Emberwood twisted shadow knots around my wrists

"Heh, I'd never insist, but hell yeah I'll teach'ya some basics here'r'there. Most likely somethin' that'll be more useful fer, uh, teeny folks like ya." Warmth flooded back into the boy, countering the chills that had been so deep in his limbs for the past few weeks. Bhediya's shoulder bump was all he needed to fully let his smile slip wide on his maw. The regret and shame were there - they were unlikely to fully disappear - but it was this that he craved. The feeling of connection. Of the red threads of fate that weaved between others and bound them together.

He could feel those threads binding.
It was comforting. Anchoring.

Oh yes, it sounded like fucking fun - reconnecting with his northern family, being able to explore as part of his job? And all the while, being able to chill with his packmates and pick their brains for all the little tricks and tales these northern wilds had? To have roots somewhere new up here, but those roots so flexible and yielding so as to allow him to venture as far as he needed, as far as he could, to help those he cared for? Serendipitous could not begin to describe this...

As these thoughts raced, building off each other into more and more, hopes and ambitions and dreams, K hadn't realized how intense their locked gaze was. In fact, he likely wouldn't have at all if she hadn't looked away so quickly. Just as quick, Kukulkan dipped his head towards her as they strode side by side, "Fuck sorry, ahh. Didn' mean t'upset ya, I ju--" But she had chimed back in before he could manage to say anything else.

"Oh, yeah that..." That pit in his gut returned, and K cleared his throat to try and shrug it all away. "I was 'er... lookin' fer someone..." A wave of awkwardness washed over the pirate son, so tied to the seas that even as he stood landlocked, the chill of a seawave crashed heavy on him. "P-- uh, please don' tell Ibis, I don' wanna upset'er..." A deep sigh, his pace slowing, "Was lookin' for Okeanos... I jus' wanted't help. But well," He shook his pelt briskly, hopelessly attempting to shake off the awkward cling of embarrassment "I don' know this land'as well as I fuckin' thought and uh... don' even know what he looks like."

With a slow sigh and a shrug, Kukulkan conceded defeat in his endeavors. Officially. "I need'ta learn more, I know. But I ain't a goddamn whelp, I can help and I know it... I jus' needa find meself a new route." Lifting his head up, those striking red-orange eyes began to scan the weaving of trees, the deep shadows they cast yet the life that flourished within. "I needa learn," he turned his gaze to her. Intently. "from y'all..."

Ambition was his blood, the sea his mother, and all of that potential would be for naught if he could not manage to learn the basics of these lands. Of their inhabitants. Of the political fragility in these regions. "Teach me?" A crooked smile, but from a genuine heart.

@Bhediya