With Božena’s reply, the tentative seed of hope within Kune begins to blossom, and his lips curve upwards in a hesitant smile. For several long moments he is frozen, uncertain how to proceed, his cheeks aflame with adrenaline. All his former boldness is gone. Finally he turns sideways, deeper into the thicket, and is aware of how large and bulky his body is, so clumsy and heavy, with naked twigs and branches cracking beneath his huge hooves and clawing at his side.
“Please,” he murmurs with an incline of his head toward the thicket within, indicating Božena should make herself comfortable first. He follows suit, lowering himself to the cold earth as gracefully as he can manage.
When they are both settled, more or less in the same spot they had first met, Kune finds himself reluctant to speak. He is still not completely confident she is not a ghost, a spirit, or a hallucination, but as the reality of his situation sinks in, Kune’s body reacts in a visceral way. He is trembling, tongue-tied, his heart fluttering in his chest. This moment feels significant, ethereal, surreal, ridiculous; he is reminded of the time Běla approached him to say she would not become a Moudrost if he left the Strážce. To think if he had accepted… they could have had a child by now, a child that would be dead along with everyone else, including Běla.
Kune swallows against the lump in his throat, and forces himself to meet Božena’s eyes. “I would like to say… I am sorry for what happened last time,” he says in their mother tongue, “for leaving you so suddenly. You found me in a dark place. I didn’t think you were real. I am… still not sure, in truth.”
A small smile creeps onto his face, but it disappears as quickly as it had come, a ripple of life beneath a still pond. “Božena, I lost my people. I lost them all. I never thought I would see them again. Yet, here you are… and carrying losses of your own.” Kune’s eyes search hers meaningfully. He waits for her to elaborate in her own time, though he will not press her if she is not ready. It is painfully obvious she is as broken as he is, but his curiosity is ultimately unimportant compared to his simple gratitude for her existence. Once he had thought he was the last of his kind; to have that kind of burden lifted is a gift he cannot yet begin to fathom.
8; kladruber; black; 17.2hh
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