#shunye

At the periphery of her vision, she observes a somewhat bashful bowing of his head.

“...There are many places that I believe we are bound for, should he not grow weary of accompanying an aged gentleman across the star.”

Fixing him with a stern gaze, she drawls, “For you are so very old and ancient and decrepit. You still look younger than me.”

“Hmm. You may have to carry me back to the apothecary.”

“We could do that just to see the look on his face.”

For just a moment, there is a glimmer of bright amusement in Shunye’s gaze that suggests that he is seriously considering the idea, further encouraged by the absence of an outright rejection in his musing, “...I would still like to find a stone suitable to be set as a token before we embark on our first journey together. There is... the possibility that... travel will change us, after all.”

That, despite his present faith in his new relationship, there is the chance that one or both of them could choose not to return as a pair. Or as more than a pair, should they fall into a relationship such as hers, as he has indicated as a possible future, should Uvlo likewise wish to begin a family with another that they grow to care for.

Putting down her drink, she reaches beneath the table to go rummaging in the satchel at her feet, drawing free a small parcel no bigger than her palm, wrapped in soft hide.

“I... didn’t want to give you this before we went shopping, in-case you found something you would like better, or felt... obligated... but I intended it for you, in any eventuality.”

The parcel, she sets gently upon the table before giving it a gentle nudge in his direction.

As he picks it up and pulls free the loop of ribbon keeping it closed, she does her best not to watch too intently as a gemstone in verdant greens with hints of sunshine-hued sparkle tumbles into his hand.

“It isn’t... of this star,” she says quietly, fingers knotting together in her lap. “And it might be the only piece that has made it back here, so far. I asked some friends to polish it up after we uncovered a vein of it, and I... Well, I knew you were looking for—“

“It’s perfect.”

Does he realise how he cradles the tiny stone? What he betrays of his heart in that instant of tender focus and quiet joy?

She lets her silence and her small smile speak for themselves, until she feels the need to add, “Just don’t ask me to set it. I’m still in the ‘blowing things up’ stage of the learning process.”

He must see how her hands are still tangled together, for he does not reach for one of them, but leaves his seat to round the table and bend to embrace her, the gem clasped securely in one palm.

It strikes her once again that she does not flinch; that she feels no impulse to retreat. That the heart she has such trouble with yet managed to look upon him and accept him with a near-frightening immediacy.

“Thank you,” Shunye murmurs, soft and earnest.

She lifts her arms around him and holds on, tucking a smile into the crook of his neck.

“You’re welcome.”