Knowing she wasn’t going to change his mind, Ez nodded solemnly and leaned her head against him. It didn’t seem anyone was going to get much sleep that night, as she doubted she’d want to leave him alone once his shift came up. Humming softly, she reached out and took his hand in hers, wrapping her fingers gently around it, a soft smile coming to her lips.
“When I was a little girl, my father used to take me out to the courtyard in Endver on clear nights. We’d lay on our backs and he’d point to the moon, saying it was made of the tastiest of cheeses. He said there was an old man that lived there...a guardian...who stood over that cheese day and night. ‘One day...’ he’d tell me, ‘...we’ll fly out to that big block of cheddar and steal some to stock our cupboards.’ We’d giggle afterwards and try to come up with ways to build a flying machine.” Sighing, she looked up at him. “I miss that innocence...and the conviction that went along with it...believing in something so strongly that anything seemed possible." Giving his hand a gentle squeeze, she huffed out a laugh. "You still have that Jackal. That belief burns in you.”
Rolling her hand in his and interlacing their fingers, she sighed again, the melancholy of the day settling back into her mood. “I’m willing to keep looking for the Lost Mountain. We’ve come too far to turn back anyhow. ...and I can’t tell you how sorry I am that you lost Vash today, Jack, but the hard truth is, his passing was most likely more humane than Clove’s will be. This road we are on, it’s not made to be traveled, and we’ll be lucky to survive it ourselves. At some point, I might ask you to put my mount down too. I won’t see him suffer.” Pressing herself tighter to him, her tears started to fall, the moisture collecting onto his shirt as she cried silently.
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