Evening came quieter than the day deserved.
Faelyn was sitting outside watching the fires burn low when Roshan appeared and sat down beside her.
They didn't say anything for a while.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
"Honestly? I've been worse and I've been better and today managed to be both at the same time, which is a new achievement even for me."
"The announcement."
"I had a plan," she said. "Wait until the waterfall was done. Get the merger actually moving. Have something solid to stand on when I told five thousand people I was carrying three cubs from both their chiefs." She looked at the fire. "I didn't get any of that. And it still turned out fine. Which is genuinely annoying because now I can't even be properly upset about the timing."
Roshan was quiet for a moment. "I kept hesitating. Not for the tribes. For you. I wanted you to have time to choose when." He paused. "I didn't think about the fact that waiting was taking the choice away too."
Faelyn looked at him.
