[P] silence the birds and darken the air

[Samaira]

touch me, it's so easy
to leave me all alone
with the memory of
my days in the sun

This is the first Alaunus is seeing of the man, Elchanan, as he had not been present during their dance upon the lake in Denocte. Samaira had told him of it afterwards, but looking at him now the heron only feels uneasy. It reminds him of the way he had felt the day Samaira had met Anandi, but everything about that woman had so clearly been saying predator. This one, however, this one is like a yew berry. Innocent enough on the outside, but inside…

The great heron glances up at his bonded, but she is already moving down the hall again and toward the winged man. Samaira is relieved when Elchanan declares he is not injured, but her heart is already picking up speed again. If he is not here for an ailment, then, “I came to find you,” he says.

“Me?” her voice is both shocked and pleased, her skin warming under his dark gaze and charming smile. The Terrastellan doctor comes to a stop before him, even though a part of her wants to turn and disappear down another hallway. Can he hear the racing of her heart? How it betrays her at every step, how it remembers fondly the way their skin had pressed together, the way his breath had played across her neck.

Unlike his bondmate, Alaunus does not get closer. He lingers partway down the hall, observing with bright, keen eyes. Even as Samaira turns her attention to the other pegasus. “I can’t believe you would come all this way for me,” she admits, silver eyes bright in the dim, “It’s been... awhile.” Since she had decided to stay with him instead of return to a party. Since she had told him that she no longer wanted to be hurt.

Her foolish heart might not be thinking it, but she still is. Why is he here, and what if he disappears for months again? They all go, don’t they? “Why did you come?” Samaira says, as she wonders how long he will stay for. As she hopes, above all, for him to take her away from here, to make her forget about the thoughts and loneliness trying to fill the emptiness around her.

"Speaking."

⚕ | @Elchanan <3