Solace
. . .
Solace's attention can only remain on the river for so long, and his movement draws her gaze back. With every once of strength and stability he gains, his behavior seems to grow even more erratic. He does not accept her offhand dismissal of their conversation, and his next words cause her to re-evaluate him for the third time.
She had never, truly, feared for her life and his question (which under different circumstances she may have read as a threat) does not summon some long-suppressed panic. Instead, in the brief pause which follows, she is reminded of her brother. Few knew of the dark bay colt who never saw his first spring because of Solace's uncontrolled magic, and it is sadness, not fear or defiance, which disrupts her mask of poise.
But there is not enough time for to slip in an answer, especially because she doesn't have one on the tip of her tongue, and she leaves the question unanswered - following him along the haphazard trail of his thoughts.
Under his skin, there is a ripple of movement - a glitch in his biology - and for a moment her heart clenches in her chest. She recognizes the token movement of a shifter; Castile had had a similar symptom when he began to lose his delicate control over the dragon which had attacked her.
Against her better judgment - she wonders if he is just the sort of man she needs.
"Hyaline," she confirms once she can get a word in. "But most of the residents are fairly new, I've actually been there the longest," she says in sudden realization, "and I don't remember you."
His keen dark eyes watch her with an intensity that would have subdued her a few years ago, but now the blue-fire in her own dances, fueled by the thrill of whatever game they are playing.
"I feel like you would be hard to forget."
@[Crevan]