( I have you, he does not say, because ghost fingers should not noose a throat, unless they've the intent to break it. The woman knows herself, her circumstances — that she and Lan Wangji both rim the coastal teeth like jewels on a glittered crown, that a whispered breeze could seduce them knelt, or bowing down. That they have controlled no part of their journey to Ellethia, and can only hope to survive the whole.
Beneath the red veil of his helmet, Lan Wangji's mouth twitches with sour notes of sympathy. Grass blades tickle and ache the back of his calves through their shrouding, until he must shift in place or move himself, move them both. He kneels, absently, to fling out his hands and pat down the offensive greenery, until he stills — all at once, hairs on his nape raised electric, fingers trailing back, catching a trace. Warmth beckons him, the creeping, round sound of a body huddling close.
He does not entrap the bony, swarthy rabbit, all wet nose and taut skins, so much as he gently nudges it forward, a friend at the woman's feet. Behold. )
Your first predator has arrived. ( But he raises a hand to stay the inevitable recourse. ) Do not harm it.
( He has seen the mercies that men crossing woodlands reserve for the quiet, fragile, trembled creatures of the field. Each rabbit, each deer, each pheasant becomes game, and Wangji has tired of empty bloodshed. )
no subject
Beneath the red veil of his helmet, Lan Wangji's mouth twitches with sour notes of sympathy. Grass blades tickle and ache the back of his calves through their shrouding, until he must shift in place or move himself, move them both. He kneels, absently, to fling out his hands and pat down the offensive greenery, until he stills — all at once, hairs on his nape raised electric, fingers trailing back, catching a trace. Warmth beckons him, the creeping, round sound of a body huddling close.
He does not entrap the bony, swarthy rabbit, all wet nose and taut skins, so much as he gently nudges it forward, a friend at the woman's feet. Behold. )
Your first predator has arrived. ( But he raises a hand to stay the inevitable recourse. ) Do not harm it.
( He has seen the mercies that men crossing woodlands reserve for the quiet, fragile, trembled creatures of the field. Each rabbit, each deer, each pheasant becomes game, and Wangji has tired of empty bloodshed. )