I watch the city burn, these dreams like ashes float away...
He looked anything but thrilled to see her. Hell, he practically drooped, looking even more dejected when he saw her, if that were possible. She drew back just a touch, withdrawing into herself and readying herself for more of the same old story. I’m sorry I left, I had...important things to attend to. Kingdom matters, taking care of someone, protecting someone. Any excuse to leave her behind.
She was good and used to it though, being the one left behind. Hadn’t realized how much it had hurt when he vanished until she saw that look on his face. That brief flash of guilt and the sad little hunching of his shoulders and ducking of his head as shooting stars rained down around him. She knew that look, the way his eyes flickered with unspoken I’m sorry I left you, I couldn’t help it, it was necessary, I...it’s not you…
She’d heard it all before. Time and again from Romek, so she shouldn’t be surprised. Still, her face fell just a little, her smile dimming, her face hardening back into the steely mask she’d become so accustomed to these last years. He rose and started her way, if reluctantly.
As he came toward her, she let her eyes roam his body, hard planes of muscle like hers, none of the softness of their younger years. He was marked by life too, his own scars dotting his back and haunches, not nearly so many as hers but telling stories nonetheless. Stories they could have shared, if he’d wanted. If he’d let them. But there was no sense dwelling on ifs.
There never had been.
The quiet ache in his voice as he spoke her name softened her sharp edges a little, eased the tension that had begun to stiffen her spine and wall off her still too damn breakable heart. “Moment,” she murmured softly, and her traitorous smile came right back for him, spreading across her lips, lighting her eyes. “Yeah, well I’m not,” she chided gently, and closed the distance to pull him into a hug. “It’s good to see you, old friend.”
...your voice I never heard, only silence.