King Elk Forest of a boy ruled by the sun, burned by the things he could never touch

Be gentle with me, Delight deadpans and Mato’s apple green gaze studies his expression finding that it is deadly serious. Mato takes it seriously even despite the snarkish edge behind it; and accordingly ponders if he can be gentle. Does he know how? Mato can be many things but also is aware that he can be a force of nature. He can be very many different faucets and not even realize which one he’s being, especially when he finds himself distracted; and sometimes he realizes it but cannot do anything to stop the progression of the path he’d inadvertently taken. He needs to focus on Tindómë; that was the whole point of deciding to draw a close to a book that he does not realize will be ripped back open just a few hours later. For the moment, he is focusing on moving forward. On sounds a bit too cruel even for Mato ( who can, undeniably be very cruel ). Brienne’s disappearance is a mystery that he does not suspect to ever solve and he thinks that no one really moves on from that: from not having closure.

Mato knows that Delight cares for him — not the full extent of how deeply the wisps’ feelings go — and he wants to be careful. He does not want to inadvertently hurt Delight and it’ll be a while before Mato is ready to commit to anything again but he’s willing to explore …to see where it leads. “I will try.” The empyrean offers the wisp in a low murmur of a promise. Delight’s words make Mato feel like he is seen as unbreakable but the druid knows that’s not true. Brienne’s disappearance broke him. It broke Mato that when he weighed the pros and cons that he could not simply leave behind everything he had here and all the wolves relying on him to find her. It was not an easy choice to make. He’s colder for it. He feels the chill of ice biting into his heart where fire of the sun once burned. Umbra ears flutter back against his skull as a heat creeps up Mato’s neck and cheeks unsure what to do and …where to go next so he lets the ball in Delight’s court. It is up to the wisp now.

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