Worry creeps into Mazikeen’s expression when Bolder mentions Malik, though she does her best to bury it. She wants both to give her son the space he needs and to have him nearby so that she knows he is okay, and those two things just will not exist at the same time. “That’s a good idea.” It was - and she hoped that Bolder would find his cousin. Maybe bring him home when they returned with what information they could find.
At least there is not much time to focus on her troubled thoughts. The laugh that comes out of Mazikeen is quiet but it is also bright and genuine, and she shakes her head with a smile. “Oh Bolder.” She never stopped being grateful for how this moon-marked boy managed to escape relatively unscathed from his beginnings in this kingdom. How is it possible that they went from kidnapping him to joking around like this?
The fact that she had purposefully tried to brainwash him against his parents is a twist in her gut, a knife that cuts frequently.
Most of what she had said about Nashua had been technically true - and she still didn’t care for him - but it had never been her place to say it. “Have I told you how glad I am that you still think of Hyaline as your home?” If Bolder ever chose to leave, she’d understand - she would just miss him terribly.
@bolder