and all that we intend is scrawled in sand
The weight of him settles against her like a pendulum finding its centre, no matter how unsteady his own equilibrium might be. Panic surges—sharp and breathless—and then his fingertips brush the sensitive hollow at the base of her neck, grounding her just enough to keep her from floating apart. Panic again, tight and insistent, until his lips press to her temple, slow and steady, a repetition that starts to carve a rhythm into the chaos. Panic flares once more, thinner now, and then his voice hums low against her ear, warm and anchoring, and she clings harder as the air is nearly squeezed from her lungs in a way that feels impossibly, paradoxically safe.
Her body starts to remember how to exist inside his arms, and she buries her face against his collarbone, breathing shallow and fast, red lace twists against her ribs as she fights to pull enough air into her chest to speak. The words come out melted and broken, muffled against him, but urgent all the same. "He said my mom is missing," she manages, the sentence cracking under its own weight. "That no one knows where she is, not even Deimos."
She has to pause there, breath hitching hard, panic clawing its way back up her spine as though it heard its name called. Her grip tightens reflexively, nails biting into fabric, as she forces another breath through lungs that don’t quite want to cooperate. "And Frey said she was fine," Flora continues, voice wobbling despite her effort to steady it, confusion bleeding into fear. "But if I can’t channel her..." She pulls back just enough to turn her face up toward Kai's shoulder, eyes squeezed shut, curls brushing his jaw as her words tumble out in a rush. "Then where is she?"
Her body starts to remember how to exist inside his arms, and she buries her face against his collarbone, breathing shallow and fast, red lace twists against her ribs as she fights to pull enough air into her chest to speak. The words come out melted and broken, muffled against him, but urgent all the same. "He said my mom is missing," she manages, the sentence cracking under its own weight. "That no one knows where she is, not even Deimos."
She has to pause there, breath hitching hard, panic clawing its way back up her spine as though it heard its name called. Her grip tightens reflexively, nails biting into fabric, as she forces another breath through lungs that don’t quite want to cooperate. "And Frey said she was fine," Flora continues, voice wobbling despite her effort to steady it, confusion bleeding into fear. "But if I can’t channel her..." She pulls back just enough to turn her face up toward Kai's shoulder, eyes squeezed shut, curls brushing his jaw as her words tumble out in a rush. "Then where is she?"
