if you do not have shadows,
you are not in the light
His exhaustion is familiar, the same lines of stress and worry form on her mother. They cling the life and adventure from their eyes with savagery, stealing the happiness right out from under them. Even his voice is the drowned suffocation of practice and duty.
“You’re… Ruler?” She exhales in embarrassment, and then judgment. Should she have kneeled, bowed, something? Does he want to be called majesty, or king? Her mind furiously spirals before reminding her that he did introduce him as Pteron.
So, maybe he isn’t the type. Or, maybe the title is the problem. Maybe the title drains him barren like the slow drip of a bottle, until all that is left is the slow, occasional slip of optimism.
“I am sorry I didn’t introduce myself sooner… I am not—um—familiar with the dynamics of Taiga yet,” In all honesty, she had been so caught up in her mother she hadn’t really met anyone aside from Aten and Kalil.
He asks her of her favourite place, and Ruthless thinks long and hard. The mysterious shadows cast by oversized Redwoods, the salt-water sensation tickling at her sides as she wafts belly deep amongst the waves, but nothing will ever replace the special spot Kalil had showed her.
“There is a small clearing on the beach, a path carved with sand and wet rocks and barely wide enough to fit one explorer. And at the end of the sand path—when the tide has withdrawn—is a small pool where you can see a glittery, reflective surface layer. It’s like staring at a million stars all at once,” her eyes imagine the sharp gold and aquamarine mash glinting beneath the movement of the water.
“Do you take your daughter to your favourite place?” She asks, wondering what it must be like to have two devoted parents.
The abundance of love; is it suffocating? Or the kind of pressure that lulls you to sleep?
Ruthless
@[Pteron]