flowers where your face should be

Theory rolled her shoulders into Thalia's familiar warmth once the smaller woman sank down beside her. This was perfect. She couldn't imagine anything better than this - the pair of them staring out over the windswept bay. "Do you miss home?" she asked. It was a loaded question. But everything between them was loaded. Their relationship was predicated on walking a razor-fine line. In this case, though, she simply asked because she was curious. "Or, do you miss Auster? I guess I wonder if it's the place or the wolves that make it home. I think I'd be fine just about anywhere - I love this bay, after all. I loved the islands. But it was Poem and Rhyme and Shaye... it was everyone else that made it home." She closed her eyes tightly and turned to lay her chin on Thalia's paws. "You make this home." Perhaps after this she could visit Aerie, but her situation was different. There was no way she could get away for any length of time. Nothing meaningful, anyway. But she would like to get to know her family better. After seeing Poem's little ones, family felt more important than ever. Religion and blood bound Thalia's family tightly together. What did that bond look like? Was it different than what she knew? Closer, somehow? "But this endless winter," she paused and blew out a long, hot breath that misted and floated up into Thalia's face, "is insufferable."