"Mmh." His agreement with her recollection of Sunjata's meeting was subdued as he contemplated all the many ways in which such a meeting could go wrong. It might end as harmlessly as the one in the Grounds had, with nothing injured more than egos and pride, the detritus of broken friendships and shattered trust crumbling in the spindrift chaos of the Void's wake. Painful, yes, but survivable.
But Everest's transformation lingered uneasily in his memory as Flora continued with her reasoning.
"...I do not like it," he rumbled at last, beginning to move once more as he dropped an empty bottle into the sack. "You knew I would not." Or she would have brought it up sooner. But the Tidebreaker paused in his litter-gathering to straighten up and look at his co-ruler, young but strong and not without the scars of experience. His chest rose and a sigh left his body on a long, slow exhalation before he nodded once. "...But I agree." Which were not the words that he wanted to say as her friend, but which were the only ones he could say as King. "We do not know enough." And they could not learn more without risk, one way or another. "And we need time to complete our protections. So. Would it be useful for me to write her a note of apology?" The Doubletake had spent more time observing Dahlia than Hadama had, and he deferred to her greater people skills in how he could support her.
But Everest's transformation lingered uneasily in his memory as Flora continued with her reasoning.
"...I do not like it," he rumbled at last, beginning to move once more as he dropped an empty bottle into the sack. "You knew I would not." Or she would have brought it up sooner. But the Tidebreaker paused in his litter-gathering to straighten up and look at his co-ruler, young but strong and not without the scars of experience. His chest rose and a sigh left his body on a long, slow exhalation before he nodded once. "...But I agree." Which were not the words that he wanted to say as her friend, but which were the only ones he could say as King. "We do not know enough." And they could not learn more without risk, one way or another. "And we need time to complete our protections. So. Would it be useful for me to write her a note of apology?" The Doubletake had spent more time observing Dahlia than Hadama had, and he deferred to her greater people skills in how he could support her.
