though she had not intended to cause it, she sees his face drift away when she speaks of loving him… he had misunderstood… Božena watches in slow motion as his shell begins to close, a light starts to leave his eyes and the black mare feels her body stiffen, afraid.

what she had really wanted him to gain from her admission was that she had loved him, despite his being unable to love her in the way she had desired then… and she had pushed him away wrongly. she had been trying to say that even then, he had been enough for her. that at least as a Strážce, as a friend to her, was better than nothing at all. she loved him enough for that but she hadn’t realized it soon enough.

Božena’s dark eyes widen subtly, alarmed, when she sees him start to slip and she reaches out without a thought to ease the space between them once again, to pull him back, if she could. the curved face reaches, placing her velvet black lips to his cheek, and a soft ”no” leaves her lips breathlessly, pushing her own heart closer still to his on the ledge. kune had not shut himself out entirely; his eyes search hers and she desperately hopes she hadn’t snuffed out the flicker of the new man she had seen before her.

Božena is careful as she listens, her sides still as marble, forgetting to breathe but finally she utters when he is finished. ”no… not just the past. now, tomorrow. forever Kunžak.” the words tumble out truthfully.

they had both been wounded by fate before, so deeply, that it seemed as impossible now as when they had first met. that they had met at all still felt like as if a great miracle had occurred, once in a lifetime. but here they were, silhouetted by the waning of a plain autumn day and the shadow of a great mountain, together again. was it the honor in them both that had them denying the goodness the world kept trying to hand to them? the humility? well the great mare was beneath it now... she would take what destiny had given because it had also taken much.

her velvet black hide shivers, scalding hot and chilled all at once and there is none of the veiled uncertainty of earlier when she speaks again. her eyes are warm, burning even, when they find his again but she moves closer anyway, her voice near to breaking as she whispers into his ear. ”always, milovaný…. always.” a tear breaks, finally, and rolls hotly down her cheek at the confession.