Witch's Marsh kiss your eyelids in the morning as you start to raise your head

he nodded along with her sentiment, quiet at her side as they walked along. it was true—he didn't think he'd ever see her again. cortez had always just assumed, after she left, that she was just a part of his past, permanently, rather than a face of the future as well. was it coincidence or fate? both? neither? he tried not to get into the habit of questioning good things. he was just happy to have them when they happened.

olive started to prod him for stories, which, of course, he'd happily oblige. the world's not so different here and there, you know, cortez remarked, trying to ease the regret he sensed in her face. sure, you've got all sorts of kinds of trees, mountains in one place and deserts in another—but honestly, olive, wolves are just about the same anywhere you go. you've been lucky to find the best of the bunch, it seems.

a small flock of gulls flew overhead, on their way to the coast, which he surmised was nearby. his pale eyes followed them for a moment before returning to the path ahead, and then flickering over to olive, a grin twisting his muzzle.

you know, a couple days after i left calder, i was all broken up, he murmured. there was utter sadness in his smile, but it remained, if only for what he had to say next. i was lying awake—i couldn't sleep for a moon, honestly—one night when this giant bird landed right next to me, and took a mouse away in its talons. it was like that, he added, jaws snapping with a clack to illustrate the sheer rapidity of the eagle's hunt.

it had a dark body but a head white as snow, and for a moment, it stared right at me. and i swear to god, olive, i never felt as calm as i did in that moment. like everything was gonna be okay. it was amazing. cortez swallowed, seeing those twin golden orbs before him like the bird was here, now.

maybe it was fate, after all.