved, endangering others and herself... and though their enmity had never been personal, it was impossible not to remember a time where they had been on opposite sides in a war.
The last thing she wanted was to reignite that kind of flame.
A sigh passed through her, and a huff of either laughter or despair - it was hard to tell which - but at least she laughed. "Point taken."
Squeezing his hand back, she brightened at the mention of something warm to drink. "Tea would be lovely," she nodded. And rather than seat herself and wait to be served, if there was a need to fetch and carry and heat water she would simply go with him, readily offering her flame to speed up the process. The memory of his touch lingered on her scalp and made it easier to breathe, easier to set one foot in front of the other until they were both seated on the couch, with blankets draped over shoulders and knees - at least she couldn't get too warm - and her legs pulled up comfortably beneath her.
"To start with... how much do you know about the Ancients? Has anyone told you about their past?" Any version of it - Maea wasn't sure if it would help her start talking, but at least it was a relatively safe topic to start off with. Gods, but she should just start telling the damn story, it was just... hard. Somewhere it felt like breaking a confidence, like condemning people who weren't even involved, endangering others and herself... and though their enmity had never been personal, it was impossible not to remember a time where they had been on opposite sides in a war.
The last thing she wanted was to reignite that kind of flame.
Maea
// They called me weak, like I'm not just somebody's daughter //
