11-10-2017, 03:13 PM
 i'll use you as a makeshift gauge of how much to give and how much to take Ivar is not sure when the decision to (keep her) had been made, but he is entirely certain that he will do so. She is unlike a kelpie in the same way that sex is unlike feeding: an palatable substitute for his instinct. He is uninterested in either now, that curious limbo that being underwater has always given him, but he is still infinitely curious. Would she want him? The thought comes unbidden. Why would it matter? is the more expected – and immediate – reaction. Even if she does not, she will eventually. Ivar has always lacked patience above the water; it is an odd sensation now. Pleasant, he decides, but odd. Best to return to what is more normal, he decides, and returns his muzzle to its curious exploration of her shoulder. The joint where her wings emerge is fascinating, and he is just a bit more thorough in his tactile examination than might be necessary. It had worked with Isobell, but she had been strong. He is not sure the same is true of feathery Ichor, and he is unwilling to risk damaging her. Rather than sink his claim into her with a bite, he whispers it into her mind as he slowly slides ahead of her in the water, glancing back to her excited face with his hip still brushing against her shoulder. “You want to come with me” he tells her, “To stay with me. You need to be mine. Mine. You’re mine.” He cannot be sure that it is effective; there had clearly been something else in the changes that Isobell had undergone. To repeat the experiment exactly could be disastrous, so he allows himself an alteration. Perhaps it will work anyway, he thinks as he steps onto a submerged log and looks back at his Ichor. The water here is warmer than he’d expected. Ivar follows the heat, rising higher in the water until he finds the source. A narrow channel of water, coming from the south. From Loess, he realizes, the hot springs’ water eventually reaches the Riverlands. It is a mildly interesting discovery (that Loess is of higher elevation than the River), and one that Ivar files way with the minutiae that he has picked up on his travels across Beqanna. Glancing back at Ichor, he gestures for her to break the water’s surface with him, so that they can talk. minimal grullo tobiano king of loess |
So as I was writing this I forgot that they were in the meadow and not the river so that is why the geography makes no sense.