&. ㅤᴷ ` ᴹㅤㅤ*ㅤ𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙮𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙚ㅤ !

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤturn his heart to stone.          ❝   you cannae think of it like that.     closing your heart is not what gives you the strength to do it.     ❞          he gestures to the body,     blood now seeping from beneath it.     her fresh kill,     now a corpse that cannot be brought back.          ❝   you do it     …     i do it because i care a great deal.     who's to say an enemy you don't fell won't one day harm someone you love ?     leaving one alive means leaving the rest of your people in danger.     it's better this way         to have to kill another than to watch someone you care for killed one day.   ❞

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤthe greymanes themselves give him the resolve.     and zeza now,     too.     AND PERHAPS IT HAD BEEN HER CARE THAT GAVE HER THE STRENGTH TO CUT DOWN THIS ONE.

the sunlight is warm and nice on his skin,     as he assumes it must be for zeza too.     there's no reason to keep her in the house with the body and risk scarring her mind all the more.          ❝     the first can be     …     tough to handle,     when you didn't know you had it in you.     just think :     if you weren't there,     he could have put a sword in my back instead.   ❞

❝   that’s tomorrow’s problem.   ❞          he’s surprised the back of his skull isn’t cracked wide open.     no warmth runs down his shoulders or back,     and no ache runs rings round his head,     which means he must fare fine.     HE CAN STAND WELL ENOUGH AS HE DOES,     and doesn’t sway on his feet.     and she looks like one person,     not two.     he’s fine.     and she’s fine too,     if she can speak.     so be it.     he rolls his shoulder,     wincing as he does.     there will be pain tomorrow,     she’s right.     but he can bear it right now. 

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ❝   time we’re out of here,     ❞          he speaks,     over some unnatural,     guttural sound he hopes isn’t what he thinks it is.     he gestures for her to follow along the length of the wall.          ❝   you’re nae bleeding,     are you ?   ❞

You WILL love this person. It doesn't matter who you loved before; any feelings you had, any promises you made, they will become inconsequential as soon as you lock eyes with the stranger Fate has picked for you.

There's no way to stop it.

There's no way to say "no."

You will meet someone and with a single glance, both of you will become someone new, someone who's now bound to this stranger whether you like it or not, want it or not.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ❝     next time you wannae spar,    i'll have oongka act as your partner.    you'll get a right competition then.   ❞        of all people,    an orc nearly two heads taller than kliff himself would make a better fighter than he.         ❝   then you'll really get a run for your money.    ❞         with a grunt.    the greymane climbs to his feet,    patting his trousers and bunching his cloak like a towel in his fist to shake out the dirt.

ㅤㅤㅤㅤ❝     it was a good spar.    you're good … for your height.   ❞