There's blood on your tongue
when you kiss me goodbye
She had always been a social creature, yearning for the comfort of others. Though that remains unchanged, she had long ago learned to grow comfortable in loneliness. When one lives long enough, it is an inevitable by-product. She thinks perhaps in this man, there is a kindred spirit. Someone who has known these things and still strives to make the world his own. Still seeks others despite the unavoidable pain it would bring.
Some break beneath that forging, some become shiny and hard, pretty but unforgiving, and some become malleable beneath it, always returning to form in the end. Perhaps one day she would have been reshaped so many times she will become unrecognizable. But not yet, not today.
She watches him draw closer, the way his muscles shift beneath the shaggy gray pelt, his blue eyes intensely focused. He has the bearing of a predator, but she feels no threat from him. Her natural caution keeps her alert however, russet eyes focused despite the easy warmth of her demeanor. Life may not have stolen that light from within her soul, but it had taught her prudence. For all her softness and kindness, she has never been easy prey.
Are you lost?
Her gaze shifts briefly, taking in the curling mist, the dim light of the forest, the slow ripple of the shallow creek that had separated them. Perhaps she does not know this place, but in heart she knows she is just where she is supposed to be. There is something here in this land that speaks to her, as though pieces of the Dale had woven themselves throughout the landscape. And perhaps they have. The gods have mysterious ways.
“No,” she breathes after a contemplative silence, her bright gaze returning to the wolfish stallion. “I think I am just where I’m meant to be.” A soft smile curls her lips then, the warmth of that gesture lighting her eyes. “I’m Elysteria,” she finally offers. “Ely, if you prefer. Do you live here?”
Elysteria