Stavanger Bay or if i'll see you again?

the shadowed sylph had just begun to doze into a fitful sleep -- the only kind she'd had since long before the fire -- when the staccato of fast footfalls sent her reeling back.

lips half peeled back in a snarl. cringed against the far wall. if she'd had hands, the spectre would have thrown them up -- ready to fend off whatever threat had stopped shy.

a woman's voice. a silhouette cast in shadow at this light. and that smell...

the sudden slackening in her muscles was minute. 

cua did not shift from her place against the stone. did not cry out. 

she waited.

for a trap. a trick. for men to bleed from the trees beyond. 

but the silence only lengthened between them and her bleeding heart keened out in empathy. it would be the death of her, she was sure.

the sea acolyte chirped softly after a time -- an invitation, wild and wordless as it was.

a quick prayer to the deep shaped on her lips, for protection as her bones set to trembling in anxiety.