Though focused on the deer it didn't pass her by how Rikyn moved away from her. Any other time she wouldn't even have registered it, payed no heed to a simple need for more space when someone unfamiliar suddenly invaded the safety of ones personal bubble. Today though, today her heart was rubbed raw on memories and the passage of time, bruised and weighed down by loneliness she normally carried without effort. He simply stepped away but for all the girl knew he might as well have kicked her in the chest; the feelings were quite similar and left her just as winded and confused. Why did he do that? To let her reach the companion easier?

Unusually considerate, this is Rikyn after all.

Had she come too close, was it something she'd said or was there something wrong with her? Maybe she smelled bad (it had been a long time since the last river, much too long since any rain had fallen to wash away the stains from her pale body) or.. had he noticed the chill that emanated from her skin, and been repulsed by it?

That was it, wasn't it.

Words filled her ears as the man kept prattling on, words that would have been interesting a moment, a breath, a heartbeat ago. Now they filled her ears with pointless noise as she stared fixedly at the Duir without really seeing him, intentions and hopes and desires wilting along with any interest she might have had in this conversation. A dead weight was building in her chest and it was heavy and dark and painful, like un-shed tears and the pressure in the head before a thunderstorm. Cancerous, it numbed her body until she could barely feel the sun beating down upon her and filled her veins with ice - that hateful ice that she loved and detested, soothing and repelling and bringing naught but grief - until she stood there, stiff as a marble statue.  

Then, quite unexpectedly, something touched her nose. It was warm and soft, a bit ticklish. There and gone again, and Erthë blinked, peered through the blizzard in her soul and out into the blazing sunlight, onto the sweet, kind little creature that met her awkward gesture and closed the distance she had begun to fear was unbridgeable. Again he reached out, the tender touch so searing hot against her icy skin that she flinched visibly; without warning, without even quite knowing why the filly felt tears fill her eyes again, too quickly to repress.

Abruptly she pulled away, her movements jerky and unusually clumsy as she stumbled backwards and jerked her head aside, off so that they wouldn't see her blink furiously, struggling and failing to keep those hateful tears under lock and key. This was stupid, so utterly ridiculous that she had no words to accurately describe it. She was appalled at herself, yes that sounded good, and utterly embarrassed - crying out of nowhere, mortally wounded by pebbles and nothings and in front of him of all people - and though she knew it was rude and cowardly and pointless Erthë turned her back on Rikyn.

"I, well.. need to get going. Need to be somewhere, gotta hurry - " she said, croaky and hoarse and much too aware of how utterly bogus that was - not even Rikyn could be fooled by that, not even he would be able to miss the shameful weakness that leaked down her face, drawing frozen rivers down the cheeks. "It was - well... Bye. "

She was about to say nice, but Erthë was not accustomed to lying, nor was her head working fast enough to come up with another option. So she broke off, shrugged after hesitating for a while, then began to hobble off towards the south with the parting word hovering awkwardly in the air behind her. Oh she had to go, had to leave, had to get away from questions and scorn and the laughter she was sure would pierce her back. Not bright and beautiful and startling in its warmth but cold, hard razors to cut flesh from bone and rupture the last vestiges of pride she still possessed.