Blacktail Deer Plateau Rome o Romeo where art thou?

She probably would have moped along into her den, the song lyrics that she had thought out hadn't made anything better and she wanted to replace the images of Takara and Issun inside her brain. Even some more torturous dreams would be better than facing this reality. She was torn between fighting for her desires and risking Issun getting upset because she had bloodied his childhood friend up and submitting for once in her life and allowing them to run off together into the sunset. She had realised everything much too late to fix it and it had her hating herself more than ever. She could hear Issun approaching from behind her and froze, allowing him to catch up. Slowly she turned so that her eyes stared into his, not looking away even when a rush of embarrassment heated her cheeks when he commented on her singing. That hadn't been something she wanted him to know about at all. She gave a slight nod and studied him silently, sitting down so that she was less tempted to run. Where had these cowardly urges come from all of a sudden?

She studied him, eyes roaming over his face and counting the white freckles that dotted around his eyes as she pondered how to answer. What would she say? That she was an idiot and hadn't realised love could be felt in different ways? That she hadn't realised that she did love Issun, in a deeper, more important way than Corvus until it was too late? That Kavik had made her realise it, when he said love was when you couldn't imagine being without someone and she couldn't imagine how it would be when Issun took Takara and left? Her breath halted briefly and she tore her eyes away from him, hating how suddenly they moistened up. "I've been dealing with the realisation that I'm a complete and utter fool ever since me and you made up. Struggling to make sense of something I was too slow and dumb to realise sooner before I messed everything up"

She paused for a moment and looked at the ground trying to summon the courage to look him in the eyes while she came clean and explained everything to him. "I thought I loved Corvus...I mean I do but...see...there are apparently different ways to love. I loved...how similar he was to myself and maybe even to Higoro. The physicality of him, how we could fight and get bloody and sweaty and still laugh at one another. How he looked at me...It was...physical." she struggled to explain it to him looking nervous and uncertain for the first time in her life. "What I felt for you...the safety, the warmth, the happiness and lighthearted enjoyment of your company. At first It was friendship but then there was these...flutters, how every time we touched my heart would race and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I refused to see it as what it was, thought that since I decided I loved Corvus I couldn't love you. But I did. I do. Much differently...Much deeper. I can't stand the thought of losing you and you not loving me and leaving. But....she's all over you"

It all rushed out of her at once, leaving her teary eyed and breathless and she finally stared at him, her ears going back. "The way she pressed against you,looks at you, the way you hold her close. I understand why you met with her and not me. She accepts your love when I denied it. I ran away because I needed to accept I was too late but I hated watching her, hear her whisper declarations of devotion. I wanted to beat her down Issun, pin her down until she acknowledged that I was better, that I could...have you" her words trailed off after that and her eyes widened, breathing coming quickly as she stared at him almost fearfully. She waited for him to get angry, to tell her she was too late and she should have thought all this sooner before pressing herself against Corvus.