running through my mind
05-22-2020, 04:17 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-22-2020, 05:48 AM by Malalia.)
The Armada student released a deep sigh as she transitioned from the frigid air into the startlingly warm waters of the hot spring. Her head and chest bobbed above the surface, hindpaws scraping against the bottom of the pool. The she-wolf had found the second-highest tier of pools, gratefully tucked away behind a semi-circle of tall ferns and underbrush, into the back of which she tucked a spare pelt to dry on later, and her silver bracelet.
She didn’t necessarily love to get her fur sodden like this, but the warmth that hugged her was more than worth it. Since the turn of the season, she’d been feeling strangely restless. Before, some part of her had pushed her to work, work, work, and in doing so put her troubles aside. But these days they merely wailed for attention, growing louder in her mind even as she trained or went on patrol.
So she’d left. Taken a small hiatus from her duties, though Mal tried her best not to venture too far. She was itching to just… explore. With no bounds. See what she could find out there in the world. Maybe I’ll run into Cairo again… Even the hot springs couldn’t mask the heat that began to bloom across her face, then. And Mal was unashamed. Why shouldn’t she like spending time with her new friend? The man was kind and cheerful, perceptive and unpredictable. It warmed her heart to be around the smiling Valhallan, and she found herself wishing for his presence more often than not.
…Then again, she sometimes wished to be entirely alone. Malalia sunk a little deeper into the water, ears planing back. He wasn’t the only apparent cause for her restlessness. In fact, some of the things he’d said — along with Mort, and Sirius — still bugged at her.
In that moment, she wished she could forget it all. The coup, the loss of her mother and siblings. The mystery that surrounded Pia’s fate, and still yet, the unvoiced fear that the worst had happened to her aunt. She sighed, closing her eyes against the rising steam, and wished it were that simple.