there are many paths to tread
He laughs, and it’s all teeth and charm. Their scarves are curling together, green and grey interchanging, and he presses himself closer to her.
”Well,” he says, his voice low as he turns to look at her. ”I suppose I can’t argue with that, can I?”
He twists his head to look back at the inscription, his eyes weaving down each curved line of red. He pretends to focus, pretends to recite the words to himself the same way she has - but he already knows the words by heart, as if their bloody letters had been carved into his own heart. Toulouse never did forget anything, let alone something as important - as mysterious and tantalizing in its enigma - as this.
His teeth are white and bright in the darkness when he smiles. ”I do. Let’s be off then.”
The outside air is cool and refreshing, the sea sending waves of mist and salt over them both. He stops at the edge of the cliff, and takes a moment to braid his hair back from his face, although it’s hard when the wind keeps trying to tear it out of his grasp. He smoothes it down with more rose oil, and ties it off in a bun.
In the distance is the island, bobbing like a sailboat among the waves.
”Quite the trip from here to there,” he comments dryly. ”It’s been a while since I last swam in the ocean.” His tone alone conveys his displeasure at the idea of having to swim in it now. The last time Toulouse had been in the ocean, he had been washing up like a drowned rat on these very shores.
He was not too keen on repeating the process, not even for Prudence.
@
figured this one could be the actual getting-to-the-island one??
since the other thread is them already on the island now
