<blockquote class="uncited"><div><div style="text-align: center;">OOC Note: Any thought or spoken word is in Gaelic unless otherwise noted. It's only written in English for the reader's ease.<br/><br/>Also, please note that this thread takes place prior to "Harmony Shadows", a group roleplay in the Cave.</div></div></blockquote><br/><br/>Finger tapping on the desk at the ranger’s station, she watched the clock tick down minute by agonizing minute.<span style="font-style: italic">Come on...come on…</span>she chanted as her eyes remained transfixed on the second hand, waiting for the last minute to slip by.<br/><br/>No other tours had been scheduled, her last ending an hour before that moment, resulting in her leaning against the desk and pretending like she didn’t have somewhere more important to be; An act she was failing at. Since she’d returned, she hadn’t moved from her spot, only looking away from the clock for split seconds if Riordan decided to comment on her apparent tense outlook. And, as much as she tried to downplay it, the remnants of her excitement kept pouring through.<br/><br/>Eidhin.<br/><br/>She was going to see Eidhin.<br/><br/>It’d taken five long years. Five years of constant fights with her father, of leaving letters in the log and waiting for him to give her something in return, something more than flowers, rocks and presents. But…she’d finally gotten it. He’d left her a note to meet him. She was finally going to physically<span style="font-style: italic">see</span>him, talk to him, get answers.<br/><br/>The secondhand finally reached the twelve and she bolted. Somewhere behind her she heard laughter, followed by, “Where's the fire?!” but she paid it no mind. Not another thought was spared for work, wholly focused on getting back to their meeting place.<br/><br/>A walk that normally took her a half-an-hour to make took barely fifteen minutes as she jogged her way around path bends, jumped over rocks, slid down hills (barely able to keep standing in her haste to make it there). And, when she made it, she doubled over, panting and bracing on her knees for a few moments longer before she stood to her full height and looked around for his familiar face. When none came to light, she frowned, glancing down at her watch for the time.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Guess I got here a little early...</span>Eilidh thought to herself, settling down on the log as her toes started to tap a steady pace on the dead leaves beneath her feet. When that got annoying, drowning out all sound that could be someone approaching, she stopped and picked at her jeans.<span style="font-style: italic">Five years…Five…long years…I wonder what he looks like? How he’s changed? What’s different? What’s the same? What if things aren’t like they were before? What if he’s changed so much I don’t recognize him, that our relationship isn’t like it was…?</span><br/><br/>It was the thought that scared her worst. What if too much time had passed since they saw each other last? What if he no longer liked her like he once had? She’d remained…virtually the same, minus the singular drive to find him and figure out what had happened. But she was still the same outdoorsy girl she was when he left…<br/><br/>Shaking her head, Eilidh’s eyes closed as she took in a few deep, calming breath.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Relax…if he hadn't wanted to see you, he wouldn't have reached out to you, finally,</span>her thoughts reasoned.<span style="font-style: italic">He’d have left you in the dark entirely, and disappeared. Things couldn’t have changed that much…right?</span>