>>42752732

>Her movements carried a quiet gravity, like a tide pulling in.
> Anon’s breath caught. The Hut felt smaller now, the air thicker, as though the forest itself had drawn closer to listen.
>She stepped toward him, and each hoof-fall seemed to echo longer than it should.
>The faint scent of sandalwood and lavender from her mane reached him first, stirring something confusing in his chest.
>When she stopped in front of him, there was only a hand’s breadth between them.

“Anon,”
> She said softly,
“You see much, but understand little.”
>Her voice wasn’t teasing this time but warm, threaded with something that made his feathers twitch.
>He tried to meet her gaze, but her eyes held him fast, bright and searching.
>He swallowed.
“Was that... an insult?”
>Her head tilted, the corners of her mouth lifting ever so slightly.

“A truth,”
>She murmured.
>Then, after a breath that seemed to stretch forever:
“And a mercy.”
>The words lingered, hanging between them like a delicate thread. He meant to reply, but the thought dissolved somewhere between her breath and his own.
>He became aware of everything all at once: the pulse in his throat, the warmth of the fire behind him, the faint sound of her breathing.
>Her eyes flicked just once to his mouth.

>That was all the warning he got.