He nodded ruefully as she described her feelings for Sunjata that in a way echoed his own experience with Rory. He hadn't sought love, either, and yet... "You should remember why you did those things and made those choice," he encouraged her. "The arguments you made to pursue them haven't changed, have they?" He remembered Sunjata supporting her in them, too, though perhaps back then things hadn't proceeded quite so far as they had now.
Her frustration was reassuring, revealing the backbone she'd shown since her bid for rulership the last spring. She was strong enough to carry herself through challenge and heartache, but what Sunjata offered was closer to temptation than trial. He might not even have been that bad a vice to indulge in, if he could have let Lusea's ghost go. Or, if he was still grieving, to at least not toy with young women's hearts while he mourned. "Perhaps a little distance wouldn't be such a bad thing," the bard murmured thoughtfully, glancing down to run a finger across the surface of his captured puddle, sending ripples across the water. The sky above was beginning to lighten and the rain had fallen off to a light drizzle. "Even if you end up living together you'll still have your own lives to lead. Though in the beginning it's hard to remember that," he admitted wryly, glancing up at her again with a faint smile.
Her question earned a quiet bark of laughter as he sat back and tilted his head up to the sky, grinning at the raindrops that landed on his nose. "More often than not, really. Zariah's power grab followed by the Blight... then Safrin's punishment..." he sighed, shaking the water away as his smile slipped. "I lost my way for a long, long time last year. I don't know that I've found it again yet, to be honest. But in some ways I'm happier than I've been in a long, long time."
He tilted his head back down to watch her with his ever-curious bright blue eyes. "What do you think of the concepts of 'fate' and 'destiny'?"
Her frustration was reassuring, revealing the backbone she'd shown since her bid for rulership the last spring. She was strong enough to carry herself through challenge and heartache, but what Sunjata offered was closer to temptation than trial. He might not even have been that bad a vice to indulge in, if he could have let Lusea's ghost go. Or, if he was still grieving, to at least not toy with young women's hearts while he mourned. "Perhaps a little distance wouldn't be such a bad thing," the bard murmured thoughtfully, glancing down to run a finger across the surface of his captured puddle, sending ripples across the water. The sky above was beginning to lighten and the rain had fallen off to a light drizzle. "Even if you end up living together you'll still have your own lives to lead. Though in the beginning it's hard to remember that," he admitted wryly, glancing up at her again with a faint smile.
Her question earned a quiet bark of laughter as he sat back and tilted his head up to the sky, grinning at the raindrops that landed on his nose. "More often than not, really. Zariah's power grab followed by the Blight... then Safrin's punishment..." he sighed, shaking the water away as his smile slipped. "I lost my way for a long, long time last year. I don't know that I've found it again yet, to be honest. But in some ways I'm happier than I've been in a long, long time."
He tilted his head back down to watch her with his ever-curious bright blue eyes. "What do you think of the concepts of 'fate' and 'destiny'?"
