// won't you breathe with me? //
It was just as well that he didn't say anything else, because Maea's pulse was slamming away in her ears with such force that she wouldn't have heard anything. A wave was rising on the inside, hot and heavy, and despite all her long talks with Elizabeth about identifying her emotions and allowing herself to feel them, whatever this was, it frightened her. Too much, too intense, too soon - she counted the golden thorns on Vi's rose, and the petals of the flower, and when she lost track she counted the glass panes in the window and the number of planks in the ceiling until her breath came normally again.
It was the long day that made her lightheaded, she decided, as she stood from the chair and walked over to help Liam clean up. "Deal. Got a towel?" Not trusting herself to focus enough to use fire with the heat of his precence radiating against her arm; not near enough to touch, just close enough that he was impossible to ignore.
"What's the plan for tomorrow?" There would be no search for a rose; the one they already had would need a pot and she had to write to Flora, and then book passage on a skyship... Beyond that, the couldn't think. There was just the current bowl in her hands, and making sure it was properly dry before putting it away. She knew where it belonged now; could tell where the spoons should go, and how he stacked the glasses.
Such trivial things had no business feeling this profound.
It was the long day that made her lightheaded, she decided, as she stood from the chair and walked over to help Liam clean up. "Deal. Got a towel?" Not trusting herself to focus enough to use fire with the heat of his precence radiating against her arm; not near enough to touch, just close enough that he was impossible to ignore.
"What's the plan for tomorrow?" There would be no search for a rose; the one they already had would need a pot and she had to write to Flora, and then book passage on a skyship... Beyond that, the couldn't think. There was just the current bowl in her hands, and making sure it was properly dry before putting it away. She knew where it belonged now; could tell where the spoons should go, and how he stacked the glasses.
Such trivial things had no business feeling this profound.
Maea
// won't you take me to your heart? //
