[open] you were a vision in the morning when the light came through

[Chryseis]

you were a vision in the morning
when the light came through,
i know i've only felt religion
when i've lied with you
and i'm still waking every morning
but it's not with you

.

These last several days without Rhaegor had been harder than she had expected. Her side suddenly felt cold and empty without him there to warm her, and her nights drug on in an endless cycle of sleep being interrupted by the startling feeling of just nothing. She hadn’t meant to grow so dependent and attached, but it had been beyond her control. Love was funny like that. But, he would be back. He had promised, and she believed him. She just had to be patient, and wait.

She was decidedly terrible at both of those things.

Tephra wasn’t enough of a distraction on its own. No matter how many times she ran the length of the beach, or scaled the steep hills near the volcano, no matter how much she made her muscles ache and her lungs burn, it did little to settle the unrest that boiled in her veins. She almost didn’t notice when one night, she fled beyond the Tephran border. Past the eternal autumn of Sylva, across the rocky terrain of Loess, and winding her way through the thick trees of the Forest. For once, she did not speak to anyone on her journey, and she doesn’t remember if she slept. She knows the sun rose and fell more than once, but she can’t recall ever drifting off. She just wanted to run until something made her stop.

It is nightfall again when she finally comes to the rivers edge, and for some reason, this is where she ends her flight. Her coat is rough from where sweat had glistened and then dried, but even though her muscles quivered with fatigue, there was something in her dark brown eyes that was bright, simmering, alive. The silver beams of the moon spilled across the rushing rapids of the river, and her metallic, golden blaze glinted in the pale light. There was still something recklessly lovely about her, and she was beginning to realize that without channeling her energy, she was destined to implode.

chryseis