Emberwood I got years of livin' by and how I choose

✹☾❂

 

The words I’ll come call on you set Eleuthera’s heart aflutter. It was a futile task to hide the smile that beamed right out of her face. It pleased her greatly, to know that this man was interested in her. It felt foreign, but not unwelcome — in fact, it felt warm, and wanting, and wanted. It was a sad reality that Séamus lurked in the back of her mind even at this moment; and though Eleuthera was certain her brother wanted nothing but happiness for her in his absence, it still felt wrong to so openly welcome any sort of masculine presence into her life.

But this in particular felt good, and it felt easy, and she felt safe with this ruddy, rusty man. She allowed her mind to be wholly swept away by the description that fell from his mouth, of red rocks and towers and crags, of rushing waters and hot, dry air. She found that her verdant, yet rocky pathway fell away and was replaced with sunbaked stone and these towers that rose so high, they blocked out the sky. She had seen deserts before, but she was certain she hadn’t seen this.

Eleuthera stopped in her tracks to raise her eyebrows and asked the only clarifying question that she could muster. “Like, a giant crack — cracks — in the earth?" and then another rushed to her, and she blurted it out. “What do you think happens if you fall in? Do you fall forever?" The lilac woman looked up towards Kincaid again, throwing him a winsome smile because she knew it was actually impossible to fall into the earth forever… unless it totally was possible, in which case she gave pause for Kincaid to wow her once more.

After a moment, the duo arrived at an overlook — they were not at the summit of the mountain, not even barely close, but they had breached the tree canopy of the woods they were just inside and could finally glimpse the greyscale topography map that spread put before them, in all directions. “We’re here," she mentioned, her tone falling an octave deeper. “Not bad," she said, looking at Kincaid, and then at the endless lands before them, referencing both at the same time.