[2] WEEPING MONK║you're not what I was looking for

51| Burn A While - 𝐈𝐈

‼️MATURE CONTENT WARNING‼️

[CW// Sexual content/smut. Infrequent strong language.]

Ari searches for some clarity, and receives more than what she bargained for.

She played with the earth like it were her toy - making shapes from lines of gold which bent and danced. Her voice hummed quietly a lullaby which her mother had once sung. The words were a forgotten memory but the melody was still in her mind. It was slow, and gentle. Fitting for such a late evening as this.

The distant horse which was steadily approaching her did not even make her blink. She didn't need to reach for her sword or dagger laying sheathed in front of the fire, her fingers still touching the earth to know who was near.

"I knew you would come," Ari said with a passing smile, loud enough for her lover to hear. "I could feel you from half a league away."

The fact was a little odd but it was no weirder than him following her scent, so Lancelot let it go. He jumped down from his horse and secured his reins to the tree where Dusty was also tied, then made his way towards this edge of land where she was. It reminded him of the outcrop - a drop beneath them perhaps fifteen feet tall to the rolling, empty land below. They were far from the boundary of their forest, and Lancelot didn't truly know where he was after riding for hours. There were no villages or markings - just shallow rolling hills with the forest behind them, another ahead deeply into the distance.

He came to her side, gently asking, "What are you doing out here?"

It was just before sunset and Lancelot didn't want her riding off on her own in the dark. He knows full well that she can take care of herself and he would never suggest that she couldn't, but it wouldn't stop him from worrying about her.

Ari exhaled heavily where she sat, legs crossed and her cloak beneath her keeping them dry. "I just needed space from..." What was she supposed to tell him? Life? Her hand wafted in the air as a vague answer. "All of this."

Despondency, he was seeing it more and more within her these days. Lancelot came even closer and sat down beside her like they used to when they were travelling. The fire that she had made was warm but still fairly small - perhaps not long built. And they were not sitting too close. He pulled his hood down and set it back on his shoulders and felt her eyes on him.