Broken Antler Fen give in to the lonely

Bubbly in personality, Akavir could feel his gaze soften on her, though it wasn’t her charm his thoughts drifted to—to remain in such spirit, how unmarred was Maia? Coddled, perhaps, by Wraen? Brazen, even, if only in the most naive way… He could only hope his daughters remained untouched by the world in the same way Maia seemed to be—or their optimism remained as strong.

With his mind wandering, he forced his attention back to her, the feeling as if he was simply a spectator of the world currently pulling heavily upon him. Perhaps he had drowned in that river—maybe, he lived in a weird state of purgatory.

“Congrats,” he offered, his tail giving an idle flick as he tried to offer a smile—half-hearted, at best. “I uhh… got held up. Fell into the lake further north of here… washed up on a shore and got patched together by a miracle worker.” He paused, considering tagging on his resentment for coming home to his mate’s pregnancy and being discarded—but nah, too personal. Too much. He definitely didn’t want to think about it.

And then, to try to interrupt the awkward silence — “It’s good to see everyone is still around.”