Welcome to Gaia! ::

Riven drifted quietly through the forest, a small cloud of hyvaren looping in his wake to provide soft light. He looked up every so often through the branches to see the night sky. His Guardian had said that cold weather seemed to sharpen the stars, and it seemed to be true. The cold air also made his breath, when he chose to actually breathe, show up as a mist. This was amusing, indeed.

And it was so quiet. Only the rustle of a few falling leaves, or a sleepy squirrel, or wayward falling acorn. Sosiqui had said that it would probably snow in their area soon, that some places were already enjoying bits of snow here and there. Riven was especially curious about that...

He tilted his head up to the stars again, letting out a long breath and watching the mist curl towards the sky.

Riven suddenly stopped moving as he heard... noise? That didn't sound like a squirrel. What could it be, though? Maybe one of those dratted imps... or maybe nothing...

He slunk towards the other sounds, his own cloak swishing a little as he moved. "Who's there?" he called out, keeping his tone guarded.

Riven's voice turned to a tone of surprise. "Ghlyssa?" He sounded as if he couldn't quite believe it.

Soundlessly, as without legs it's hard to crunch in fallen leaves, he appeared around a tree in front of Ghlyssa, the curious hyvaren following suit. A few of them zipped over to buzz around the plant Fa'e. "It is you! What are you doing out here?"


((Hyvaren are the spirit-firefly things. In case you don't remember. XD))

"In the forest." Riven shrugged, apparently unconcerned. "So late, though? I guess I shouldn't be talking..." He looked at her, with a wry grin. "Um. How are you? Are you... doing okay? With Miss Sundragyn and stuff, and Bronnie? Aren't you- ah, no. That's enough questions at once," he said, looking rather sheepish. He drifted over closer to her, the hyvaren gleefully looping about and changing their orbit to include both of them.

"She should understand. The forest is.... um... ree-fresh-ing.... for you, right?" He stumbled over the harder word, but kept going. "I remember how you'd always talk about the trees..." He put one hand on the bark of a nearby evergreen. "And now they're all changing." He shook his head, but then smiled at her, a little shyly. "And you're staying with Miss Sundragyn, and that's a change too. I think you're in the right time for it. It's balanced. "

"I didn't know what I felt like either, a lot. When I was up in the Spirit Realm. Sometimes I still don't know." He gave her a longer look. "It's hard. Being what we are. Even though we were so different back... before coming here... now we're the same, sort of? I learned so much, but there's so many questions...."

He shook his head. "I'm just talking to myself now. But..."

Ah, forget the dancing around. Time to just spit it out! "Ghlyssa," he said, abruptly. "When I was up there in the Spirit Realm and everything I thought I was was changing, I kept thinking of you... because I wanted... umm..... I wanted you to be the one thing that didn't change, even if everything else in the whole world did." There.

"I don't know," Riven said, helplessly. "That all depends on what you're thinking."

((Riven. Forever the literalist. XD; ))

"Oh." Riven beamed. "In that case, yes. You think right." He ducked his head, shyly. "Um. Why is it so hard to say things you want to say so much?"