Please stay, for this fear it will not die; Kora

[Noori]

Most days, most days stay the sole same
Please stay, for this fear it will not die
Down low, down amongst the thorn rows
Weeds grow, through the lilies and the vines

Every now and then, she forgets that she is one of four (five, technically, though she never considered the shadow creature a true part of the seasons on account of its pure alien nature post-quest). Despite having relations with all of them (Kingslay, he who threatened to burn her alive; Etojo, whose attacks Noori fended off via animal sacrifice; and Kora, the mare she saved that day, and the mare who became her only friend for a long while afterward), the self-absorbed nature of teenagehood combined with decades of isolation from the other three left her relatively ignorant as to the possibility of meeting another season manipulator.

Comically, her own magic leaks distractedly in a trail behind her, pale red flowers popping to life and sun-illuminated poll flitting through the air above. Small woodland animals also trailed behind her, rabbits and mice and even a deer; they never stay long, but there exists in their souls a constant drive to be close to their mother Spring, if even for a single minute or perhaps two.

They had always been opposites, or at least, in contrast to one another. While one could handle the alternate temperatures preferred by the other, they would never be truly comfortable in one another's climates long enough to maintain any kind of constant connection. Noori doesn't necessarily mind such a thing, being a hermit herself; today, however, an end of their collective isolation is a welcome respite to the loneliness the young woman feels heavily in her thin chest.

Stepping out from the needy arms of a pine tree forest, their worlds clash: with her own harmonic burble of laughter, Noori's lips split into a grin upon the sight of her winter friend standing just there, atop a hill. Without hesitation, the mage of spring gallops to the mage of winter, willingly subjecting herself to the frigidity surrounding her beautiful ice-locked companion. The depths of her pupilless emerald eyes glimmer emotionally, her head bending to tuck itself into the grown woman's frosty neck.

In this way, with Noori curled compassionately and gratefully into Kora's embrace, the winter manipulator comments on her age. A loud jet of laughter pulls the two mares apart, Noori's expression far feistier now that they have sufficiently reacquainted themselves (hey, it doesn't take much to refamiliarize yourself with someone who lived and breathed the same life changing experience as you, after all).

"I'll take that as a compliment, though in my past life I may have smacked you for it." Her smirk toys coyly with Kora's imagination, the dogwood flowers in her willow frond mane practically dancing in joy at their reunion with the ice-armored creature. "And for not being an immortal, you look pretty good yourself, Kora - what do you do, put yourself into cryogenic comas to wait out the hard times?" Noori nodded appreciatively, her face elongating as if she had not considered this to be a particularly excellent plan just before she made the jibe. "Next time take me with you, wontcha? Or is there some other explanation for your decade-long disappearance?"

noori

@[Kora]