The Cross of Changes [Larae/Mace]

for what it's worth, I always aim to please
but I nearly died

What an idiot he'd been. He'd spent all that time preparing his siblings for the worst, and what had he done for himself? Nothing. Just worry about their well being. Maybe he'd limited his world too much, seen only what he wanted to, and as a herder, that was dangerous. He had to be able to see the bigger picture, to watch the falcon while a wolf stalked the calves. So stupid, so stupid. And the absolutely worst of it had been him, in the moment, making a scene. Cygnus had chastised him mightily for it, but even now, Mace could not think of how he might have reacted better.

But he could have reacted so much worse.

After demanding her name, Mace had fought his way out of the crowd, brushed past those he knew, and found himself finally in the sunshine, quaking with rage. What was some dumb slip of paper compared to his fights, his prod, his whip? How could it take someone he knew away to be slaughtered? Mace stood in the glaring sunlight and shook with everything he couldn't say. He was still trembling when Cygnus found him, and guided him to the Mayor's house where Larae would make her goodbyes.

He had expected to wait. To have some time to sort everything out while her family said goodbye, likely while weeping. But no, he was ushered into the room right away. He guessed it was some sort of library. Books, that's what those were. He blinked at them, then at the floor. He couldn't see her, couldn't look at her. She was already a ghost.

"I, uh, came to say..." Not goodbye. How would that help her? Because he realized now that he better say the right thing, if he ever wanted to see her again. But words, they were ever the enemy. "Aim good, keep those knives sharp." Well, it wasn't exactly brilliant, but it seemed like sound advice to him.

for what it's worth, I always aim to please
but I nearly died

Had he expected himself to wind up here, in the Justice Building, saying goodbye to a girl - a thief - he hardly knew? No. So it didn't surprise him at all that she didn't hadn't anticipated it either. In fact, that would have been weird. For the first time, they were on even footing. It seemed balanced, seemed fair, that they would part this way. Maybe not as friends, but as equals.

She undid that, though, with the tears. He had plenty of sisters, and some brothers too, who cried, but it still unnerved him. He felt as though he should comfort a person crying, and yet reaching out to another human being always felt a little wrong, unless it was with his right hook. It was all very confusing until Larae walked straight forward into his chest, hugging him.

Mace smiled, the sort that went up into one side of his face and not the other, crooked and boyish. He let his muscled arms fall around her slim frame, held her for a moment. Mace wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the hug, but he could sort that out later. If he had come to say goodbye for himself, he'd be an idiot, but he had come for her. And he still needed to say the right thing. "You gotta win, I know you've got it in you."