Sunbeam Lair i am cold in your heart and you're branded into mine

Whatever force had guided her towards him had vanished. She knew not the reason behind her approach, nor what words she might be able to create for him. Such a vast amount of knowledge had been forced into her mind, yet, as she stood there, she could form no thoughts. A piece of her had hoped that she’d be turned away, that his anger over a situation she thought so little about would force him to ignore her. Hope, however, was a useless thing to have. So rarely was it answered, which she’d been made to realize as he’d chosen to face her. An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, but for why, she could no longer tell. She needed him, but she didn’t—her mind insisted day after day that both statements were correct when, in actuality, they were not. She did not need him, she never had. Even when Jolon had resided within the lair, when she’d felt as if she could not sleep within her own home, she had not needed him. For despite everything, Asterr was still a—the—Dragoness and the dragons would always protect her no matter what. Though they lacked their physical forms, their souls were just as strong, leaving her without a single thing to fear in the world. But, despite how great her desire for change had been, the realization had neither been shared nor acted on.

Slowly, a breath once trapped in her lungs had been released and a shake of her head given. Although every voice within her mind screamed for her to dismiss herself and carry on with her previous task, she’d ignored their shouts in favour of an observation made. How slow his movements had been whilst rising, and how she possessed the means of taking the edge off. Had she allowed for her heart to turn to ice with the turn of the seasons, there was no doubt that she’d have left him there to deal with the issue on his own. But that was not Asterr, and never would it be. So, after glancing over his frame once, she’d said, “Follow me,” and then scooped her concoction of plant pieces back up. She’d not wait prior to continuing forward, correcting her direction of choice so that she’d be heading towards the chamber in which her herbs were stored. Whether or not he’d choose to follow, she’d not stop again.

When at last she had reached her destination of choice, she'd not been surprised to turn around and see that the man had not followed her; there'd been an obvious lack of footfalls at her back during her walk. Heaving a sigh, the vessel shook her head right before entering her medical chambers, where she'd stored away the herbs that had been collected. Thereafter, she'd left the space and headed off in search of her daughters, needing a positive interaction after having failed to build a bridge between herself and Ukko.