Everest
Everest doesn’t interrupt the tune that filters into his thoughts, even if it’s not the kind of internal noise he’s used to navigating. Instead, he lets it settle in beside him, filing it away like ambient sound in a well-organized room. The precise rhythm of her movement—the subtle change as instinct gives way to coordination—holds his attention far more than the melody itself.
"Good," he says again, a soft warmth in the word. "That’s it."
He shifts back just slightly, giving her a little more space while still kneeling in the sand, careful not to startle or disrupt the pattern she’s found. The harmony of her wings is still fragile, like something spun from sugar or blown glass. But it’s there. Distinct. Deliberate.
"You’re translating tempo into movement," he observes, quiet but pleased. "That’s more than muscle memory. That’s control." His gaze flicks over her form, watching for stress or fatigue in the smaller stabilizer muscles near her shoulders. "If you want to try adding the last set, do it like a final chorus. Wait until the rhythm feels easy. Then let them join in."
A small, rare smile curves at the edge of his mouth as her laughter pulses through the bond. "And if it gets tangled, we can rewind the song." As a musician himself, Everest well knows the benefit of sometimes slowing down and beginning again.
"Good," he says again, a soft warmth in the word. "That’s it."
He shifts back just slightly, giving her a little more space while still kneeling in the sand, careful not to startle or disrupt the pattern she’s found. The harmony of her wings is still fragile, like something spun from sugar or blown glass. But it’s there. Distinct. Deliberate.
"You’re translating tempo into movement," he observes, quiet but pleased. "That’s more than muscle memory. That’s control." His gaze flicks over her form, watching for stress or fatigue in the smaller stabilizer muscles near her shoulders. "If you want to try adding the last set, do it like a final chorus. Wait until the rhythm feels easy. Then let them join in."
A small, rare smile curves at the edge of his mouth as her laughter pulses through the bond. "And if it gets tangled, we can rewind the song." As a musician himself, Everest well knows the benefit of sometimes slowing down and beginning again.
even if i had to lose you to know you,
i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
i'd still be that temporary phase that you grow through
