[private] i bet on losing dogs

[larke]

Larke has never considered that someone may not like her exerting herself to this degree.

Perhaps because she has never practiced like this in front of her family—preferring to fail and fail again when off on her own—or perhaps because she never thinks of herself first at all. So she is surprised when there is the concern etched onto his handsome, young face and her eyes widen a little in surprise. “It’s okay,” she breathes out and if the fatigue touches the edges of her voice, she barely notices it.

“I’m still getting stronger,” she tries to explain, glancing down to see the way that light clings to her now. It brings a faint smile to her face, curving the corners of her mouth. “But it’s a good tired.” She grows quiet for a second, closing her eyes and trying to hunt through her brain for the right word—trying to find a way to explain to him that she enjoys the way she aches when it’s done, the way it settles in her body.

“It’s like when you go on a long run,” she starts and opens her eyes again, searching for his own gaze and then holding it steady. “When you’re done and your legs burn and your lungs sting but you feel like you found out something new about yourself—like you know a secret about how far you can go.” She grows brighter and brighter in the explanation and then sweeps her lashes down in a sudden bout of shyness.

“That probably doesn’t make any sense.” She laughs lightly, airily. “I’m okay though—I promise!"

—LARKE—

there is not in the wild world a valley so sweet
as the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet

@[midnight]