Eik draws his attention away from the bird he had been watching when his new companion speaks. "I can't say I've ever seen snow in the desert..." Eik murmurs his response, a quiet and agreeable "hmm". He grew up in a place similar to Solterra, but cold instead of hot, white instead of orange. Even that place rarely saw snow-- it was too dry-- except in the deep south where the forests grew tall and the deer roamed freely, wide-eyed and knowing..
At the mention of seeing many things, Eik's ears perk up. "Oh?" He turns to take a closer look at his new companion. The man is impeccably clean, to the extent Eik almost finds amusing. In comparison, the emissary's coat is tattered with scars and thick with dust and grit. Eik could not be considered a vain man by any measure, at any point in his life. Pensive, yes, but never in a self-admiring way.
(all I want is saguaros in bloom and storms heavy on the horizon,
all I need is the sun chasing shadows across the dunes,
and crimson coyote dreams.)
He often wonders how different a man he would be if he had been born with such loud colors as Saphrax, or even if he had just been born in a different place, one not so stark and hostile. "I hope it passes soon." It isn't the cold that bothers him but the court's waning resources. They'll starve if the desert does not produce food-- although certainly they would leave before that point, perhaps migrate to Delumine. Planning is all he ever seems to do anymore. But there is a line between planning and worrying, and he often crosses it.
"Saphrax?" The name is new to his tongue but it comes easy, not unlike Seraphina. "I'm Eik. Where are you from?"
I have let myself go where the dust
E I K
Has the color of nothing
art by Footybandit
@Saphrax <3
Time makes fools of us all
