Love, let's talk about love
Accepting the hand that reached for her, Seren sank back down beside the grieveing woman and held out her other arm, offering a shoulder to lean on.
"Perhaps. But he chose you." Serene though her voice remained, there was a surety to it that belayed her youthful features. Or perhaps stemmed from it; who could be more firm in their convictions than a child? "Please don't diminish his decision to follow you. It doesn't matter how you met; there was always a choice for the both of you. To step aside, to look away; but you did not. And he did not."
Her own dragon also had a choice. She could have left him by the geyser, to be scalded by boiling water and suffer at the mercy of larger predators. He could have clawed her arms and ripped free, to seek the sky and the wild mountains. Acts of kindness were not chains to bind the unwilling; they were an outstretched hand, taken only by free will.
Seren stretched her legs out before her, toes burrowing thoughtfully into the sand. It was not difficult to place herself in other people's stead. What would she do, if her family was gone, her companion dead, a child depended on her and heavy tasks laid before her?
"Do you have to raise it on your own?" she asked, a little curious despite the nosiness of the topic. "It takes two to make a child... does the other person know about it?" Thinking back, Seren bit her lip. Not wishing to heap too many options on the other woman at once. "And... you said Frey was there, when..." Despite herself, the girl blushed slightly. It was probably the only topic she couldn't quite talk about without stuttering, so utterly lacking in experience herself. "The gods are always with us, Hotaru. Their Heralds are only a prayer away. If you need help, ask Frey. Or if you want to, ask Safrin. She is a wonderful mother; I should know, since she raised me."
"Perhaps. But he chose you." Serene though her voice remained, there was a surety to it that belayed her youthful features. Or perhaps stemmed from it; who could be more firm in their convictions than a child? "Please don't diminish his decision to follow you. It doesn't matter how you met; there was always a choice for the both of you. To step aside, to look away; but you did not. And he did not."
Her own dragon also had a choice. She could have left him by the geyser, to be scalded by boiling water and suffer at the mercy of larger predators. He could have clawed her arms and ripped free, to seek the sky and the wild mountains. Acts of kindness were not chains to bind the unwilling; they were an outstretched hand, taken only by free will.
Seren stretched her legs out before her, toes burrowing thoughtfully into the sand. It was not difficult to place herself in other people's stead. What would she do, if her family was gone, her companion dead, a child depended on her and heavy tasks laid before her?
"Do you have to raise it on your own?" she asked, a little curious despite the nosiness of the topic. "It takes two to make a child... does the other person know about it?" Thinking back, Seren bit her lip. Not wishing to heap too many options on the other woman at once. "And... you said Frey was there, when..." Despite herself, the girl blushed slightly. It was probably the only topic she couldn't quite talk about without stuttering, so utterly lacking in experience herself. "The gods are always with us, Hotaru. Their Heralds are only a prayer away. If you need help, ask Frey. Or if you want to, ask Safrin. She is a wonderful mother; I should know, since she raised me."
Is it anything and everything you hoped for?
SEREN
