KORBIN
Hands reached for the raven, and for the first time it did not shy away from the touch. It remained still and let the soft plumage be stroked, or held, as Noah pleased. Quietly it listened, with a patience that was new - it had never been Korbin's strongest point.
Until she was mentioned. The raven tensed then, and breathed fasted. Unprepared for the onslaught of its own emotions. Internal battles intensified, and when it all finally became too much to bear the ghost of Korbin reached out with its mind. Opened up the solid mental barrier, just a crack. An invitation, or a plea for understanding.
If Noah allowed it, images would start to pour through the bond. Of the Academy and the mess of a boy, lost to grief and alcohol. Of the Kraai, and the mountain of work piling up all around, work Korbin never wanted or cared for. Faces came and went, tasks and conversation passed by but it was all laced through with black despair. Hollow as a rotten tree, where only the bark kept the pulp together. Finally, there had come a morning where a breaking point was reached. At that moment, the boy had simply shifted and flown off. Brought on black wings into the white wastes, into an existence where thought was no longer necessary.
A shift came in the raven's mind then. As memories were pushed back, and the existence of the moment gradually took precedence, a fragile peace had come over it. Memories of endless vistas bled from the shapeshifter. Halo seen from above, stark and barren, clean and clear and beautiful. The solitude had not been a burden. It was a blessing.
For an instant, the encounter with Aisha flashed through. The woman's appearance had been like a knife to the barely scabbed over wound of his soul. A reminder of everything Korbin had left behind. And even now... much as the hunters tears woke sympathy and care - a step forward from the cold apathy once offered - it still hurt to be near him. It forced the raven to remember. To see changes, and realize the absence of one who had been more to him than his life. Who had been his whole life.
All of this was communicated in utter silence, in the space of a dizzying heartbeat.
The sharp beak was almost tender as it reached in to thread through messy blonde hair. Absent, a touch awkward - they had never been the touchy kind of friends. Yet it was necessary now. The hunter needed to understand; there was nothing to be sorry for. He had done nothing wrong in his absence.
Until she was mentioned. The raven tensed then, and breathed fasted. Unprepared for the onslaught of its own emotions. Internal battles intensified, and when it all finally became too much to bear the ghost of Korbin reached out with its mind. Opened up the solid mental barrier, just a crack. An invitation, or a plea for understanding.
If Noah allowed it, images would start to pour through the bond. Of the Academy and the mess of a boy, lost to grief and alcohol. Of the Kraai, and the mountain of work piling up all around, work Korbin never wanted or cared for. Faces came and went, tasks and conversation passed by but it was all laced through with black despair. Hollow as a rotten tree, where only the bark kept the pulp together. Finally, there had come a morning where a breaking point was reached. At that moment, the boy had simply shifted and flown off. Brought on black wings into the white wastes, into an existence where thought was no longer necessary.
A shift came in the raven's mind then. As memories were pushed back, and the existence of the moment gradually took precedence, a fragile peace had come over it. Memories of endless vistas bled from the shapeshifter. Halo seen from above, stark and barren, clean and clear and beautiful. The solitude had not been a burden. It was a blessing.
For an instant, the encounter with Aisha flashed through. The woman's appearance had been like a knife to the barely scabbed over wound of his soul. A reminder of everything Korbin had left behind. And even now... much as the hunters tears woke sympathy and care - a step forward from the cold apathy once offered - it still hurt to be near him. It forced the raven to remember. To see changes, and realize the absence of one who had been more to him than his life. Who had been his whole life.
All of this was communicated in utter silence, in the space of a dizzying heartbeat.
The sharp beak was almost tender as it reached in to thread through messy blonde hair. Absent, a touch awkward - they had never been the touchy kind of friends. Yet it was necessary now. The hunter needed to understand; there was nothing to be sorry for. He had done nothing wrong in his absence.
Young and alone on a long road,
Once I lost my way
Once I lost my way
