Elodin ranges out far, although for what I still do not know. So I occupy my time by partaking of the sweet grasses in the Grove, most especially the water-grass that grew so thickly on the shores of the pond. The sun slid across it's path in the sky, settling low, pregnant on the horizon 'ere I heard my dear Elodin's return... and the huffing approach of another. I raised my head, ears pricked as the spry child bounds from the bushes, practically oozing smug satisfaction, which in of itself is a worrying sensation for me. The last two times he had felt such, I had wound up in a pitfall trap and in a tree respectively(don't ask about the tree, I beg of thee).

The she bursts from the forest with all the grace of...well of our very first meeting. Her expression is positively radiant, and I can feel a grin break out upon my own features, even as I take an eager step towards her, one of those I hold dearest to me. My tail lifts, curling as I stretch my bell-adorned head towards her.

And then her expression falters, as does my own, my leg raised caught halfway between a step closer to her. At her look, guilt does it's usual thing and returns to bite me in the rump. How could I have left without letting at least her know? Finn and Aisling were wanderers-born, they would have chalked it up to my restless feet carrying me across the land in the dance all Gypsies swayed to. Rei? Did she think that as well, or did she believe I had abandoned her?

Her words shame me, and I bow my head, bells chiming in a melody far happier than they should be. The fact that she searched for me, unknowing that I had left the borders of Helovia for a brief time, strikes a deeper blow, and I finally set my foot down. But nay, not in a step forward but rather behind. I do not notice her moving towards me, my words falling from numb lips. What words could even I, a storyteller born, weave to amend my mistake?

"Rei.. I'm sorry, I sho-" I cannot say a word more, for she rushed me, her neck draping over my withers, drawing me close, and I can feel an expression akin to a startled cat cross my features. Then I lean in, curling my own head around her, pulling her closer. I can only wish for wings to better curl her dappled body into the embrace, and at the choked way she speaks, the worry that falls from her serene voice, I merely pull her closer, tighter, as much as I could without harming her.

It is then, there, in that moment, that I speak. "I am so sorry, mo chroí, so sorry. I did not intend to leave in such a haste, it was childish of me." The endearment slips unbidden, yet I leave it, rather liking the way it falls, settling upon her night-painted coat of snow. A sigh, ragged and weary escapes her, and I close my eyes against the regret within my breast. I had caused that sigh to fall from the lips of one with a heart as light as the air.

Sooner than I would have liked she pulls away, and once more that smile is upon her face. It takes me a moment to realize she had asked something, and a laugh rolled out of me. "Stories? Nay, sadly, only one of a foolish stallion chasing whispers of a rumor. Yet that does not mean I do not have many tales to tell." I turn, beckoning with a light toss of my head for her to follow as I move away from the pond, towards a patch of thicker grass so we could lay down.

"If ye' would like, I could tell you one. Perhaps as an apology for my idiocy." I grin over my shoulder at her. Elodin comes to my attention then, and my gaze flickers to the boy as he lays upon a stone, watching me with a self-satisfied look that would be far more suited for a cat than an antelope. His thoughts slide over me, and the things he se- oh. OH. A sharp frown crosses my face, and I scold him silently to no effect; he just bleats a laugh and turns his attention elsewhere, finding grass more important than me fighting the flush that threatened to darken my already dark features.

Children.

@[Rei] THE S.S. REITHE HAS NOW SET SAIL

Translation: mo chroí - My heart)