Not On The Surface

She kept moving, now with Balthier at her side, though slightly slower and not as determinedly as before. She imagined he'd probably want to talk or something as they went and if that was the case she'd need to cool off a bit so she wouldn't be struggling to speak so much. Luckily for at least a little bit he was pretty quiet and it gave her a chance to catch her breath. She kept her gaze on the path ahead of her so she didn't notice how he had to close his eyes for a moment to calm himself as they walked. She really had no idea what to expect when it came to being in heat before it happened since their mother hadn't been around to tell her. She knew it was a thing that happened to females around their birthdays and that was the time that females could get pregnant, but that was about where her knowledge ended. She had been completely unprepared for how it was going to make her feel, for what it was going to make her want, and how it was going to make Balthier react to her.

Her mismatched ears perked a bit when he spoke and she brought her sapphire gaze up to his when he asked her about pushing herself too hard. "No, I'm okay," she insisted, giving him a reassuring smile. Yes, she was pushing herself harder than she had before and yes, that was tiring, but she was starting to learn that she needed that. She wasn't going to make or see any progress if she didn't really try. She was conflicted about the whole thing usually since she didn't necessarily need to get better with Balthier to take care of her and the pack to fall back on, but she wanted it and that was a new development for her. "It's just some runs around the island, nothing all that strenuous," she promised, trying to alleviate some of his worries.

"Azzurra & Balthier"