Dragoncrest Cliffs I'm in the air, and he's in the clouds

Njord’s claws were blunted from digging into the frozen earth and hiding away pieces of whale carcass for their winter caches. These days, putting his body to use distracted the seafarer’s mind, which had been mired by heavy emotions. Slowly, he attempted to set his loom and re-string the threads which had been broken, so he may weave himself back into the fabric of Sapphique.

However… would the Sveijarn-Cortens stay? Njord needed to regroup with his wife. For now, he toiled.

While setting the cache Njord discovered a pristine turkey feather. He didn’t realize they traveled out this way. The dusky brows of the plumage reminded him of @Jorunn …he had not spoken to the women since his return.

Now, feather between his teeth, he set off to find the Rubys’ paramour.

a wave of red like rolling reeds along the seaside. for a moment she had wondered if quen had come for something. only the red rolled downward, away from the spine.

this could be no other.

and although she did not know how she felt about the man's return, she did not greet him with a stoicism. the man had been somehow like an old friend before. now he was the love of her new friend meerkat. he had been a man of sapphique before any others, an unthinkable thing.

she regarded him with warm welcomes and something close to pride to see him move through sapphique.

she set aside her own worries of herself and her future for the moment.

what have you found?

He found the woman he sought and she greeted him kindly. Njord would be naive to think there weren’t complex sentiments behind the bright copper of her eyes, but he was thankful for the reprieve of her simple warmth. It was true – their relationship was one of kindred spirits. Perhaps he regarded her as a sister moon… for they were not bound by blood to the heart of Sapphique, but orbited it all the same.

Njord set down the feather before her. He was correct. The dusky banded colors of the feather looked just like the shades of Joruun’s flaxen hair.

“A turkey’s tailfeather,” he said. “I’ve never seen one out this way. Perhaps it was carried here,” he mused aloud. “I thought you’d like tae keep it. It reminded me of you,” he added with a tired smile.

he spoke and she was reminded of what a sweet man he was.

there had been no need for this and yet he had.  perhaps she had not been hurt by his absence in the way she had thought. perhaps she had only been angry at the forces keeping him from sapphique, from meerkat, from his children.

he was, perhaps, the kindest man she had met. one of the very few reasons she had not sworn them all off entirely.

it all showed on her face. the softening and the well of emotions that followed.

i would like to keep it very much. a smile crept onto her own face. you are a kind man, njord. she felt this thought must be verbalized. that he might be reminded if he had not yet been!

do you have time?

With a blink Njord’s gaze dropped and, like a wave returning to the sea, turned inward.

A kind man.

A gentle smile, broad as a whalebone, for Jorunn. He was thankful.

“O course,” Njord replied and waited for her words.

suddenly she felt shy, bashful. as if she might ask the wrong thing or assume too much.

but she had yet to hear things directly from his lips. such felt important, vital even!

i thought i might ask to hear your tale. if it is not hard to share. her gaze flashed under fluttering lids for a moment.

Dang, so sorry for the delay!!! For some reason i got major writers block with this thread!

His expression winced. Pained.

“’Tis hard,” he reflected, “but I will speak it.”

He told Jorunn the tale, as he had told Meerkat.

He had journeyed to tell his family of Swordfish, Stingray and Vixen. A coup. His father’s death. The wake.

“I kept one foot on Meares Island an’ one on Sapphique,” he admitted. “But ah’m no tha’ man anymore.”

if it is easier to fade it please feel free to!! i want writing to stay easy/fresh for you <3

she stayed silent, attention only for him in those long moments of hearing his tale.

of the horrors he had faced away from this coast, only to come home and be greeted with a coldness that shivered sapphique. she could not speak for all. no — but a part of her softened. an ease of guilt, perhaps. to think she had ever thought that perhaps he had meant to be away so long. as if it was a vacation.

the man had faced a great many things.

jorunn found herself further grateful for the peace of sapphique — and further appreciated that he had managed to come back at all. even if it was maybe only for his children and his wife. they deserved it, no?

a wetness to her gaze that she did not speak on.

i am sorry. and she meant it, in the soft pierce of her voice. and — thank you, for telling me. so that i see. so that i know.

and she meant to reach out to him now, to place a shoulder to his for a moment.

You are the best <3 Could we fade here?

Jorunn’s words elicited a wan smile from the red-tail, lips gently turned like the curve of a whalebone. He appreciated her sentiments. They went straight to his heart.

He pressed into her touch. A quiet fell over Njord as he turned inward while he reflected upon his own memories anew. His heart felt broken. Pieces missing. As if he had chipped off the part that represented Meares Island and cast it into the sea. With it went his childhood. His birth family. His father.

As for the rest? Well, that was broken too. But it was healing. New things were filling the hole that had been sundered. Time with Swordfish and Stingray. Rhaegal. Nessa. The possibility of children in the spring.

Njord practiced gratitude for this.

“’Tis you who I should thank,” Njord said. “For listenin’.” For many others hadn’t even asked.