King Elk Forest -- when the ones that damn the innocent are on the nightly news

her reassurances warm him, though it doesn't last long. a break. a small part of him says when one door closes another is opened and he feels a guilty squirming in his stomach -- though he knows it means nothing. a break is exactly that - a break. they'll find a way back together, delight's sure of it. "ah, mato's... well. you know," he fumbles, feeling for her. maybe they can hang out and talk about their boy problems -- boy, singular -- together, he thinks, a touch bitterly. 

he's a little surprised at her desire to retire from counseling, but - "do what you gotta," the nénar says reassuringly. even in a leadership role delight doesn't feel like he's in a position to try and influence or give advice on trade persuing. everyone's got their thing and he doesn't understand a good lot of them but that's okay, morwinyon values them all. but when she asks after him he finds himself blushing, feeling that same hot shame from before. "well," the androgyne starts delicately, "i'm working toward historian, i've - i'm sort of nénar, now." the role tastes strange on his tongue, and to be fair it hasn't even been a matter of weeks, just long days. he doesn't know how he's become mato's second but he has (and the memory of their last conversation makes his cheeks burn under dark fur).

he just hopes brienne won't... what? hold it against him that he worked his way up in her absence? it's not as if trajan and uka were around to compete -- but, still. "i.. maybe not today, but sometime soon, i'd still like to have your story, too," he adds after a moment, a little nervously. he'd meant to gather her story, the last of the remaining founders, last time she spoke but had been too tense, too worried about tipping his hat. he doesn't want to press her for anything while she's healing from her trauma but... eventually. for real this time. he hopes.