Blacktail Deer Plateau A Stranger to This World

He mentioned the sea and Pied's insides clenched with sudden, unexpected and fierce nostalgia. She only vaguely listened to the rest of what Kisu said, as she was too busy imagining the shoreline back at Flightless Falcons. Until this very moment, Pied hadn't realized how much she'd missed the seaside. As images filled her mind, she felt an ache deep inside her. She could almost smell the salty air.

She snapped back to attention, her lips turning thoughtfully downward when Kisu mentioned that he didn't want to settle here just now. She then mentally backpedaled to the part where he'd suggested they meet up time and again. Pied surprised herself by feeling relieved about this. She realized she really was interested in forging a friendship with him and excited by the distant idea that, maybe, it could become something more.

"I'm sure Hawkeye won't care if we see each other from time to time," Pied replied. "I'm the Delta here, you know. Hawkeye wants me to be more, actually, but I don't know that I'm cut out for that..." She trailed off, not wanting to get onto that topic particularly. Instead, she said, "I followed her because she's my friend and we wanted to find a new place to settle. I imagine we'll be here for good, though we've found it's uniquely difficult guarding the borders of a plateau, even if the views are fantastic." She gave him a pointed look, because here he was illustrating this fact as a trespasser.

"How far away is the sea from here?" Pied wondered in the next beat. "I spent some time in my grandparents' pack and they lived by the ocean. I loved it there. I'd love to see it again someday..." Her voice trailed off again and she left that there. She hadn't known the sea was relatively close by and the information made her feel strangely restless.