What had her mother told her? There is a magic here, I believe, much more powerful than simple biology. She had said that some seasons ago, when things had been different and yet, despite it all, that had stayed the same. Seasons had passed, chaos had reigned, peace had come and yet, Pandora had been unable to shake him out of her very soul. Like a thorn, he had dug into her and yet, like a seed, he had begun to grow into something far less bothersome. She had to admit that there was good inside of him, perhaps even more good than any other she had met. He had always been honest and kind; he had been strong and yet, he had been vulnreable too. Perhaps it had become the right time to admit that she had only acted on fear since they had met: she had been afraid to grow too close, nothing more than that. When had she been content living beneath the shadow of fear?

And so, her own sudden vulnreability had been a shock to her. He had a way of pulling it out of her no matter how hard she hid it; when he whined for her, she felt an obligation to shift herself so a dark eye peered back at him. It felt wrong to turn away from him anyway, she had fast realized. It was that feeling - that moment - that had made her distinctly aware that she had suddenly gained an understanding of what her mother had said. In a moment, Niviaq and Pan had made all the sense in the world to her; some things didn't always match perfectly but that didn't mean they didn't complement one another. She didn't have to be a mirror and neither did he.

Though she had the urge to simply release the flood gates and speak into the emptiness between them, she held back; she merely watched, her brows furrowed gently as he seemed to squirm suddenly. She had not understood the sudden pang of discomfort, a pain caused by her own words rebounding back to her through the sudden uncertainty in his eyes. It made her suck in her own breath, short and sudden as she crumpled into the warm ground beneath them, seemingly desperate to submit to whatever was about to be said. His words had yet to leave his mouth and yet, her heart pounded. What are your secrets? It made an ear swivel and yet, it sunk back instantly, her eyes wide.

Her heart pounded. She swore she had been able to hear it resonate and echo off of the walls around them; the storm outside had lulled to a ringing in her ears as her eyes bore into his own, on the hunt for some semblence of a lie or misstep. He had meant it though. That much she had been able to quickly discern. "My secret is that I have desired such a closeness too," she had finally been able to utter with a ragged exhale of her breath, though her eyes refused to fall immediately onto the iron of Tithe's own, "and yet the fear that I will fail you lingers like the spring melt." Her lips had become taut now as her eyes searched for his face in the darkness, suddenly intense and alert. "I am afraid that the more I give to you, the less you will want it. That is my secret." She paused then - too afraid to go forward. She wanted to simply say yes and yet, she had to be sure. She had to be sure that she could be something more than just magic beyond the realms of biology.