deep into that darkness peering

Warily those same blue eyes watched the lady as she moved, from couch to side table and back. Never quite looking, but glancing from corners of half-lidded eyes. Now bird-like, now with the golden intensity of something wilder, fiercer. But she did not intrude upon his space, and the boy turned back to the flames. Ignoring the food, save for a quick glance - though the way his tonge passed quickly over thin lips spoke of hunger. Mouth watering, belly contracting. His eyes yearned for something else. Even as the sharp clatter of necklaces onto hard surfaces made him flinch, and brougth feathers shuddering to life across pale skin. Up the neck, over cheeks, rising and falling away like dark waves... Only in the hair did shimmering down linger when some semblance of calm returned, and the nails of his hands were dark. Talon sharp, and reluctant to retract. "I... heard music," he mumbled. Turning half around, to peer over broad shoulders at the woman, it could be guilt on his face. Her words had hardly gone by unnoticed... but whatever it was she wished to hear, he couldn't offer it. "Do... is there... a lute, somewhere? Or... anything?" Ah, the longing. Softer than the grief. More insistent than the hunger. Strong enough to set those long fingers to trembling with need. K O R B I N It's a lie for a lie and I'm getting tired An old lullabye, drifting through the sky