Gale
this is going to break me clean in two --
this is going to bring me close to you
Gale knows better than to try to interpret the eagle’s behavior; he’s barely any good at horses. There’s blinking, a lot of blinking, and then she becomes very still, watching him as intently as he watches her.
She looks marvelous, from the tip of her sharp talons to her hooked beak. Her wingspan must be at least twice as large as the osprey he’d just been, and he’s willing to bet she’s wickedly fast.
Not fast enough to catch him without hitting branches though, Gale thinks, tilting his spotted head curiously. The sound of creaking wood catches his attention, and he glances at the tight grip the eagle has on her perch. She doesn’t seem inclined to chase him, which had been his hope, so he replaces his paw on the branch, and settles back onto his haunches to look up at her as she speaks.
“Become too much?” Gale asks, then shrugs in answer, as though not knowing is of little importance.
“I guess that’s up to you.” Watching her, he twitches the soft whiskers of his nose, enjoying the sensation of the air against them, breathing in the scents of mid-summer.
“My mother started planning my father’s death seven winters after he started shifting.” While Gale has told Mazikeen that it runs in his family, he hadn’t previously shared the details of how well and thoroughly it trampled them as it ran. Saying it aloud feels remarkably reckless, a bold choice that Gale wouldn't have imagined himself capable of until the words came out. Equally reckless is the sharp edge on his smile, a smile that is no less charming in this shape, a smile he wears as he continues: “So I suppose we have until you can’t stand me anymore.”
@[Mazikeen]
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Gale
