is this the end of all the endings?
Flora snickers under her breath, shooting him a smile that’s half-daring, half-adoring as she watches him wage war against the jungle like it’s a personal affront. It’s endlessly funny, the two of them side by side here; her, raised half-feral in the Greatwood, comfortable with mud under her fingernails and roots in her hair, and him, a city boy who probably grew up dodging wagons and trying not to scuff his boots before curfew with an overly strict set of parents who actually cared about where he was.
"Duh," she laughs, rolling her eyes with exaggerated flair. "Who hasn’t eaten a bit of mud by mistake once or twice?" She gestures toward the squelching ooze with mock solemnity. "Adds grit. Builds character."
Watching him pick his way through the vines like a cat on wet tile, she grins wider, the corners of her mouth softening with affection. "Next Deepfrost, I'll show you. We'll do some competitive snow-dinosaur sculpting, and when Flowerbirth rolls around, we’ll come back and see whose monster still stands."
Her laugh rings through the dripping leaves, catching somewhere between teasing and fond as she steps over a tangle of vines that squirm sluggishly beneath her boots. "Mmm, memory stone sounds like the worst! Imagine spending all that time building something, just for half your house to remember it’s supposed to be somewhere else and walk off." She gestures ahead, mimicking his finger-walking motion with mock gravity before giving up and snorting. "No thanks. I’ll take my haunted mud over self-aware masonry any day."
Flora pauses to let Kai catch up, wiping a smear of humidity from her cheek with the back of her wrist. When he mentions the kites, though, her brows lift, interest flashing bright in her eyes. "Wait—you actually flew? That's so cool." Her grin turns mischievous. "Do you think we're too big to do it now? Because that sounds like so much fun." She pushes a low branch out of the way, stepping lightly over a writhing vine that seems to sigh under her weight. "Assuming," she adds with a smirk, "we can actually go into Stormbreak without one of us causing more political unrest with Zavien." The laugh that follows is warm and unbothered, the kind that spills from her like sunlight through rain.
"Duh," she laughs, rolling her eyes with exaggerated flair. "Who hasn’t eaten a bit of mud by mistake once or twice?" She gestures toward the squelching ooze with mock solemnity. "Adds grit. Builds character."
Watching him pick his way through the vines like a cat on wet tile, she grins wider, the corners of her mouth softening with affection. "Next Deepfrost, I'll show you. We'll do some competitive snow-dinosaur sculpting, and when Flowerbirth rolls around, we’ll come back and see whose monster still stands."
Her laugh rings through the dripping leaves, catching somewhere between teasing and fond as she steps over a tangle of vines that squirm sluggishly beneath her boots. "Mmm, memory stone sounds like the worst! Imagine spending all that time building something, just for half your house to remember it’s supposed to be somewhere else and walk off." She gestures ahead, mimicking his finger-walking motion with mock gravity before giving up and snorting. "No thanks. I’ll take my haunted mud over self-aware masonry any day."
Flora pauses to let Kai catch up, wiping a smear of humidity from her cheek with the back of her wrist. When he mentions the kites, though, her brows lift, interest flashing bright in her eyes. "Wait—you actually flew? That's so cool." Her grin turns mischievous. "Do you think we're too big to do it now? Because that sounds like so much fun." She pushes a low branch out of the way, stepping lightly over a writhing vine that seems to sigh under her weight. "Assuming," she adds with a smirk, "we can actually go into Stormbreak without one of us causing more political unrest with Zavien." The laugh that follows is warm and unbothered, the kind that spills from her like sunlight through rain.
my broken bones are mending
