Isla
Accustomed, by now, to the time she knows it will take for Ever to reach within himself and parse through his feelings, Isla doesn't rush him. She needs it as well, she realises, the Remedy sitting in a silence made easy by routine rather than comfort, because this is uncharted territory for both of them. Letting her thumb graze across the top of his knee, when he speaks at last it's at least something that feels familiar even in its confusion, and she lets out a laugh through a sigh and nods with immediate agreement.
"So am I," she says. "I've been going back through the past few weeks to remember if there was a time we'd been careless, or any circumstances that might have made the possibility of this more likely, but..." But there's been nothing. "The only reason I could come upon is because I'm an Ancient. Being connected to Dygra brings chaos with it." Even if chaos is the last thing a man like Everest Hart needs to invite into his life.
Resisting the urge to apologise, instead Isla glances up towards him, smiling immediately to hear his concern for her, though it really doesn't need saying. "Well," she says, "we couldn't be in a better region for it, at least. With the healing fountain and the clinic being so well-established, it could be a lot worse."
But the crux of it is nothing to do with logistics, and when Ever's focus turns back inwards, Isla leans in to press a soft kiss against his shoulder, then another, sitting close enough now that the distance between them is negligible. "All that matters to me," she says, voice little more than a whisper of warmth, "is whether this is something you want to make work with me. The rest is easy in comparison."
"So am I," she says. "I've been going back through the past few weeks to remember if there was a time we'd been careless, or any circumstances that might have made the possibility of this more likely, but..." But there's been nothing. "The only reason I could come upon is because I'm an Ancient. Being connected to Dygra brings chaos with it." Even if chaos is the last thing a man like Everest Hart needs to invite into his life.
Resisting the urge to apologise, instead Isla glances up towards him, smiling immediately to hear his concern for her, though it really doesn't need saying. "Well," she says, "we couldn't be in a better region for it, at least. With the healing fountain and the clinic being so well-established, it could be a lot worse."
But the crux of it is nothing to do with logistics, and when Ever's focus turns back inwards, Isla leans in to press a soft kiss against his shoulder, then another, sitting close enough now that the distance between them is negligible. "All that matters to me," she says, voice little more than a whisper of warmth, "is whether this is something you want to make work with me. The rest is easy in comparison."
sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything
and try forgetting everything
