there will be scrapes and sutures; viciousness and victory
Her hands slip out of his and for a moment the Huntsman feels lost and adrift, as though the gentle sway of the waves is suddenly a tempest dragging him asunder. Unreadable, his eyes scan the depths of the water as if imagining that they go right to the core of Caido and beyond. It's not a choice he's been expecting, and it isn't one he takes lightly.
Because he can see the life without starshine in his eyes, he can see lazy mornings and endless afternoons in the Cordillera, wiling away life until there's no more life to live. He can see it, he's had it for the past few seasons... but he knows well the path he walked to get there. It's a long, black hole shadow that Ronin casts, and - likely for the very reasons Safrin chose him to begin with - when he does glance back up to the goddess, it's with steel in his spine and a set to his jaw.
If you love something, let it go. But that's not the end of the saying, is it?
If it comes back to you, it's yours forever.
"I am only who I am because of you," he says softly. "Every beat of my heart, I owe to you. If I've been able to grow distant - if I've been able to grow at all - it's only because you put the earth back beneath my feet and the breath in my lungs. For all the years that pass, I'll never forget that." Inhaling a long breath, the Huntsman nods to her.
"Thank you for being patient with me. But I still choose you."
Because he can see the life without starshine in his eyes, he can see lazy mornings and endless afternoons in the Cordillera, wiling away life until there's no more life to live. He can see it, he's had it for the past few seasons... but he knows well the path he walked to get there. It's a long, black hole shadow that Ronin casts, and - likely for the very reasons Safrin chose him to begin with - when he does glance back up to the goddess, it's with steel in his spine and a set to his jaw.
If you love something, let it go. But that's not the end of the saying, is it?
If it comes back to you, it's yours forever.
"I am only who I am because of you," he says softly. "Every beat of my heart, I owe to you. If I've been able to grow distant - if I've been able to grow at all - it's only because you put the earth back beneath my feet and the breath in my lungs. For all the years that pass, I'll never forget that." Inhaling a long breath, the Huntsman nods to her.
"Thank you for being patient with me. But I still choose you."
RONIN
