Firefly Glen the grand optimist

A breath laden with rightful hurts spilled across her parted lips and Rian knew, in that moment, that their time together would be invariably fleeting. He stood testament to a future well-beyond reach; a reality once dreamed, and now too fragmented to properly piece together. There was always a reason for his departures—some far more selfish than circumstance, but not even time nor experience could ever teach him how to properly convey the remorse he harbored for all the damage inflicted by his absences. If she were the moon, than he was the sea; eternally at her command, but never able to fill the void between them. 

A void that yawned widely even as the trailing wisps of her breath drew down into his lungs.

He sought her eyes, not to challenge, but to understand. In hope, in love, in loss; and never had he held her, kept her, protected her. This was wrong. It was wrong. He was wrong. But it felt true and just and right. But she has a mate—where is he now, then? Children, surely!—they are grown. Acknowledging it invited hurt anew to sweep through him, but he remained where he stood, broadly, boldly, bravely striving to bridge the gap...!

It wasn't to be. 

She dismissed him in the same breath that blessed him with a burdgeoning hope. No, not dismissed—

Set them free.

Rian flagged while his mind wheeled, ears wilting, tail drooping, robust frame sagging under the horrible finality of it all. She turned from him and claimed a step, another, and another. It was just of her to do so, this he knew, but it did little to calm the turmoil in his feeble heart. Anguished, but resolute, he watched as she drew further, and further away. A tempered, colder man might have accepted the loss. But Rian had known it too greatly to ignore.

"Hydra, wait," he pleaded softly, devouring the distance between them in three quick strides. He angled his nose down, dark-rimmed eyes lidded, and subdued. "I will stay away until your season is over," even if it killed him, "but I... don't want to settle this with a goodbye."