She scoffed softly into the humid air. Even now, she was finding it a struggle to meet the stallion's eye. Instead she looked to the horizon, where dark water and darker sky met in an impossibly distant place. A place she knew from experience didn't really exist, except from afar.
"It's hard to avoid a man when he's invited himself onto your beach." She replied, tone distant. She could have run him out, of course. Thrown him to the sea like she had when Ivar had first tried to invade her home. This had been no stranger in her sanctuary, though. This had been Pteron. Sweet, affectionate, careless Pteron. She shrugged against him, still feeling the warmth of his touch on her skin.
Absently, she stretched across the sand. "Anyway-" and a tang of bitterness leaked into the words. "-you're not necessarily the one I've been avoiding." She let the words sit, wondering why she could never find it in herself to let things be. Not even for one night. That was the problem though, wasn't it. Even now, she found that she could not separate the scent of Pteron and the scent of Aegean. Her own sea water odour mingled now, but she knew that would fade soon after he left her.
It was like sleeping with a ghost in the house. Or worse still, being the ghost in her own home. Halcyon adored Pteron, and had taken to his mentorship with a dedication that she found astounding. Cormorant had gone on to the Icicle Isle with her blessing, to learn under the dragon lord, Leilan. Alongside his childhood friend, she knew he'd do well.
This left her with Marianas, a boy she loved but who would always have the shadow of his lost sister beside him. It was a burden he bore by being absent as much as possible, and she found she couldn't blame him. Not when this island was filled to the brim with memories of his earliest misadventure. Of her own failure to keep her children safe.
So when Pteron had come to her, she had let him in. Had accepted his touch and his sweetness because she'd begun to think that she'd lost any chance of knowing those things. Only now did she regret it, because she knew him. Knew it was not besides her that he would bed down besides for long.
@[Pteron]