[As they swoop lower, Liem reins in his anxieties to take the hands from Quetz’s waist, clinging to the flying lizard’s neck with his legs as he takes the crossbow from beneath his cloak. He doesn’t load it yet; this isn’t just a fighting mission, but an information-gathering one. He wants to see these shadows for himself, and doesn’t attack right out of the gate.
But his fingers tighten on the weapon’s grip when the shadows resolve into the shape of a teenage woman, dark of hair, with a single ice-blue eye peeking from the socket not covered by a leather patch. Her bright smile reflects the moon’s glow as she calls out.
“Liem! Where have you been?”
The resemblance is uncanny enough that, even knowing it to be false, Liem’s mind goes blank for a moment with the strength of his homesick longing.]
no subject
But his fingers tighten on the weapon’s grip when the shadows resolve into the shape of a teenage woman, dark of hair, with a single ice-blue eye peeking from the socket not covered by a leather patch. Her bright smile reflects the moon’s glow as she calls out.
“Liem! Where have you been?”
The resemblance is uncanny enough that, even knowing it to be false, Liem’s mind goes blank for a moment with the strength of his homesick longing.]