Eltrys waits patiently as she walks around him, trying to ignore or pretending he cannot feel every time the whisper of her fur brushes against his as she tests his handiwork, a crimson glow blossoming under his own fur.
Her smile is always contagious for him, he can never help the up curl of his dark lips in response to hers. Did she linger her touch just so? No, he must be imagining it. She returns before him and he could not miss the way her sunlight leaf eyes betray her! No, no, it is him projecting his buried hopes. He was not meant to hold such hopes as her attention.
She clears her throat and proclaims his armor worthy! His dark tail sways comfortably, he is glad she likes it!
His breath slows and the weight in his chest sinks heavily as her smile fades and she relents her hope never to need his armor in the first place. The quiet moment stretches between them, her avoiding his gaze, him trying to catch it.
Before she turned back to him he pulled his helm off and laid it aside, shrugging his vest off as well as sat up as she turned to him and relayed her wish. Her eyes doleful, full of fear and sorrow. He had to hold himself back from pressing his cheek into hers and instead sat on his hinds above her. How small and vulnerable she looked. A leader, young, and feeling forsaken. How he wished to carry the burdens she did.
"I understand." He said with a sympathetic rumble in his chest. He laid down again but next to her.
"You haven't had it easy." He recalled the grave she dug next to her father, where he sat and kept her company while she worked. When their conversation was done he would leave her a fresh meal every day she worked on that grave.
"I've heard quite a bit of your mother's story. Between her past, your father, the raids, the chickens, your nephew then Gilgamesh calling... You had a lot happen and land on your shoulders all at once." Then the Cinder Lord denied them full assistance... Though Eltrys agreed with him when his head had cleared. It made sense for the Hallows to refrain from getting involved. Eltrys would have made the same call if he had been in Artorias's place.
Despite his enrapturing upon her entrance, he had seen her disheveled appearance and the way her brilliant eyes had sunk with worry and pain. He had chosen to look beyond them. He looked again and saw each feature, for such a little woman it wouldn't take much for her to become gaunt.
If he could just cradle her head and smooth the ruffle behind that one ear...
"It is a wonder you are still standing Haydee." He remarked gently. Carefully folding one large paw under his arm, keeping his paw to himself. He was near enough though, like he was on that day when they ran to the Hallows, to be a physical support if she chose.
Knight
Professor
