( can't find the meme // not accepting ) BRIALA [ @weptpride ] WROTE: ❝I will not leave you.❞
IT WAS HIS FIRST TIME walking the paths. He'd heard the others speak of them. Eavesdropped, really. They'd called him Ears when he ran for the thieves, on account of the way he lurked in the shadows of conversation: always listening yet rarely seen. There were benefits to being small, quick, quiet. Benefits he'd reaped among Briala's people, too. (His people, though he wasn't certain he was ready to accept that.) He'd gathered every word let slip of these doors across an empire like a mouse gathered crumbs. When the chance had come for him to see them himself, he hadn't hesitated.
Those crumbs had given no indication of the feast that awaited. The paths were brighter than the dawn and more vibrant than the meadows. Each step over the stones was lighter than the last. And, those prismatic mists stretching farther than the eye could see — he couldn't keep from straying toward them. Every few steps, he dropped his foot off the path and watch the world blossom. There was no life beyond the stones except what they brought with them. If he left the path behind, would he leave a trail of flowers in his wake? Would he clear away the mist like a summer breeze?
By the time he realized he'd strayed, the path had disappeared and the other rebels along with it. He froze. His eyes darted over the mists while his ears swiveled wildly back and forth, searching for any sign of where to turn. He felt a pull when he concentrated on the path, but ought he follow it? Hadn't he felt a pull out here as well? And, what was pulling him? He'd heard one of the others mention demons. He was no mage—
❝I will not leave you.❞
He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Briala's voice. His ears pressed flat against his skull, and he hissed the way he did when fighting alley cats for scraps. He turned beet red in an instant. Getting lost like a little baby was demeaning enough, but startling like that? Around her? A demon should show up right now and swallow him in one bite.
❝I know where I am.❞ A blatant lie. ❝I was just looking around.❞ Less of a lie.
He breathed in as if to continue speaking but just blew it all back out. He fell in-step beside her instead. Close enough it would look as if they were walking together but with just enough delay he wouldn't need to guess which way she'd turn. Silently, he held onto that tugging toward the path to test whether it matched where she walked, whether it was right.
