Just being with Rance brought memories of home flooding back, the ones he'd tried so hard to repress and ignore for so long. Childhood games of hide-and-seek and wrestling like pups across the sun-dappled meadows hidden within the Forest's depths; nights spent lying head-to-head on the tallest branches that would hold them, drawing pictures in the stars and sharing boasts about the adventures they would have when they were grown; youthful tempers flaring only for hurt feelings to be soothed and mended before the day was out, their friendship too strong to be shaken for long.
But then... Rance had fledged, and his family had begun to travel again, and their games had grown rarer. The younger halfbreed had been unable to follow where the ravenkin had gone, just as he was too weak to travel with his mother. He was used to it, but still, he had missed the young man who had once defended him from bullies, laughed with him, shared sorrow and joy, and braided wildflowers all throughout a young Kel's long dark mane. Every meeting, rare as they were, became precious, held carefully in memory and eagerly awaited when the chance for another approached.
He had cried for Rance, mourning the loss of him along with the rest of Kel's family the night he had lit the Ghost Queen's candle for mhamo Rowan. Warm arms and a friendly smirk he would never see again. Rough voice rumbling low and reassuring across the tavern table, and late into the night as they shared drink after drink, just to avoid going to sleep and missing a minute of their too-brief time together. Time he had thought lost forever...
Found again, and suddenly all the hardship and trials that Kel had endured since passing through his own portal paled in comparison to having this piece of his heart back again, safe and sound and laughing with him once more.
At first the words didn't make sense, not until the end, and then Kel huffed a rough little laugh of his own as he nodded understanding, brushing skin against skin and squeezing his friend's hand in return just to feel the warmth of it. "I'm not... the seasons here are all kinda... they run together," he admitted, a little roughly as he tried to calculate and came up short. "M-maybe... a couple months for me? Four or... five?" Hesitant and uncertain, the number seemed far too large when confronted with it. But if Rance had only just arrived in Torchline... "Where were you?" The question was soft, not accusing but lost as his fingers caught in the fabric of his friend's shirt, gripping tighter in case the other man started to disappear again.
The cloud mantas floated closer, the mother crooning softly to her offspring as they fed and the two strange humans on the shore seemed lost in their own world, no threat to the gentle herbivores.
But then... Rance had fledged, and his family had begun to travel again, and their games had grown rarer. The younger halfbreed had been unable to follow where the ravenkin had gone, just as he was too weak to travel with his mother. He was used to it, but still, he had missed the young man who had once defended him from bullies, laughed with him, shared sorrow and joy, and braided wildflowers all throughout a young Kel's long dark mane. Every meeting, rare as they were, became precious, held carefully in memory and eagerly awaited when the chance for another approached.
He had cried for Rance, mourning the loss of him along with the rest of Kel's family the night he had lit the Ghost Queen's candle for mhamo Rowan. Warm arms and a friendly smirk he would never see again. Rough voice rumbling low and reassuring across the tavern table, and late into the night as they shared drink after drink, just to avoid going to sleep and missing a minute of their too-brief time together. Time he had thought lost forever...
Found again, and suddenly all the hardship and trials that Kel had endured since passing through his own portal paled in comparison to having this piece of his heart back again, safe and sound and laughing with him once more.
At first the words didn't make sense, not until the end, and then Kel huffed a rough little laugh of his own as he nodded understanding, brushing skin against skin and squeezing his friend's hand in return just to feel the warmth of it. "I'm not... the seasons here are all kinda... they run together," he admitted, a little roughly as he tried to calculate and came up short. "M-maybe... a couple months for me? Four or... five?" Hesitant and uncertain, the number seemed far too large when confronted with it. But if Rance had only just arrived in Torchline... "Where were you?" The question was soft, not accusing but lost as his fingers caught in the fabric of his friend's shirt, gripping tighter in case the other man started to disappear again.
The cloud mantas floated closer, the mother crooning softly to her offspring as they fed and the two strange humans on the shore seemed lost in their own world, no threat to the gentle herbivores.
