There is sadness lingering on Brazen's crimson mouth and Lilli aches for Brazen. She had hoped for something else, for something other than the heartache that dawns on her friends face like a reticent morning - a daybreak that comes so quietly and so softly that it might be missed.
But it isn't missed. Lilli sees it, knows that ache.
As Brazen's smile slips, Lilli's eyes darken with understanding and the young mare stands there aching with compassion, wishing there was a way she could help fill the void he left behind. Lilliana has one of her own, a jagged scar across her soul that never seems to heal. Perhaps this is why they walk along so easily, a friendship that is built upon two souls recognizing the empty places in the other and intent on illuminating them, driving that darkness out.
Of all the lessons that Valerio imparted on his daughter, it is that there is no light without darkness. There is a precarious balance that needs to be maintained between the gods and the cosmos and the universe. It is often overthrown and it would certainly seem that her kind on the mortal plane does a well enough job of toppling that balance themselves. Lilliana wishes she had something more to give Brazen but all she has is a copper shoulder that presses into the bone armor of her friend, a brief 'knock' that is meant to be reassuring and yet playful. A touch of light against the dark.
Her blue eyes stare off in Brazen's obscure distance and Lilli can conjure the ghost of a golden father, of a man who came home from war but never really came home. Of a stallion who had been like a waning moon - full and luminescent at one point until he eventually left them all in the darkness. So the smile on Lilli's face is a thin, firm one, "I know." And then the warmth of her chestnut friend brings her back as she turns her gaze back on the armored mare, kindness softening her features as a tender grin spreads. "We're all allowed to be maudlin from time to time."
She studies Brazen as her brow furrows at her question, at her admission that she has no idea what she is doing. (And the world has not ended - the sky has not shattered above her or the ground threatened to swallow her.) It is an agonizing moment as she waits, expecting... what? But whatever Lilli has dreaded, Brazen eases her uncertainty with a simple shrug. "I told my family when I left them that I needed something..," she admits while the memory of that gray, chilly winter morning plays out in her mind. It had been the only way they agreed to let her go - that insistence that she needed something of her own. That whatever future lay waiting for her, it would be one made of her own failures and mistakes. Lilli gives a small exhale, feeling the absence of them press against her ribs, tighten her throat. "I miss them. And this way... it feels like I'm honoring what I said. That we didn't sacrifice everything for nothing."
This is perhaps the first time that Lilliana hasn't felt the need to fill the lull of the conversation with laughter or playful banter. There is only this easiness between them and as the world still stands, Lilli finds a sense of peace. It will be okay, she thinks as she looks to Brazen. We will be okay.
A small grin tugs at one of the edges of her mouth and those blue eyes grow bright, ever hopeful. "So where do we find this all-knowing mother of yours?"
@[Brazen]
But it isn't missed. Lilli sees it, knows that ache.
As Brazen's smile slips, Lilli's eyes darken with understanding and the young mare stands there aching with compassion, wishing there was a way she could help fill the void he left behind. Lilliana has one of her own, a jagged scar across her soul that never seems to heal. Perhaps this is why they walk along so easily, a friendship that is built upon two souls recognizing the empty places in the other and intent on illuminating them, driving that darkness out.
Of all the lessons that Valerio imparted on his daughter, it is that there is no light without darkness. There is a precarious balance that needs to be maintained between the gods and the cosmos and the universe. It is often overthrown and it would certainly seem that her kind on the mortal plane does a well enough job of toppling that balance themselves. Lilliana wishes she had something more to give Brazen but all she has is a copper shoulder that presses into the bone armor of her friend, a brief 'knock' that is meant to be reassuring and yet playful. A touch of light against the dark.
Her blue eyes stare off in Brazen's obscure distance and Lilli can conjure the ghost of a golden father, of a man who came home from war but never really came home. Of a stallion who had been like a waning moon - full and luminescent at one point until he eventually left them all in the darkness. So the smile on Lilli's face is a thin, firm one, "I know." And then the warmth of her chestnut friend brings her back as she turns her gaze back on the armored mare, kindness softening her features as a tender grin spreads. "We're all allowed to be maudlin from time to time."
She studies Brazen as her brow furrows at her question, at her admission that she has no idea what she is doing. (And the world has not ended - the sky has not shattered above her or the ground threatened to swallow her.) It is an agonizing moment as she waits, expecting... what? But whatever Lilli has dreaded, Brazen eases her uncertainty with a simple shrug. "I told my family when I left them that I needed something..," she admits while the memory of that gray, chilly winter morning plays out in her mind. It had been the only way they agreed to let her go - that insistence that she needed something of her own. That whatever future lay waiting for her, it would be one made of her own failures and mistakes. Lilli gives a small exhale, feeling the absence of them press against her ribs, tighten her throat. "I miss them. And this way... it feels like I'm honoring what I said. That we didn't sacrifice everything for nothing."
This is perhaps the first time that Lilliana hasn't felt the need to fill the lull of the conversation with laughter or playful banter. There is only this easiness between them and as the world still stands, Lilli finds a sense of peace. It will be okay, she thinks as she looks to Brazen. We will be okay.
A small grin tugs at one of the edges of her mouth and those blue eyes grow bright, ever hopeful. "So where do we find this all-knowing mother of yours?"
@[Brazen]
but it's all in the past, love
it's all gone with the wind