Dragoncrest Cliffs Close your eyes and sleep,

for all yunxu thinks of him – none of which he will say – owlglass had played at conversation, given name and greeting and smiled and smiled. he can admit to himself, privately, that the blood oozing from his shoulder is his own fault. he should not lose his temper so easily.

she does not try. yunxu has no sooner opened his mouth than she finds him; comes towards him with tail high, snapping and furious as a storm. he freezes, ears slicking back; reels back on tiptoe, keeps his face carefully neutral. biting his tongue until he has forced down the impulse that rises in the back of his mind, a silvery fin cutting the water.

he opens his mouth. he very purposefully does not think and the apology comes to his tongue automatically, but before he can give it a voice –

the snarl comes like a clap of thunder. for a moment, he is certain she is already charging. instinct wars between rising to meet it and ducking his head and running; eyes glassy and blank, his shoulder throbs with his rising heartbeat,

and something large and dark rises like a thundercloud from the corner of his eye.

yunxu’s legs take him backwards, ceding space to the storm-black wave rising between them. he has always been good at keeping to the background.