My eyes never left Rei, not even when the otter slipped from her stage to sit at my hooves. Elodin regarded the otter with a narrowed gaze and stepped closer to me, as if in possession.

I, however, was still enraptured by her. I dared not move for fear she would flee, and even the smile I offered was brittle and faint. In truth I was nervous, my heart pulsing in my throat and each breath was as if I had to force it out from beneath a boulder. Then, she moves and it is towards me, and I go still as possible, waiting, not even daring to breathe now.

And then I feel her wings, so silken and soft, cover me, and her body pressed against mine, and I hesitate no longer. Torso thrusts forward as I hook my head around her neck, drawing her closer even as I long for wings to fold about her as she did me, my eyes closed as I breathed in that scent that was all Rei. Then, she speaks. My storyteller. Alas if only she knew how much I was hers! I was slave both to her presence and my own wanderlust, yet one had so far proven the more dominant, at least when I am not near her. However I do not dwell upon that, muscles in my neck tightening as I draw her just the barest bit closer, unwilling to let her go, yet forcing myself to do so as she pulled away. So long... seasons had passed since last we met, and there was naught to blame but my own restlessness.

Damn myself! 

Thrice-damned be the curse that always sent me wandering and roaming!

"I beg thine's forgiveness, mo chroí, I have no excuse save that of mine own folly." Oh sweet Rei, did she know the siren's hold she had upon me? That if she but asked I would find the strength to never again stray? For her, I would stay still. Had she asked of me to remain in place for eternity, I would let flesh become stone and mineself a statue for eons to come. She reaches for me, and I bow my head as she brushed my bells, the silvery notes ringing merrily in the air, and I smile at her words.

Then my gaze goes to the glass and charms within her hair; I had never asked from whence they came, if they belonged to her alone or had been a boon from another, but just the possibility that one had gifted Rei something when I have done naught but heartache sends such scalding jealousy through me that Elodin flinched. I laughed softly to break my silence, before lowering my head to my hooves. It took but a few moments, but soon the bells had been shaken free, and I took them in my lips before stepping towards her. I brush my cheek to hers before clipping the bells to her mane, nudging them with my muzzle to send them tinkling before I pulled back. "Then hear them forever, and think of me should mine hooves stray." I cannot help the mourning... my words felt too much like a farewell for my liking. I could not deny my nature, could not predict the future, thus I could not predict if I should find my body carrying me away again.

"Rei... mo chroí..." What was I to say? I search her face, trying to read her masked expression, to peer into the depths of her soul and seek the answers I felt I would drown without. Should I present myself a fool now, or should I wait and perhaps never get the chance. 

"Do you remember when I spoke of the trouper and his song to the moon?"


@Rei