Even though he was closer to me than he had been in months, he felt even further away. Seeing him in the flesh made the distance between us more painful. God I'd missed him! My heart beat a tattoo within my chest, as if it intended to burst from my chest to cross the space between us and be one with Haziel's. I lifted a forepaw as if to move closer, but his words stopped me. Placing my paw back in the sand, I averted my gaze, looking to the capybara bone I'd been distracting myself with. Had he only come here to check up on whether I was doing my duty for the pack? Simply fulfilling his duties as Hand to Eden? He knew full well that I took my job seriously, and the task of staying the top hunter in Moladion even more so. No, no...there had to be more to it than that.

I licked my lips as I looked back to him, then said, "Hunting," missing you, "staying busy;" trying not to think about you, "I've been trying to hunt things out of the norm, sea animals that might be useful to the healers." I took a breath, and his scent infiltrated every inch of me. Why was I resisting the urge to go to him, to be close to him in the way we were meant to be? Not for the first time I chided myself, reminding myself that my mother and father had never been close like that. They'd given each other the gift of children, but Malina's heart had belonged to my mum, Rogue. Jealously chipped away at my heart, thinking maybe there was some other female who had been keeping him busy these months. Clenching my jaw I tried to stay focused - he was here now, why didn't I just ask him?

"And you?" My tone was more clipped than I had intended, the hurt at his absence clawing its way to the surface. I tried to recover, "Has Eden been keeping you busy?" Better, but still not great. Damn his stoic handsomeness, leaving me so tongue tied. All I wanted was to ask him where he'd been, if he'd missed me the way I missed him. But the words wouldn't come out right. I was just as guilty of steering clear of him, and yet it felt like I was accusing him of something. Typically I was never afraid to ask for what I wanted, never troubled by going all in in any situation, but this was different. Words only seemed to complicate things more, and I just hoped he understood what I was trying to ask. What I was trying to say.