Ankyra Sound [m] Our Lady of the Underground

Suzu did not know what she said. The young man was convinced of this. She did not know him well enough to miss him. She knew the boy who had shirked his duties and had found countless places on the cliffs to hide from others. She knew Swordfish as he had been, not the thing he had become in his hunt for revenge - not Shardik.

Still, he could not stop the movement of his paws. He drew nearer. Could she smell him? Did she know that he did not travel alone? Lestan’s scent would be faint but it would linger in his collar. The bear-hunter thought of the disheveled man, searching for his lost daughter while his mind whittled away to a quaking splinter. Swordfish knew that he could not stay long.

Close enough now that he could see the lavender of her eyes and the individual hairs that grew like flowers upon her face. He gritted his teeth, closing his eyes. The man felt like nothing but a lost boy again. He pressed his forehead to her own, breathing a heavy breath from his nose.