[center][img]https://i.ibb.co/0CZnHYX/Orion-removebg-preview.webp[/img][/center][sub]Interactions/Mentions:[@The Muse] Kira, [@PrinceAlexus] Sya [/sub][hr]
[indent][color=#ffffff]Orion listened in silence, absorbing Sya’s words with the same respect she’d shown him. Her story, layered with loss and resilience, wove a path that brought him closer to understanding the woman beside him. He hadn’t known the depth of her past—the noble roots in a land lost to the blight, the hard-won survival she’d fought for, and the subtle note of gratitude that crept into her voice when she spoke of the prince’s acceptance. There was a kinship in her journey that resonated with him, a shared history of isolation, survival, and finding a place in a world that seemed to offer little warmth to people like them.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]As she described Thornsrock and the life she’d left behind, Orion noted the distant look in her blue eye, as if she were watching the ashes of her former home rise in the steam of the springs. He could almost see it as she spoke—the castle perched high upon a rocky cliff, her father’s forge alive with sparks, a younger Sya managing the accounts beside the fire. When she mentioned the stable boy, her voice softened with a touch of playful nostalgia, the smallest glimpse of the life she might have led before the blight. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]Her memories, however distant, seemed to stir something within her, something almost like warmth.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Her remark about the stable boy, punctuated by a mischievous grin at Kira, gave him a glimpse of the woman she might have been before the blight—a woman who could laugh and tease easily, who hadn’t yet been weighed down by the burden of survival. Even now, with her tail flicking lazily out of the water in a rare display of ease, Sya seemed to allow herself a sliver of freedom from her past. Her openness was unexpected, and he sensed it took courage to share these pieces of herself, fragments of a life she could never return to.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]When she thanked them, her voice laced with genuine gratitude, Orion’s expression softened. He understood what it meant to feel like a monster in the eyes of others, to struggle against perceptions that saw only the blight-born and not the person beneath.  [/color][color=#0054a6]“You’re no monster, Sya,” [/color][color=#ffffff]he replied. [/color][color=#0054a6]“You’ve built a life here—an inn that welcomes others, a place where people find comfort. That alone speaks to your strength.” [/color]

[color=#ffffff]Then there was Kira, who had sidestepped his question with practiced ease, skillfully deflecting the conversation away from herself while keeping them all engaged. It was a familiar tactic—one he had used himself countless times, back when revealing too much could be dangerous, when sharing anything was a risk he couldn’t afford to take. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]But he had to admit: she was good at it, her defences smooth and polished, almost second nature by comparison. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]He understood that instinct to deflect, the subtle closing off that kept old wounds hidden. There were parts of him he didn’t wish to share either—especially his past, bound as it was to a family he’d once held close, now distanced by the blight. Despite everything, the memory of his wife and son remained a wound he kept locked away, an ache that hadn’t dulled but that he refused to expose, even here. [/color]
[color=#ffffff]Some scars, he knew, were best left hidden. [/color]

[color=#ffffff]Instead, he allowed the faintest smirk to break through, a subtle expression that was gone almost as soon as it appeared.[/color][color=#0054a6] “A stable boy?” [/color][color=#ffffff]he echoed, catching her teasing tone and meeting it with his own dry amusement.[/color][color=#0054a6] “Hardly my type.” [/color][color=#ffffff]His voice held a hint of challenge, a light riposte that matched her earlier innuendo. [/color]

[color=#0054a6]“Though…. perhaps I’ll leave that to you. Unless of course…that’s not your type either.” [/color][/indent]