I am the steel no enemy can shatter.
Perhaps he is crazy. Completely mad. Right now he feels like it. With the past and present warring inside his mind, it is very possible. But even in madness, he presents no danger to the spritely young woman who so easily falls in alongside him.
He is a protector. A warrior, yes, but a defender first. And he has already decided that Odesza needs protection, whether she wishes it or no. He might have once been forced to protect a vile creature against his will, but that does not change the fundamental nature of who he is. Of what he is.
If anything, it had enhanced it. Drawing that piece of him to the fore, teaching and training and honing those skills until they have become second nature. He might despise the way it had been done, it might destroy him mentally, but it is not something he is willing to change (or, more accurately, capable of changing).
The silvery mare’s compliment takes him by surprise, causing him to look at her rather askance. But it is clear she means only well, that she is truly so kind and good. He offers her a slight smile, though it feels wooden and out of place on his lips. It has been so long since he has smiled in truth, but he has no desire to wound this mare, even if it is only emotionally.
She readily agrees to walk with, so Shan keeps his stride slow and steady, despite the urgent impulse to leave the scene as quickly as possible. He resists, because he is stronger than his base instincts. He resists, because he would not leave her alone so close to such massive amounts of dangerous power. But he allows the silence to stretch, the crisp air still and silent until he realizes that he should be holding up his end of the conversation. So, finally, he speaks, even if his words are rather uninspired. ”What brings you here? To the forest?”
To his surprise, he finds he does actually hold some curiosity, some desire to know what had brought her to the location of his reemergence into Beqanna. Perhaps there is some hope for him after all.
Shannisoran