I shouldn't laugh, but I know I'm a failure in your eyes
The sun is little more than a bloody line searing the horizon by the time Ronin heads for the water's edge, his feet bare and his footsteps slow and soft in the sand. With a bottle of wine in one hand and two glasses in the other, his smile is more bashful than anything else as he approaches Vanya, his dark hair (white around the temples, these days) tousling in the sea breeze.
"If you ever said to me that we'd be meeting next to an ocean again," he says as he draws up beside her, "I'd have called you a liar." Offering her one of the glasses so he might uncork the bottle and pour them both a glass, the Knight lets out a sigh long and heavy enough to drag something like tension down away from his shoulders. "Gods, I..." He shakes his head, barely knowing where to begin.
"I'm sorry," he settles on - it's almost become a mantra for all those he's met from Mort's halls this evening. But for Vanya, it feels especially true. "Safrin told me you were with Mort - with Aoife - for years before I found out the truth. That you were still a star in her sky. If I'd known..." A muscle feathers in his jaw before he raises his glass, almost defiantly.
"Here's to finally getting it right, mm?"
"If you ever said to me that we'd be meeting next to an ocean again," he says as he draws up beside her, "I'd have called you a liar." Offering her one of the glasses so he might uncork the bottle and pour them both a glass, the Knight lets out a sigh long and heavy enough to drag something like tension down away from his shoulders. "Gods, I..." He shakes his head, barely knowing where to begin.
"I'm sorry," he settles on - it's almost become a mantra for all those he's met from Mort's halls this evening. But for Vanya, it feels especially true. "Safrin told me you were with Mort - with Aoife - for years before I found out the truth. That you were still a star in her sky. If I'd known..." A muscle feathers in his jaw before he raises his glass, almost defiantly.
"Here's to finally getting it right, mm?"
RONIN
