Blackfeather Woods and when she looked, what could i ail?

wintersbane does not mean to intrude. in fact he doesn't even mean to cross the listener's path at all. he approaches the place she is from an opposite direction, taking a break between his patrols only because he deems it necessary. if he could be a machine, if he could walk the borders constantly, without the need of food or water or rest he would. it's no secret the tundrian is on edge since the escape of the redhawk woman. redhawks had already been here — no doubt in search of her — and his anger towards the one responsible is an ever growing plague in his mind. it seethes like the bubbling lava — not reaching the surface but the pressure builds all the same as it grows heated. in secret, he wonders if this is the reckoning. if the end was coming for blackfeather ...and what they would do if it came. wintersbane is practical. he is logical. he always has been; but he is stubborn and he will go down with the ship until there is nothing left to salvage from the wreckage.

he hears her voice. quiet. raw. rare.

he hesitates.

it feels like a moment not meant for him to hear, nor bear witness to ...yet, no doubt she heard the approach of his heavy footfalls, unaware until he drew nearer that she was there at all. hesitantly, he draws nearer as she grows quiet and shrugs through the underbrush. listener? are you alright? he conveys the unspoken question in her title, his tone tentative enough to communicate that he would leave if she wished to be alone, if she asked him to.

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