Maea
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved
For a time they simply stood there. A wind picked up in the high trees and the scent of sweetgrass intensified as the sun rose higher, warming the air. The faint haze of mist evaporated and a chorus of birds took up the hum of the Stonesong, singing their warsongs in counterpoint.
As the forest came back alive around them, Maea nosed gently a knee resting next to her own, teasing its owner ever so slightly by nibbling on the fabric of his trousers. Shifting her own weight forward, she took a single step, then stilled once more. Time passed. Her breathing steadied under Liam's arm, her heart steady in its subtle beat. When she shifted again the next time, it was in the direction of the river, where light played merrily on the surface of waves and birds dove to catch insects buzzing just above the surface.
If she was angry, it didn't show. In those dewy lavender eyes there was only patience. Maea was in no hurry to go anywhere. If she had any desires at all in this moment it seemed to be to enter out into the light again, to escape even the cool shade beneath the trees - and she guided him along, a will-o-wisp in her serene support; it was going to be alright. Whatever tormented him, surely it would feel less fearsome by the water's edge.
As the forest came back alive around them, Maea nosed gently a knee resting next to her own, teasing its owner ever so slightly by nibbling on the fabric of his trousers. Shifting her own weight forward, she took a single step, then stilled once more. Time passed. Her breathing steadied under Liam's arm, her heart steady in its subtle beat. When she shifted again the next time, it was in the direction of the river, where light played merrily on the surface of waves and birds dove to catch insects buzzing just above the surface.
If she was angry, it didn't show. In those dewy lavender eyes there was only patience. Maea was in no hurry to go anywhere. If she had any desires at all in this moment it seemed to be to enter out into the light again, to escape even the cool shade beneath the trees - and she guided him along, a will-o-wisp in her serene support; it was going to be alright. Whatever tormented him, surely it would feel less fearsome by the water's edge.
In secret, between the shadow and the soul
