Arrow Lake pronuntio

“My own wants,” she murmured, the trace of a more embittered smile pulling at the corner of her lips, and so she took the opportunity once more to pull her gaze from him, perhaps too worried he would see too far into her as he had on meetings before.

“I think for the longest time I’ve wanted a family of my own. Security—a home, a family… love.” She shrugged, forcing the smile that now pressed to her lips when she took a step closer to him, emboldened if only by the fact that if any should understand, it would be him. “But life isn’t like that. Something will happen—one form or another.” So she waited for the next shoe to drop, and her copper ears splayed back to her crown. “You’re own recent pain being only an example of such things. Everyone has lived it.”

Then: “Does it bother you?” A flush to her cheeks, she lifted her chin a notch, reevaluating her words and meaning. “That one of your soldiers is now courting outside of Mereo?”