oekonuâ:Â Â
Konu listened carefully to her description, wondering what he might be gleaning from her words. He wasnât successfully gleaning anything, but he try his best to remember what she said and perhaps figure something out in the future based on what she said. She was, after all, going to be around for an awfully long time, if things went well. As they spoke, he guided her toward the shore, more by his own movements than by touch or words. Eventually, they reached a sort of stone path near the sand, which would be easier to walk on without dirtying her clothes. He didnât know if she cared about that sort of thing; certainly, she was always impeccably well put-together whenever he saw her. But perhaps she was still concerned with impressions.
Catoria. He whispered the name under his breath, hoping to commit it to memory, or at least to be able to pronounce it right. It sounded nice enough, though his first instinct was to ask if the castle was haunted. Cayb holds similarly old placesâforts in the eastern part of the country that predated the Eastern palaceâand there were always rumors of ghosts and the like. The thought made him smile.
Her question, however, squashed that smile slightly. He didnât want her to feel a burden, but he didnât particularly want to lie either. âI grew up east of here.â His words came out slowly, more to buy him time to find the right ones than for her benefit. âItâs farther from the coast; no beaches at all, really.â It was hard to say how she would take the last part, but in the end, the desire for transparency won out. âI chose to meet you here because I thought it might be easier. Itâs not an island butâŚâ Heâd been watching her while they were speaking, trying to pay attention to what she was saying, but now he turned out, toward the waves. âThose are goshawks.â He pointed to one of the birds, not wanting to linger on a topic that made him uncomfortable. The birds were large, loud things soaring over the water. âTheyâre mean and aggressive, and not at all afraid of humans.â
Gysella nodded her head at his simple explanation. It was not a very good answer to her question, and she wondered if it was because sheâd either not asked her question the right way or hadnât properly understood him. There was of course the third option: that he was happier in the place where he grew up, which was not where they were now. To Gysella, who was still very much a foreigner in these lands, the notion of east meant very little to her. She did not know what the land would look like, or what the weather would be like, or if there were changes to the dialect of a language she was still struggling to learn. She knew only what heâd explained: that there were no beaches at all, and apparently very much inland. âStrange,â she replied. âEverywhere has coasts where I come from.â There was no island within the archipelago of her fatherâs kingdom that was large enough to truly be removed from the waters which surrounded the land. The capital city where her father dwelled was situated on one of the regionâs largest islands, and the fine castle she had been born in had views of the ocean most would be envious of. It was hard for Gysella to picture a place totally removed from the scent of saltwater in the air.Â
His subsequent words, though still not perfectly clear to her, added more context. Gysella furrowed her dark brows as she looked at Konu and wondered why he could not be more direct with her. Easier implied to her that it had been done for the purpose of making things straightforward and simple. Did he think it would have been more troublesome to have her meet him in his home? She did not follow his gesture as he pointed out the birds. âWill we go to your home in the east when we are married?â She asked, her tone having been leeched of warmth. âOr will we stay on here?âÂ


















