07-05-2019, 02:00 AM
 I can remember a time when I was so afraid when even my shadow wouldn't follow me Even as a young child Elaina found herself waking early each morning to enjoy the view of the rising sun as it topped the horizon and cast a warm pink glow over the landscape of the giant lake, reflecting off the giant falls that blundered to the ground with astonishing velocity. It felt good to be home. For the first time in a very long while, she knows only calm when she awakes from a night of slumber, only crystal clarity. It brings a soft smile to her dark lips but immediately, she remembers where she is now. She rises on all fours and gives her lithe figure a shake, long, golden tresses fall haphazardly across her shoulders, settling in wind tangled curls against the golden curve of her neck. Long lashes blink slowly against the deepening predawn light as paper thin nostrils flare, inhaling the scent of unfamiliarity, something Elaina has not experienced in quite some time. All was still quiet in the early morning, even now my little sunflower could hear the soft patter of bird and their songs. An easy sigh escapes her lungs once more as carefully she picks her way through this land. She wishes there was a pair of silver blue eyes (silver blue eyes that remind Elaina of her godfather) to look to, but Elaina hardly knows where to start looking for Lilli. Maybe she shouldn't have chased her down, maybe she should turn back now. But Elaina knows she wont, she will never go back to Beyond. She cannot bear to continue to watch the legacy family fall apart back there. This began earlier, before Valerio disappeared again, before Aerwir and her grew distant, before Marcelo left her behind. It began in the evenings, the same emptiness she felt every night when she suddenly found herself alone, parentless, as if they had vanished into that eternal night sky. No matter her begging, which had been adorable as a child and much more effective back then, with her big amber eyes and her father’s lopsided grin. They left her all the same. So many of them. That morning her mother did not wake, something died inside of Elaina. Some of that calmness washed away in the wave of uncertainty that swept over her, a fire built in the chambers of her chest to compensate for the immense hole left by her. Here is the part of the story where she found herself in the meadow more and more. She could not bear to go home. To Aerwir. And when she did, she found it wasn't the same. There is something that feels sinister in the air, here, something that throttles her as she steps over its borders, something that has been growing and growing inside of her, waiting for that inevitable moment when it would burst through her skin and transform the sunflower child once and for all. And it did. And it has. And Elaina turned around and walked away abandoning that place, abandoning those people, shuffling blindly through the dark as if she is no longer afraid of anything. Hardened. Beqanna. She thinks here and now because she cant hear the thundering falls nearby nor smell the mist. An amused smile curves across her delicate features as she watches the boys. Her long, blonde locks fall easily over the delicate curves and contours of her face as slowly she ambles towards them. She watches for a moment again with the faint traces of a smile on her face. “Hope I am not interrupting your play time, boys,” she says as she emerges in front of them, tossing her golden head on greeting, revealing that heart shaped birth mark upon her brow. “I can always leave if you consider three to be too much of a crowd.” benjamin and beylani's sunflower-girl |