“The city?” And the walls. God, the walls! Just thinking about being caged in like that made him nervous, but what else could he do? Insist on the forest? He’d been a ghost long enough, and if joining this world meant a city, then so be it. At least he could feel like a human being again, a man with actual substance, instead of a spirit of silver, magic, and shadow.

Still, he was glad to see the feather being treated with the same care he’d granted to the earring, went still at the touch of other fingers in his hair for fear of flying apart. It was surprisingly (or perhaps not) difficult to breathe as he stared into those brown eyes that were suddenly closer to him than he had expected. It was several moments before he could bring himself to look away and start breathing again.

He nodded, though, in the general direction of another tree. He’d made his decision, but he’d have to keep reminding himself that is was better walls than loneliness. Better caged than the “free” life he had been living alone.

“If that is where you are going, then I am as well.”