its in the way you leave

Koa

Don't take this the wrong way
You knew who I was with every step that I ran to you

Flora's vehemence and sincerity crack something in Koa; he finds his eyes are bright with tears, though he cannot quite say why. For a moment he's silent, fingers twisting in the mossy earth. Dirt fills his nails as he digs the furrows, and the smell of it is sweet.

When he finally speaks again it is hoarse and halting, choked by emotion and false levity. "And if Remi is infected next? Or Deimos? Or you?" He laughs, mirthless, feigned lightness only serving to cast casting a stilted over the words. Of course in Koa's eyes Noe is important - more important, even, than any demigod - but where the grand scheme of things is concerned? Nobody who'd found a lily had opted to present it to his family, nor would they. Not when there was arguably a greater good to be served.

How does he explain what he's feeling to Flora - Flora who is daughter of four demigods, Queen of Torchline, whose loved ones are all people who matter? With her family infected, the masses would line up to offer a cure. And Koa would be among them, because it would be his duty, even if that choice might eat him alive.

"Anyway - it doesn't matter." Dismissive, clear- he doesn't want to talk about this, not any more. Not with her. "I'll keep looking, and you'll keep making plans. And if there's something I can do you know how to find me." He even manages to muster a smile, though of course she cannot see it, isolated as they are.

Only blue or black days
Electing strange perfections in any stranger I choose