Star Camp, Moon Camp, Sun Camp. Like the night that breaks into the day, the Travelers were starting a new chapter, although Eina knew she wouldn't be a part of it for some time, perhaps never again. Perhaps it was like everything else; she passed, changed some destinies and left without looking back.
She sighed loudly, for the vast desert and all the rocks to hear. A small lizard was even spooked by this outburst and ran away. She heard a quiet laugh behind her and turned to find Grim sitting on the small ladder of the caravan under the palm tree. He was smiling.
Eina huffed, "What are you looking at?"
"The Dove, getting restless," It was almost a joke, but it lacked the edge in the voice that would brand it as such. Eina closed the distance between them in 5 long steps and stood casting her own shadow over him.
"You'll go soon," he mused.
She nodded, not really knowing what else to say. What could she say? Two days had passed since Argine had been dethroned and not once had they been together where they didn't know that. He motioned at her to settle beside him and she climbed up the small ladder to sit above him, letting him rest his head on a knee.
"On she goes, to bigger, more dangerous enemies..."
"Grim..."
"Truth is truth, dove. It was nice of you to stop around here for a while. You know you have us, the Travelers, we're your family wherever you go, and me..."
"I know, shadow."
He was silent for a long moment, perhaps pondering if it was worth it to say more, or if that would only cause them heartache. Then, finally, taking a deep breath, he whispered, "So let me accompany you to Rathir, at least. I will have to go to Moon Camp to settle things with the King and the Queen of Cups, anyway."
"Very well," she said, standing up and opening the tiny door into the wagon. She offered him a hand, inviting him in, "we leave at dawn."
Long shadows spread across Sun camp, and the palm tree's thick foliage guarded Grim Completely from the setting Sun.
He stepped our of the shade to take her hand gently and walk inside with her, "Let's put our time to good use then."
...
On the way up north she told him everything; her awakening, Fomorous Hughes, the Tuatha, Agarth, the Court of Summer, Alyn Shir and their current mission. Grim listened in his silence and nodded now and again.
Looking out to the low cliffs of the Tywili coast, feeling as overwhelmed by her feelings as she'd felt back in the day out of the Blackened hall, Eina admitted how little she knew about her past and how much that frightened her.
He had looked at her, his expression inscrutable, he went to say something and a seagull screeched in the distance, silencing him. That made him laugh a little, smiled warm and open. Grim pulled her towards him into a gentle hug.
"I have nothing to say that you don't know already, dove."
She stayed silent, unable to find the right words for what she felt.
"Knowing you, now, in this life, has been really something."
"Likewise, old raven."
"Ha!" He let her go, but kept an arm around her waist still. With the other hand, he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "I..."
"I'll try not to die, it'd be greedy, huh?"
"It would," he took her hand and kissed it, "Shadows keep you, my dove."