Alys wasn't the only one feeling overwhelmed, though at least Tal didn't have to deal with the emotions of those around them. For him it was just the crowds in general and the feeling of so many eyes on him. More eyes than usual this year, it felt like, and some of them real fucking unsettling. But at least there were friends here, too, and he turned a wan smile on Zavien as the other man approached.
A smile that faded as the Dragoon got near enough tor Tal to see the wrongness in his friend. The tired circles and mussed hair. The strain he was under in spite of the day's merriment and Lena's presence nearby. Never one to hold a good poker face, the courier looked anxiously from Zav to Alys, feeling his heart pulling in two directions but unwilling to leave his partner when she needed his support.
She knew him so well. Knew the shape of his prickly pear heart and his inability to leave well enough alone or abandon a friend in trouble. She offered him a brave smile and he knew what it cost her. So to hell with everyone watching, he squeezed her hand and lifted it to his lips to press a hard kiss to her knuckles and then leaned in to drift a gentler one over her forehead. "Thanks," he murmured gruffly before giving Sohalia a look of mingled gratitude and shy embarrassment.
Boreal pressed even more tightly to Alys's leg, a scaly cockleburr of a dragon who wouldn't leave the seer's side, and Tal dropped a hand to rub her head in gratitude before he followed Zavien a little distance away, throwing a glance over his shoulder every few steps, just to reassure himself that Alys was still okay.
A smile that faded as the Dragoon got near enough tor Tal to see the wrongness in his friend. The tired circles and mussed hair. The strain he was under in spite of the day's merriment and Lena's presence nearby. Never one to hold a good poker face, the courier looked anxiously from Zav to Alys, feeling his heart pulling in two directions but unwilling to leave his partner when she needed his support.
She knew him so well. Knew the shape of his prickly pear heart and his inability to leave well enough alone or abandon a friend in trouble. She offered him a brave smile and he knew what it cost her. So to hell with everyone watching, he squeezed her hand and lifted it to his lips to press a hard kiss to her knuckles and then leaned in to drift a gentler one over her forehead. "Thanks," he murmured gruffly before giving Sohalia a look of mingled gratitude and shy embarrassment.
Boreal pressed even more tightly to Alys's leg, a scaly cockleburr of a dragon who wouldn't leave the seer's side, and Tal dropped a hand to rub her head in gratitude before he followed Zavien a little distance away, throwing a glance over his shoulder every few steps, just to reassure himself that Alys was still okay.
