Stavanger Bay gently, gently, the constellations aligned

the look upon his features caused a twist within her gut, and she looked to him, then, as though she knew what was in his heart. but she said nothing in regards to it then; it would not do to decide things for him. she could only give him a different course, and certainly she would! it would seem she was meant to become the proverbial angel on his shoulder, but to who would he listen to? the darkness that threatened to take hold of his heart? or the tangible alternative?

i will come for you, she hummed. rest now, rannoch, and never act in haste. watch and listen, deirdre advised. she wished to nose him, to offer an encouraging touch, but she refrained; he had seemed to warm to her, but she did not wish to push him. she adored him already, this miracle son of eshe's. it might not seem this way, but good will come of this. do not allow darkness to grip you, to change you. it is easy to let this happen, but you are stronger than that--i know this to be true. stay strong, she encouraged, before turning from him.

deirdre would then find skellige and report to him what was to be done; that, for the while, he must rest, though that there was no harm in keeping him intellectually stimulated. deirdre informed she would take him to donnelaith to reintroduce him to water, and battled any protests that might come with good sense and a doctors wisdom. she knew of the mind; she felt that skellige had caused rannoch to feel anxious, even if he did not admit it, of the ocean. there are wounds seen and unseen, she told @Skellige, before departing and i will work to heal them all. and then the work of skellige could truly begin.