Blackwater Islands Nevermind an SMS.

he should have known he was being diligently led away from what he was so very close to seeing. as it was, val suspected nothing as they picked through bramble and fern, sobeille's voice almost chatty behind him.

he wanted to know what possessed her to go here -- but as soon as he thought of asking this, he chided himself. he had been young once, hadn't he? how had he become so far removed from his younger self? and moreover, how could he establish a connection with sobeille if he was always poking and prodding?

with great restraint, val smiled. that's nice, sobeille. he stepped over a sunken log consumed by dark green moss. did the organisms beneath the bark know of the giants that walked among them? we are lucky then, that he was a good man. he refrained from chiding her any further - he could feel her trust ebb like the tide's tug beneath feet. not his own though.

feeling the conversation pull too, val began the long uphill climb to home. your maman and i noticed the sea lines suzu made need fixing - we'll need a good diver to drag them out so i can see what's what. someday, he might earn her trust enough to ask her what was really going on below -- but today was not that day.