With the fresh water lapping at her wounds in a far more gentle manner than the cold, saltwater of the ocean did, Mariael felt herself capable of relaxing. The moment was needed, particularly after the events which had led her here, and she settled into her bones while twitching her ears and listening to Aillil with far more respect than she’d ever given him before. A smile twitched over her mouth as he mentioned her father’s protectiveness, but a soft twinge of guilt curled tight in her chest and made it slowly fall. She’d been so cruel to her father in the year they’d been gone; how had Mariael forgotten how passionately enraged he’d been the day he’d learned someone had tried to take her mother from the Bay? They’d been so close once and now, more than ever, did Mariael feel their gaping distance, a wound which she had inflicted upon them and Nephilim had quietly endured.
Ailill shifting closer as he spoke drew her attention away from her private guilt and back to the conversation at hand. Looking at him with his golden and white skin, his eyes feverishly bright as he appeared charged with the idea of weaving intriguing tales to tantalize any young lady’s imagination, Mariael couldn’t help but think how Maziel would enjoy his company. Her sister had always been the sort to buy so quickly onto the dreams of stars and to walk with her head in the clouds; Mariael imagined Maziel would have been charmed within one meeting with Aillil.
Yet it was she who stood here and not Maziel, and it was Mariael who was finding him more amusing than irritating (clearly her dislike of him had merely been fueled by personal bias). The Tinuvel queen looked around them as Aillil spoke to having been born here and thought of her father, who had once told her how he’d been left here at a young age. Just like Aillil, Nephilim had picked up from Crossing and made a name for himself somewhere; he’d made a home for himself. Mariael could respect such a thing.
Her ears twitched at his lingering question and she found herself smiling as she turned away to shift in the water, gingerly applying weight to her sore limb to test the muscle and then back again to allow it more rest. The water lapped at her creamy white sides as she did so. The movement had bought her a small breath of time to find her words, her demeanor gentler than it had been fierce moments before. Beneath Mariael was still a girl and from time to time the right situations could remind anyone of it.
“I would like that.” She said, surprising even herself as her blue eyes moved almost shyly to him. “You’re welcome in the Bay, Aillil, any time you might like to visit.” Mariael paused, watching him quietly for a moment before she said, “And I may have to come see what’s so special about your home to make you love it as fiercely as I love mine.”
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