Moonspear mhysa

He trailed after her, mind muddy at what the future would hold. It would have taken a blind man to miss the obvious changes in her and a blind man he was not. The turmoil that churned elsewhere presently on the mountain may have been another world away for Hydra, but it lurked in every eave and under ever bough for Dirge. He had kept his distance, merely watching from afar as she had begun her delicate investigations of this and that, and for what he did not immediately realize. Her efforts were uncharted territory for him, and given the tumultuous turn of her whims, his watchful eyes were also a means to keep a rein on her.

But of course, Dirge could not keep an eye on her every waking minute. She was her own being, quite capable of eluding him just in the same ways he did her from time to time. It would have been easy then to slip away unheard and unseen to venture to some distant point on the horizon and leave all none the wiser, but he felt and heard the unspoken pull of a call to stay close. The siren song of the wilderness had blended into the ambient din of the universe; it was static now, pure white noise.

Gently he closed the distance between them, scattering loose stones under his feet to alert her to his presence. His gaze wandered along the low cavern she had just passed up and her actions clicked with reason to him. Den hunting, was it? His gaze shifted to her once again, briefly following the gentle curve of her belly. He wanted to protest it as though it were too soon, but that time was long gone. If she were getting her affairs in order...

”You seem so thrilled,” he chimed in, pulling a cheery disposition. ”How droll this hunt is for someone who enjoys the taste of blood over dirt and rocks.” Sarcasm was perhaps the best defense he had against his own distress and where it lied hidden but far from dormant.

But he persisted.

”What was wrong with that hole in the ground, hm?”