He is watching where the water meets the pond, the splashing just barely grazing the hard angles of his face, when she asks the question. He turns his head back to find her, his gold-flecked eyes contemplative as he considers the light green of her eyes, the grullo coloring of her body. “I have lived in a great many places in my lives,” he answers with an elusive smile, the final act crooked and scarred but charming.
He shifted and then settled. “It is obviously quite a long story, but I can give you the abbreviated version.” His short tail flicks behind to sting his haunches. “Like I said, I was born in the Jungle with my mother. I left to live in the Chamber under my father for a while and eventually moved to the Gates. After that, there was the Dale, then the Falls and then back to the Gates.” He gave an easy grin—he knew just how odd his story was. “I returned there time and time again until the Reckoning and Tephra came to me.”
His story stripped out the meat, the titles he had held, the wars he had fought in, the deaths and lives he had experienced, but it was enough. “It’s hard to say which one was a favorite, because they all served what I needed during that season in my life.” He found her eyes again, hoping she would understand.
“That being said, the Jungle is the home of my heart and the Gates became the home of my choosing. I miss them both desperately.” Another pause as he fought back the demons, the way that the clung to the side of him, ripping at his chest. “What about you? Where did you call home before all of this?”
out of the blue out into the loneliest place that you'll ever know
I carried the world just as far as I could but the damage had taken its toll
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