Jade Fern Grove gonna spend the rest of my life

truly, she could appreciate his efforts upon realizing them. but the midwife freezes regardless, narrow shoulders tightening and hunching slightly as moonstones flicker to the sooty shadow creeping along the borders of her peripherals. 

the wind comes from behind the male, in his favor, and his scent - unaligned and tainted with wilderness like her own. sharp and soothing like the musk of a familiar den - is the only thing that keeps her from retreating. instinct rears its ugly head for a moment, and she nearly snatches her catch against her chest as if to shield it from the dispersal. 

the mahogany-pelted male clears his throat and the sylph turns towards the charred firebrand with the sense of turning towards the crackling coals of a banked fire, pale gaze meeting the whiskey of his own. aerin attempted a polite smile but the corners of her mouth only spasmed, cheeks aching at the unfamiliar expression. the dove whet her lips, allowing her features to settle back into a still calmness. 

at her first attempt to speak, her lips parted uselessly - no sound escaping. the sighthound had to clear her throat and swallow heavily before the words would come. 

"'ello. vould ye like some fish?" the exile rasped, her voice little more than a smoky rasp as she started the first conversation she'd had in half a year.