Meadow

Though her war-smeared face contorted at his approach, she leaned into his heat as if they were old friends, and he lightly slid the tip of his nose only just against the flare of her nostril in affectionate reply as if to reward her familiarity. The affront on her strong, plush face made his mouth quirk gently, but he listened with attentiveness (bordering on intensity) as she spoke, his expression growing more mercurial the longer she did, though he didn’t interrupt.

“What a shame,” he sang softly, and it sounded sincere, “I was quite excited to be known by you. You’re right, I know nothing of your wounds- but I could,” he warned softly, still smiling beneficently. “You, for whom truth sits so heavy in your mouth. It rests on your face, as well, you know. I can see it deepening the hollows of your eyes. If I can trust your honesty, there is no flinching part of you I could not see.” He slid his dark, dark gaze over her again, only a little too conspiratorial to be pitying as he tilted a little closer, his mouth by her cheek, not quite touching as he murmured on. “-But I won’t. Call it the mercy of a lie, if you will.

“Truth is a poor shield, my dear friend-in-the-fog. It is a fine, sharp blade to swing, and it cares nothing for your enemies- and nothing for you. Wield it as you dare, but darling, I ask you to take care how close you hold it to your heart.” He tilted the wet gleaming redness of his head, casting her ice-brittle eyes a final shared look full of things unsaid before he leaned idly back from her space again, bordering on apologetic in the curled shape of his mars-red nape. As if the previous raw declarations had never happened, his lullaby voice hummed sleekly into the introduction she requested with a slow sigh.

“My greatest deed... And greatest regret. Regrets are easy, and I’ve many to choose from. The ‘greatest’-” he chuckled; a low, deep sound that didn’t suit his sweet, crooning voice- “what an interesting choice of phrasing. -But all the same, I suppose it was acceptance. The idea that what I was fed wasn’t poison, even when it... Disagreed with me.” His black stare slid back to her from under bladed red lashes, parsing out a text in a language he didn’t yet know. “I am more careful with what I take with me, now.” He remained silent for a heartbeat too long, watching her, before his dark eyes drifted away again. “-Ohh, as for my greatest deed... If you take leave of my company with a greater shield than the truth alone, I would happily claim that deed.” His black mouth quirked again.

“Knowing that answer, do you still wish to share yours with me?”