Ouroboros Spine catch the manic rhapsody

The herd-watcher kept soft jade upon his back as the shadow melted back into the woodworks around them, her eyes lingering upon the place where he had stood long after he had left. Something stirred beneath her breastbone, restlessly pacing like a trapped animal. Her brow furrowed, left wondering again after the man's unbalanced behavior. Something cold had cemented between them, a distance she felt but could not yet understand. The rabbit had hoped to be courteous and respectful in her rejection but the frigid temperature that had crackled over the raven each time her submissive disposition rankled him was bone chilling. The yearling couldn't understand why her neutral stance and refusal to get involved in Raimo's conflict irked him so -- only that the way his eyes pierced her was startlingly familiar, inspiring a sensation like ice creeping up her nape.

She no longer felt like gardening but the botanist did not wish for the herbs to go to waste -- not to mention it felt like defeat to allow Raimo the power in frightening her away from her den -- so she bent back over her work. Even so, her green gaze occasionally flickered to the treeline, imagining dark silhouettes moving amongst the pines.