We're just another hype But the pressure's getting harder
Always an emotional one, Hester can't help the way her eyes mist up as she drops her offering, as Chulane follows her instructions with all the solemn sincerity the ritual requires. There are many things she wants to say, wants to share, but can't, or won't. It's not the time, not yet. Maybe when they're warming up, back in Snowcloak, then she can tell him this was her first extended hike into the Fangs, that her father had led her, her brother, and one of her sisters up. That they'd stopped in the same place to eat, had the same solemn moment here.
”You know you’re never alone here, right?” She says, instead of responding to the thanks. Her voice is just as soft as his had been, though she hesitates. This feels like a line that’s so easy to cross, her outstretched always a tremble away from intruding. ”You remember the dead, and you honour them, but you don’t have to linger with them forever.” These aren’t her words, are things she’s heard her parents say, her siblings say, and she wonders if they’re appropriate, if she’s using them right.
She falls quiet again with that, leaves him to whatever he needs, be it more support, more comfort. And when he seems ready to move again, she'll tug him away with her, not taking her hand back if he doesn't. "You know, there's still one more part of this hike." Hester turns and grins wide at him, excited for this last part, the last leg of their day.
Hiking down is far easier than hiking up, even if the path seems longer, windier than the one they'd used to ascend. There's a touch more vegetations as well, stubborn plants giving way to even more stubborn shrubs, then trees. And steam, the source of it becoming obvious as they break through the trees to a small hot spring, a single blue pool steaming in a rocky shore.
”You know you’re never alone here, right?” She says, instead of responding to the thanks. Her voice is just as soft as his had been, though she hesitates. This feels like a line that’s so easy to cross, her outstretched always a tremble away from intruding. ”You remember the dead, and you honour them, but you don’t have to linger with them forever.” These aren’t her words, are things she’s heard her parents say, her siblings say, and she wonders if they’re appropriate, if she’s using them right.
She falls quiet again with that, leaves him to whatever he needs, be it more support, more comfort. And when he seems ready to move again, she'll tug him away with her, not taking her hand back if he doesn't. "You know, there's still one more part of this hike." Hester turns and grins wide at him, excited for this last part, the last leg of their day.
Hiking down is far easier than hiking up, even if the path seems longer, windier than the one they'd used to ascend. There's a touch more vegetations as well, stubborn plants giving way to even more stubborn shrubs, then trees. And steam, the source of it becoming obvious as they break through the trees to a small hot spring, a single blue pool steaming in a rocky shore.
Hester
