Jigano's question took her by surprise and she looked up from her brooding with a startled expression. "Attuned? Gods, no, I wish!" Maea glanced over a shoulder to the wings at her back, a wry smile twisting her lips. "This is just magic. Some illusion, perhaps... They don't actually work." Spreading the appendages wide, she beat them hard a few times in his direction. But for all that the feathers beant and quivered, for all that the movements were smooth, they raised no gust of wind to batter his face or stir his clothing. There but not there. "I think there's some missing component... perhaps I will understand more in time. For now, they just... make me feel better." Like a safety blanket to nuzzle her fears against, and alleviate the suffocating feeling of being trapped.
The man went on to tell her about some of the things he had been up to. It hardly sounded like he was taking it easy, but... by Provost standards, it was actually far less than usual. Maea smiled at him. "I'm glad to hear that you are feeling well. I don't mean to pry, it's just... our conversations so often feel one sided. I end up spilling all my problems over you, and I never really get a chance to return the favor, you know?" She rubbed her neck, pacing slowed to a halt. The accusations Sunjata hhad flung at her still stung like nettles at the back of her mind. Not so very hidden.
"Will you and Rory stay here for Deepfrost, then?" she asked him. "I'll probably leave... for Torchline, or remain in Halo. Depending on whether I've patched things up with Sunjata by then." She would be with him, if she could. And if she couldn't... then she would still stay as far away from the Hollowed Ground as possible.
Maea
this too shall pass
