Broken Boulder darkest den the devil made

*finally steals a thread w you*

his last conversation with alarian has left him feeling raw -- that alarian immediately went out and got himself knocked nearly-dead doesn't help. what is he doing here? is his life destined to be one long farce, the saturnine boy who loved too quick, too recklessly, leaving only burned brush in his wake?

only this time delight knows better. (even if alarian is also -- even if there's been moments, in reflection). the feelings he has for the governor are not the same incandescent blaze he felt for mato. they're smaller, softer, still in their first shed. not so deeply entrenched he can't suffocate them beneath the dirt. and, really, it isn't even hard! brilliance, mali, and solomon take his top priority -- queenie, second, even if their friendship will probably never reach what it was once (and how could it!). his responsibility to the wolves of bracken, too, and oh, his lingering feelings for mato that haven't exactly snapped off like a switch just because alarian made him blush. 

delight checks in on the still-comatose boy, fleetingly, and then takes to the borders to ensure they're being looked after at-the-least. rote leadership is one thing he can do, thankfully. even if he hates it. when he spots ulf he pauses -- he's never properly spoken to the wolf dog, only knows him through alarian's affections for him. (does that make him jealous, he wonders). hesitantly he makes his way over, expression guarded as he reads the tension in the other's form. "hey. ulf, right?"