Making Amends (Red)

"Loch, you didn't hurt me at all!" she suddenly burst out, "I'm the one who ended up hurting you! I always do that!"

Avian took a deep breath trying to regain her composure. She rarely spoke so harshly because it always caused a stir...like the crows for example were all calling out as she talked. As long as she could stay calm, another incident wouldn't happen. She wouldn't want to blind him like those other kids.

"This is why I shouldn't be allowed to have friends," she muttered bitterly, "It always ends up like this,"

Then she sighed, "You didn't hurt me. Sure, you scared me, but I made it out ok..."

All the crows fell silent in her abrupt sadness, watching the exchange between the two.

Avian couldn't help but feel tears prickle at her sky blue eyes. She was such a softie, she'd cry at anything, even so much as a baby pigeon breaking its wing. So the tears spilled down her face, and although she tried to wipe them away, it was obvious they weren't going to stop.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she wept.

Mainly sorry for being such a crybaby. Lochlann just apologized and her only response was sobbing. With no regard to personal boundaries, she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder. She was glad he had gotten on her knees to her level, otherwise she'd be awkwardly crying into her abs. The crows around her had all stopped crowing and were now dropping their heads. Eventually, she came off him, her crying stopped but still subtle sobs making her hiccup.

"I don't know why I did that," she shook her head.

Probably a way to relieve stress. She had been worrying about the creek incident for a long while now, and it had even kept her awake some nights. Now that it was finally being...sort of resolved, she felt so relieved she had starting crying.

"What...what are you anyway?" she asked, "I thought you were a horsey, but...are you a carnivorous horsey?"

That was another thing that had bothered her. She came out fairly quickly to Loch about her powers, even though they were dangerous. Yet he only told her a bit of what his powers were. Since then she felt as though she had to pick friends more carefully, never knowing if they were man-eating beasts as well.

The way he stroked her hair and comforted her reminded her of how her dad would soothe her. Although with her dad, she was used to being close to his face, but not Loch. It just felt a little odd to her to be seeing him up close when he wasn't a horse. When he told her what he was, it felt to her like an Irish word.

"Cabyll-ushtey..." she repeated the word to get used to it, "Water horse..."

Well, she hadn't been completely wrong about him being a horse, she had just missed the part about him being a meat-eating aquatic horse. She felt like she could get used to that, but when he mentioned what a cabyll-ushtey did, she thought twice. Avian was a girl, and her relatives had always described her as cute. So when he mentioned eating cute girls, she flinched back.

"Wait so...did you only hang around me...because..." she let her voice trail off, hoping he would understand the question without her having to fully ask it.

The crows all flinched back with her.

Avian would have started crying, but considering she already had an episode, she choked back her tears. She didn't even care anymore if he didn't know why he talked to her in the first place. He had said he wanted to be with her as he got to know her. However all those times were one-sided. He got to know more about her, but she barely learned anything about him until the attack.

"Thanks...um," she muttered with a blush, "No one has ever wanted to be my friend that badly before,"

She sighed, thinking how it was only natural to worry about hurting him. It was something that had happened before many times.

"Of course I was worried about you," she tried to manage a chuckle, "I've blinded people in the past because I couldn't control my powers. I was worried Kratos...er, the bird, had taken one of your eyes..."

Looking down at her crows, she thought of how in one simple mood change, the could descend upon Lochlann. Really, she thought her powers were much more unpredictable than his.

"Don't say that," she breathed.

Nobody deserved to have their sense of sight stolen from them by somebody else. Now feeling comfortable around him again, she shifted her weight and leaned up against his side. It felt like the old times, back when they could talk without knowing either one was dangerous. He said being blinded wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to him, and Avian was skeptical at that.

When he told her he had been shot, though...nah, she still considered having one's eyes scratched out far worse than being shot in the leg. Then again, she had never had either done to her, so she couldn't exactly be the judge. Still, that would explain why she occasionally saw his one leg go stiff when he walked. The way he casually told her he might try to hurt her again sent a slight chill down her spine.

"I can't promise that either," she mumbled.

But her chill went away when he told her she deserved to have good things happen to her. Nobody but her parents had ever told her something like that! She wanted to say that he was a good thing that happened to her, but she held back. Didn't want to sound too sappy or make him feel conflicted about whether or not he was a good thing.

"Apology accepted," she replied.

Her crows suddenly shuffled around the two, nestling as close to them as they could. They started preening, and Avian recognized it as something they did when they were relaxed. Normally, they'd only do that around her, but it seemed they understood that if their mistress trusted Loch, they could to...for now.