they are wicked things, leliana and dovev

[despair]

i could dig myself out of the loneliest of graves for you, could be taken down like a dog that got itself a mouthful of blood and liked the taste, could give myself up belly-up. crane toward you like a heliotrope in the sun.

His mother didn’t come home like she promised. It’s been days and now there’s blood every time he coughs. He doesn’t know that she’s isolated herself while she tries to make sense of the world once more but he’s too scared to stay still any longer. Despair is at least old enough to wander from their secluded little nest in the forests but he has no clue where he’s going this time. The cold air stings his lungs every time he breathes in, makes him cough and gag until he’s certain his throat won’t open up again. But slowly, agonizingly slowly, he’s able to inhale once more.
 
The wind whips his forelock from his dark face when he reaches the river, where he stumbles in the cold mud. He sucks in his breath in a hiss when the icy waters touch his legs but he can’t stop moving now that he’s in the open. The monster who looks like Shiya might see him, might rip him apart if he stops long enough to be found. (Another cough. Another spattering of blood.)
 
He passes through a desolate kingdom, void of its inhabitants save for a few lost souls or those too tired to care about the plague. Despair envies them, almost. The ache in his joints and the fever consume most of his thoughts but still he feels driven to find some place where he can lay his head. When he crosses into the pampas, he doesn’t quite recognize the scent. Somewhere in his dizzy head, though, this place smells like home to him. Like Dovev and Shiya when she comes home in the mornings. A weak smile makes itself at home across his lips as he stumbles forward.
 
Despair leans himself against a tree bordering the edge of the territory, praying it will help him steady his legs. He breathes a slow sigh of relief to have found a place that offers at least some semblance of comfort.

here is the field in my heart that bears your name. here is the whole country, aching and tender,
i named after you. here is my whole entire heart.

@[Dovev] @[leliana]