Protector of the Wyld.

Yuric crossed his arms over his chest, brows knitting with a hint of doubt. It sounded like a lofty title, and while Haelyn was strong, she didn't seem so powerful that he'd think her some grand protector. A quiet hung in the air between them, and his gaze slowly fell to Lynx at her side, then to the earth at her feet.

Finally, he nodded, more to himself than to her.

"I believe you." He stated plainly, as if she'd given him the option to doubt. Tilting his head to the side, Yuric seemed to toss the revelation about in his head as he spoke, as though that might make any more sense of things.
"The Lynx is your connection, right? Makes sense enough. I might not understand exactly what you're talking about, but..."

He gave a shrug, an unspoken admission that he wasn't keen on trying to pry details from her when she'd made it rather clear his presence was a bother. Why, exactly, she was touting her title now was beyond him, but it would have made things worse to just ignore her entirely.

"I suppose I can relate, in a way. I have a connection too. Not to the Wyld, but it's similar, I think." Yuric squats down in front of the Lynx, leaning forward with a curious glimmer in his eye. "Does it talk to you?"

@Haelyn
 
"Yes."

And yet, Haelyn still frowned. He was too comfortable with this, too accepting and understanding. Was it his fault for being cordial despite her thorny exterior?

"He talks... but I hear the Wyld as it is. I can hear the leaves gossip whenever a breeze ruffles them. I can hear the bird calls of home and the bird songs of nectar feasts. The babbling brook has much to tell, as if it spoke in prophecies yet to happen." Speaking of the Wyld, of what she can listen to, always made her more at ease. It had been Syr Josai's encouragements that made Haelyn drop her anger and frustrations and to listen to the earth.

She stared at him, her gaze steely but not at all hostile as she had been before.

"The lynx is my guidance. He will show me how to become stronger and listen deeper."
 
It was strange… the way Haelyn spoke now, so poetically, so vividly, about her bond with the Wyld, whatever that meant. When she talked like that, she wasn’t so bad. Beneath that hardened temperament, Yuric suspected she wasn’t all that different from him.

“I probably wouldn’t share that thought with her.”

Vale managed to swallow the smirk threatening his face. No, Lilly was probably right about that. He’d made some progress with Haelyn at last, no sense in pissing her off now.

Instead, he turned his head toward the tiny blue wisp hovering near his shoulder. With a flash of sapphire light in his eyes, the small ghost shimmered into visibility for Haelyn to see.

“This is Lilly,” he said. “You could say she’s… my guidance.”

Caught off guard by her sudden visibility, Lilly blinked and floated down to perch neatly on Yuric’s shoulder. She gave a shy little wave toward Haelyn and the lynx beside her.

“Where your connection lies with the wild, mine’s with the spirit world. It’s… it’s like…”

Yuric’s brow furrowed as he searched for the right words, something poetic enough to match Haelyn’s phrasing. He didn’t find them. Lilly, of course, couldn’t resist. She leaned her elbow against the crown of his head, her grin turning wicked.

“He sees dead people.”

@Haelyn
 
She could sense the humour the lynx felt hearing that truth be told. The way Yuric himself hesitated to find a more delicate way to describe it, only for that small, luminous thing speak for him.

Haelyn's stiffening and hard stare were not due to the sudden appearance of Yuric's companion. It was the notion of death itself. Death that had always towered over her where ever she went, a presence waiting it's turn to be acknowledged, but Haelyn was far too stubborn to come to terms with it.

The lynx stretched forwards, all feline and patient, and moved to wrap around her legs once. The trail of his short tail was felt, and she knew it was a comforting gesture. Some words did not need to be said.

"Can you... elaborate on that?" She cleared her throat, working slowly to undo the stillness in her limbs. Can he see the dead ones that left her behind? It was unfair of her to think like that, but Haelyn didn't know what to do with her grief. She had been so young... had been forgotten about and left to look after herself.
 
Could he elabortate? Yuric shifted his weight uncomfortably, his tongue hiding in his cheek as he averted his gaze.

Nobody had ever really asked him to before. The few people he did share that tidbit about himself with tended to make themselves scarce not long after, and Yuric guessed he couldn't rightly blame them. Death was an inevitability, but one that few enjoyed acknowledging.

Haelyn could already barely stand him, though, so there couldn't be too much harm in it.

"So... there's our world, the world of the living, right? Then there's the spirit world, where our spirits linger after we die. Think of it like... a mirror of our world.

Lilly let out a chirpy little snicker, standing up and floating off his shoulder to spin lazily around the boy as she interjected, "Yuu can interact with the realm of the dead. That's why he --and you-- can see and talk to me. His presence kind of... thins the curtain between the worlds a little bit."

Vale nods, although he wishes she could have thought up some way to avoid making him sound like a walking horror, not that Haelyn didn't already consider him that.

"And I guess I figured it might be better served with the Knights than with my Mother."

@Haelyn
 
Again, she felt stumped on what else to say. She was a well read student of academia, a squire that does not give up easily, and a young woman that was learning how to not become frustrated with those that tried to be kind around her. Haelyn had missed out on a lot of social cues by hiding herself away to make friends. How did someone capable know how to continue this conversation?

In her eyes, they both revealed things to one another. What more was there to do?

"Alright... so you... talk to the dead... do you do that a lot?" She was wincing before she had spoken the words, as if it were a true pain to make small talk in this moment. Vale had to pity her some, for Haelyn was trying to contribute to a conversation.
 
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