Redtail Rise black flies on the windowsill

Lily pursed her lips in a soft hum, thinking. "Well, there's a beautiful grotto just north of here, although it's a pain in the arse to get down to," she added, laughing as she remembered how long it had taken Ali and her to descend those steps. "Erm, past that, a glacier, some mountains. . .my home lies at the edge of a dark forest."

She smiled. "I hear the sea is close, too. I've never seen it," she admitted, a bit wistfully. Oh, how lovely would it be for this handsome man to sweep her away, take her to see the waves she'd heard about in stories but had never laid eyes upon. "Have you?" she asked, tilting her head in inquiry.

She knew she couldn't linger too long, that she needed to get back to Broken Boulder eventually. Lily, again, cursed Alarian inwardly for his short-sightedness.