[It is not that Liem fails to notice her approach. He is aware, in the periphery of his attention, of the muffled sound of hoofbeats approaching over packed dirt, familiar enough by now for him to guess immediately who they belong to. Despite that, however, Liem does not stop his circuit around the work site, does not look up from the list he's compiling until Hayame draws near enough to speak.
Only then does he pause, his motions somehow unnatural in their smoothness, his head gliding around to look at her in a way that is just slightly out of sync with his body. His eyes glow like gemstones in the warm glow of early evening.]
And why should that be?
[The stone mask of his face betrays none of the desolate resignation that had gripped him beneath the Tree of Life, when Zenith's energy had been poured into him until it drowned everything else. His question is light and crisp in the face of her steely regard, but his appearance suggests no particular emotion at all.]
Should I fear to visit my own property? It is my house, Hayame.
[Certainly she had never given him reason to think that she regarded it as hers, even if he was building it for her use. Even though he would have given it to her, if only she would have accepted it.]
no subject
Only then does he pause, his motions somehow unnatural in their smoothness, his head gliding around to look at her in a way that is just slightly out of sync with his body. His eyes glow like gemstones in the warm glow of early evening.]
And why should that be?
[The stone mask of his face betrays none of the desolate resignation that had gripped him beneath the Tree of Life, when Zenith's energy had been poured into him until it drowned everything else. His question is light and crisp in the face of her steely regard, but his appearance suggests no particular emotion at all.]
Should I fear to visit my own property? It is my house, Hayame.
[Certainly she had never given him reason to think that she regarded it as hers, even if he was building it for her use. Even though he would have given it to her, if only she would have accepted it.]