Witch's Marsh the cry of a loon

If his mind hadn't had a cacophony of thoughts running every which direction, he might have taken more note of her flushed cheeks. He might have felt his own blushing in return, or noticed how his throat tightened ever so slightly, changing his pitch a tad. Perhaps he even could have maturely processed emotions like an adult. But instead he did as he does - move onward, eagerly and with all hope to progress the encounter.

As full as he may be, an adult in appearance, he had the fluttering, boundless heart of his youth.

Lady Ibis spoke of the sea, but when she spoke it was with a different tone than he had always regarded it with. To him, his family, the sea was an immortal, eternal entity, the foundation of all they were and had accomplished. Every victory, conquest, and bragging right, though accomplished through blood and sweat, was owed to the waters that exhaled the winds they breathed. When he spoke of the seas, it was with an unending awe, borderline reverence, and intimate familiarity.

Her tone seemed more whimsical, as though it were a distant object and not yet her own kin.

The thought to frown flashed in his mind, but instead he nodded, closing his eyes for a moment as he sat down. "Yes yes, y'think the sea is only t'the north, but that's only her chest. The sea..." he lost his breath in thought, brilliant orange-red eyes staring in earnest to the south, a soft smile on his lips, "she is not bound by yer lands. The lands are all at her mercy, she reaches everywhere!"
She was the key to life, and a master of death.

Warm words and a kind energy brought K back from his moment of reverie, his gaze blinking as he turned back to face her. "Haha, well it sounds like yer better off here than me, I ain't seen too much." Surely she'd be a helpful guide if he wanted to avoid unnecessary confrontations. "Damn... the south? It's..." a distant memory. A comforting dream that hurts to wake up from.

A pang, sharp and resonating, struck his heart as he thought of his brother. His mother.
But aside from a glimmer in his eye, he would not let this pain show. It was not pain to be shared.

"Imagine... so far away, it seems yer whole adolescence was swallowed whole just by travellin' up to here... Down there, we don't got massive prey, 'n hardly any bears, but there's beasts lurkin' in the waters, just as great, covered in skin as tough as bone. Marshes s'far as yer eyes can see, everythin' green all year, an' ya never have to deal with snow..." How could he possibly describe what was, essentially, a completely new world?

"But don't get me wrong, that heat can kill ya just as easily as yer cold can. Itsa different way t'live..." And the thought made him homesick. For a moment that smile would fade, his head tilting down as he tried to hide it, and a soft chuckle escaped. "I'd love t'show ya one day."

Not just for herself, but for him as well.

@Ibis