flew me to places I've never been
Everest nodded—small, mechanical, like it was enough to register what Isla had said without risking any more. Her words didn’t slide off him, but neither did they seem to land where they should. They hovered somewhere just beyond reach, like a language he used to speak but could no longer quite parse. Still, he tried to pay attention to the shapes of the letters and the once-familiar sounds.
"I’m glad you said that," he murmured, the words sounding as if they had taken real effort. "It helps to hear how you feel. Even if I don’t always know what to do with it." His thumb found its familiar rhythm again, tracing over the back of his hand in slow circles.
She flinched, and he noticed. And though he didn’t mention it, his breath changed—shallower, tight with guilt he couldn’t properly name. "I didn’t mean to imply that you would throw me away," he said quietly. "Only that… I understand if this isn’t what you signed up for. I might share traits with the man you knew, but I’m not him. Not really. I’m like a drawing of a starwhale compared to the real thing—some of the lines are the same, but none of it moves the way it’s supposed to." His gaze dropped again.
And then, perhaps to keep the silence from spreading between them too thickly, he offered softly, "It was a Frey quest, I think. I don’t understand all of it, but he’s close."
"I’m glad you said that," he murmured, the words sounding as if they had taken real effort. "It helps to hear how you feel. Even if I don’t always know what to do with it." His thumb found its familiar rhythm again, tracing over the back of his hand in slow circles.
She flinched, and he noticed. And though he didn’t mention it, his breath changed—shallower, tight with guilt he couldn’t properly name. "I didn’t mean to imply that you would throw me away," he said quietly. "Only that… I understand if this isn’t what you signed up for. I might share traits with the man you knew, but I’m not him. Not really. I’m like a drawing of a starwhale compared to the real thing—some of the lines are the same, but none of it moves the way it’s supposed to." His gaze dropped again.
And then, perhaps to keep the silence from spreading between them too thickly, he offered softly, "It was a Frey quest, I think. I don’t understand all of it, but he’s close."
but now I'm laying on the cold hard ground
