[se] came back alive

DEIMOS And in your darkest hour, I hold secrets flame A nod granted and given as the incantations took hold, snagging at their tethered vestiges, before they descended back into the puddle, where they belonged until they froze back over. Thereafter, he thought about maneuvering along, and leaving Elide to her work, not bothered by either perytons or Generals. A turn, a twist of his head, to stare back upon stones and continue onward, checking over the walls. Except his attention deviated right back to her at the words cast, and he ceased the sharpened, wayward movement, the arch of his brow giving way while he swallowed something down. The temptation to wave it all off and away was great; as if nothing had happened or transpired, that he wasn’t upset, that it hadn’t rattled at him. Pretenses and feigning were easy, happenstance, mustered in reticent airs and nonchalant roots – but he’d been trying to place new ones, gradually, slowly, without the fear of backlash on the other side. It was difficult to subside the habit, but he inhaled, exhaled, and launched his piercing gaze on her. “I thought you had perished,” and here his jaw clenched, feathered, rolling a little as if waylaying some other expression from coming through. “Kiada came home, and then I did not see you.” His eyes lifted, pinning back on the stones, on the other citizens nearby also gathering near the melted snow, as if they were mystified too. The Sword suddenly wished he were steel again, going back and forth on the influx of weights and dominions. Would it have been greater, grander, if he didn’t care at all? He once presumed it hurt less. “I have lost many people: friends, family, and comrades alike.” Stare went downcast, before rounding back to her; a shrug yearning to bite through, but that would’ve made it seem all right too, like it was gone, like it was fleeting. “So I was worried.” Then she reappeared, and nothing was ever said. And he didn’t ask now – presuming it was still something she didn’t wish to share. master of nothing place; of recoil and grace