Redtail Rise ritenuto

It took Ashlar a moment, with his nerves, to realize he'd introduced himself twice. The bard silently rebuked himself as it became clearer she was indeed silent as the others. What if she felt like he was pressuring her?! He didn't want that at all.

Just as he was about to apologize she laid down and smiled at him in a way that clearly showed she wasn't bothered. It did do a lot to soothe the nerves he had, and he managed a smile back, his tail waving slightly. He didn't have the enthusiasm for his usual spark but that wasn't her fault - he just had a lot on his mind.

He didn't need to talk her ear off, but he did want to explain. Sorry. I'm not... it's not you. I just messed up a while ago, kind of, and now I keep making things harder. I don't know if I'm choosing the right things. He looked down again, stilling for a moment. I get it, kind of. Talking doesn't always make things easier. I used to think it did. Ashlar had thought before that there wasn't a single thing that couldn't be solved by conversation and working things through. He'd never encountered a situation like this, where hearts were so divided in what they truly wanted that no common ground could really be found. Even his own was split without compromise.

He didn't even know if she could understand him, but something in the way she reacted - and the glimmer to her gaze - made him think that she could. Do you sing? Or is it everything? He asked softly, both to turn the conversation to something else and because it was a question he'd never even thought to ask the others. But now he wondered. Music was something it would destroy him to lose, and it was also a language of its own, even when words were not present.