All the stars have fallen asleep

Jude

I was born and bred in flowers
Sun-kissed in my darkest hours

"I'm glad it's so soon," he offers, equally - privately - glad that he hasn't been tasked with helping any of the other teams. His painful loneliness always seems to war with his inability to operate properly around other people, and he's not sure it will ever be better than it is now.

Jude's smile turns down slightly with the sadness that always comes on the heels of mentioning his brother, and Hadama's gesture is so meaningful and kind but it doesn't make it any less painful. "Of course. He's my brother - doesn't matter where he goes, really, he's stuck with me." His smile is a lopsided reincarnation of Harper's, but his mother's eyes are lonely in his pale face.

The interruption of the echo sharks makes his shoulders climb toward his ears, uncomfortable but admittedly accustomed to such ominous pleas and cries. When you grow up between the Greatwood and Torchline it's practically a lullaby. "I was worried she wouldn't be ready for visitors but she seemed completely healed, and was as kind as I remember her being as a kid." He'd been worried that heralds could be infected when damaged too, but maybe that was just him having far too little faith in their celestial constitution and might.

Lavender forever, hummingbird weather
Dewey like grass in the night