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Sean Challenge ; Homecoming

"Any word on Alanna's homecoming?" Thayet asks as she pulls a woolen blanket tighter around her shoulders. The air at the swoop is biting, and it's hard to imagine that Alanna is living with heat, that where Thayet sees gray skies and churning water, the Lioness is looking at golden suns and stretching sands.

"It's almost midwinter, and I've heard nothing." George sits down heavily on the stone bench next to her, body instinctively pressing against hers for warmth.

His hazel eyes look haunted as he stares out at the sea, and Thayet can see exhaustion tugging at his features, tired lines around his down turned mouth. This is what not knowing is doing to him; what Alanna is doing to him.

Freeing her arm from the confines of the blanket, she reaches up to brush the damp, dusting of snow off of George's hair. Her fingers linger near his cheek, and she pauses when he turns, his face mere inches from hers. All she wants to do is make his sadness go away, banish his uncertainty. Her lips graze the corner of his mouth, no more weight on his skin than the flakes that continue to fall.

"Visit Alanna in the desert," she tells him with the kindness of a friend. "Coax her back home. I'm sure that you can."

She immediately hates herself for suggesting it, but loves him too much to care.

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A/N: Thayet is visiting George at Pirate's Swoop, before he goes to visit Alanna in the desert. For clarification.