Maea
And from the dark
Refocusing on the soldier, her lips curved in a faint smile, grateful for the sympathy. "It is," she admitted in a rare moment of openness. "Having the fire does help, though. It is not as bad as it was." Reinforcing the sentiment by summoning a lick of fire, she leaned back into the pool and played absently with it while she waited for Liam's response. Molding it into shapes, lines, splitting and reforming the burning matter, she had set a flutter of butterflies dancing over the surface when his voice filled the quiet.
Eying him from the corner of her eye, Maea had to bite her cheek to hold back the immediate 'and die?' that burned on her tongue. He would, she knew him well enough by now to realise as much. Not one to abandon an undertaking once he'd set his mind on it was he, in the same way he kept sticking with her and her wild goosechase for roses even though it seemed futile at times. It was something she admired. A mindset she wanted to emulate, especially given her tendency to give up on things that didn't immediately work out.
"I spoke to Flora," she murmured. "She pointed out that the Greatwood is being left alone, for now, because it appears to be abandoned. But if we start to build, and improve on the village, do anything to draw attention to it before we're strong enough to defend the borders... and the people..." She sighed, sinking low enough in the water that it lapped at her bottom lip. "I don't think I can carry the consequences of failing on my conscience."
It wouldn't be just their lives at stake. Just like that time when she'd thrown herself into a fight she wasn't equipped to handle, fighting for the Greatwood at this point in time would not end with them coming out alive.
"Would you think less of me for changing my mind?" Maea turned her head to better look at him, doubt and regret painfully apparent in herr expression. "I still think you're suited for leading, and I would still help you however I can... But I'm not sure now is the best time. Not for us. Or for the Greatwood."
Eying him from the corner of her eye, Maea had to bite her cheek to hold back the immediate 'and die?' that burned on her tongue. He would, she knew him well enough by now to realise as much. Not one to abandon an undertaking once he'd set his mind on it was he, in the same way he kept sticking with her and her wild goosechase for roses even though it seemed futile at times. It was something she admired. A mindset she wanted to emulate, especially given her tendency to give up on things that didn't immediately work out.
"I spoke to Flora," she murmured. "She pointed out that the Greatwood is being left alone, for now, because it appears to be abandoned. But if we start to build, and improve on the village, do anything to draw attention to it before we're strong enough to defend the borders... and the people..." She sighed, sinking low enough in the water that it lapped at her bottom lip. "I don't think I can carry the consequences of failing on my conscience."
It wouldn't be just their lives at stake. Just like that time when she'd thrown herself into a fight she wasn't equipped to handle, fighting for the Greatwood at this point in time would not end with them coming out alive.
"Would you think less of me for changing my mind?" Maea turned her head to better look at him, doubt and regret painfully apparent in herr expression. "I still think you're suited for leading, and I would still help you however I can... But I'm not sure now is the best time. Not for us. Or for the Greatwood."
Something new will come on through
and rise again
and rise again
