Wheeling Gull Isle parted seas

it was heavy. heda stood quietly beneath its burden. "is that why you came back?" she looked curiously into his face, past the long tresses and dour mouth, to his eyes. they had changed. like her his face had no rein. maybe that was why she felt safe around him.
heda retreated from the cave and returned to the brisk, open air. "where do you want to stay instead, then?" she asked, watching a pack of small animals scurry away from her and bartholomew.

yes,

he breathed out the weight of his prior sins. he hated how bleak he looked here, how he seemed like a man frayed by time only in his fourth year.

although he supposed it was fitting seeing as how the last two seasons had treated him.

there is a hill with an outlook of the island, he explained and suspected he need not say much more. yet still he always found more words there.

i think it would be beneficial to make a more permanent place there.

"all right." she thought she could see it from here, a green hill which clawed its way toward the sky. back up the winding way. back toward the verdancy of its foot. here she stopped and glanced for bartholomew. "how long do you want to stay?" if all her questions tired him, he had not said otherwise.
the smell of lavender hung between them both. she frisked her way toward the top of the hill as they went, leaping knoll to knoll, slipping only once and not badly.

he strolled after her, each step further away from the cavern returned light to his face. he did not speak on it. even if she may see it.

the holy man did not have a solid answer for the young hunter.

how long do you want to be here? you wish to return home,

it was not him who had somewhere else to be.

bartholomew's question caught her by surprise. she stood thoughtful and silhouetted, an idol of youth against the sealit sky.
"i've been gone almost three weeks. another guy i knew he, ah, dispersed. he took off too. i imagine they think we left together."
why hadn't they?
she suddenly missed the summit with a searing ferocity that ebbed reluctantly. "so i don't know." her golden eyes were on him again. you choose.

well then.

this drastically changed things, he imagined, but he kept his face only settled into something thoughtful. he supposed now was the ideal time to learn more about the young hunter.

do you wish to disperse, too, heda? there was no judgement in his tone. only genuine intrigue, as his flopped ears pressed against his face from the wind.

heda sighed and sat down, lifting a gangly hind to scratch behind her ear. "i don't know," she mumbled, finding immediate and focused interest in an anthill. she crouched close and sniffed at the leading insect, discovering too late that these were fire-ants of a tropical variety.
she yanked herself away before they could swarm her, tumbling in a roll to lodge near bartholomew's feet. the grass was soft and she had hit no stones. heda counted herself lucky. "feels like i'll disappoint people if i really go." her voice was conversational. she rolled and was up in the next second, forging ahead once more.

his eyes stay fixed to her, even as she averted and eventually tumbled.

he would never say such to her, but he felt like he looked upon one of his own. stumbling into adulthood and lost for it. all while the world moved around her. what had been the importance of the other who dispersed first?

but who suffers most if you do not listen to yourself, heda? his brows pinched over his hawkish eyes, quick to trail alongside her.

will these people not understand if you speak your heart to them?

"no! they'll understand, they will. it's just — i don't fit. i don't know where to fit. and that's not their fault! i want to stay and work it out, you know?" she hoped he didn't. in fact she didn't want him to respond to that little outburst at all.
her sides heaved. she pointed her muzzle upward. "was that thunder?" she asked him, almost timid after the uncouth storm of her emotions. heda kept her eyes out on the ocean now.

he was a prick. no, not like that, not now. but he noticed the way she popped with his simple verbal prod.

they could speak of this another time, but he gave a look that suggested she had not broke free of such a topic fully.

was it? he dared to question, a raise of one brow.

he had heard nothing above her outburst.

her ears wilted; she had wanted the distraction of a storm. maybe even the exhilaration of it, of running headlong down wet stone and wet grass to find a shelter.
this place was vast. feral. huge. and yet heda feared she could conquer it quickly, and thereby come to boredom again.
she was beginning to decipher his looks, and dropped her eyes away shame-faced. "well. should we find that uh, permanent place?" heda urged, shaking out her ruff again in an agitated way.

he hoped he had not startled her so badly, but she did not flee. she could have. easily. gone back to her home with her restless soul.

he hoped she would at least stay to rest a night.

come on then, he lightened for her sake. he would set off at a gentle jog with hopes she'd find her way again with the movement.

trees were sparse on the hill, but if there was indeed a storm brewing somewhere, they would have cover from the worst of it. she could hide among the trees or rolling hill. she could dance through the island as she pleased.

he wished to only provide a safe haven until her soul felt peace.

you will always be welcomed, as long as i stand here.

if she returned home and found herself yearning for a place away again.

want me to start them a new one lol <3

what was it about him that made her trust?
heda was too bitter yet to understand that bartholomew over this last day had granted her an unconditional sort of attention. he centered her. he asked about what she wanted.
and that was its own budding tempest.
he had unwittingly touched the part of heda that was most afraid she might be abandoned once more.
and so when his pace quickened she came along at once, and when he spoke she ducked her head with a shy smile that was its own answer.

yes x100

again, for the umpteenth time that day, he found peace.

outbursts, jaded questions, soured heart. none mattered truly. each time he managed to soften her it seemed. earned a touch more trust than the moments before.

his own heart softened and he wondered if he might forget such a terrible start to these lands soon. if he might build something worth softening the hearts of this land's hunters and barbarians.