[private] I do not want to move mountains

[Fyr]

I'll settle for the ghost of you.

”Lillibet.” He murmurs, feeling out the way it sounds. Does the name fit her as his fits him? His gaze lingers on the delicate curve of her moonlit cheek, pale like a lily, before settling back to her sharp gold-flecked eyes that are watching him carefully. As teasing as she had been so far, he doesn’t doubt this Princess could also make her words sting. “Lilybee.” He says in a wry tone, that small smile back on his pale mouth as he finds it does fit her after all.

All the while he is digesting her request, trying to not show his surprise. He hadn’t expected that, far from it. The young jaguar stallion had never truly thought about his future. He had been content in the Pampas, had never expected to lose everything he had come to know and care about. He supposes he would have left eventually, as all children do when home becomes stale and wanderlust beckons, but he had still been so young when the South had been destroyed. They all had thought they had more time to figure it out. As for her own worries about him… There had been wisdom in how Aela had placed herself behind Obscene instead of beside him or taking the full brunt of it herself. He has no desire for a target on his back. Not yet.

What would living here be like? He supposes he needs somewhere to stay and the land his mother adored would be fitting enough. What was the catch though? He lets the silence linger, watching the lazy orbit of his fire revolve steadily around her as he considers his options. It seems he might stay quiet forever until suddenly he asks, “Why this place?” The question is genuine, for he’s not sure what she sees in these dusty canyons and dry open valleys. Before she can respond, he levels her with his strange stare. “Am I to be your royal furnace?” Faint amusement sparkles in the depths of tawny eyes but he is curious to where he would belong here. What he could be here. What she would want or expect from him and if he would be willing to give it. “Do you ask every stranger you happen upon in the middle of the night to stay, Lilybee?”

FYR

Photo by Little Willow Art

@Lillibet