There's blood on your tongue
when you kiss me goodbye
The Taiga.
She has not yet familiarized herself with the new lands which fill her home, but the sound of it settles nicely into the air, lodging itself between her ears. No matter what else she may come to learn of this new Beqanna, this will always be her first. Perhaps it is a foible of hers, to find that which suits and immediately settle. Just as she had with the Dale, though that kingdom had been her home from the moment of her birth. The Taiga might never replace that, but she thinks perhaps her heart had not taken her so very astray when it had brought her here.
His introduction, to his home and to himself, brings a smile to her lips. There is an honesty in the way that he speaks, something so true and straightforward, an authenticity that draws her in. Too often one encounters sly wit or outright deception in this world, so much so that the lack of it is somehow notable. And for all that she has lived and seen, she is still a very simple girl at heart, the same one that had always longed for the most basic of pleasures in life.
He continues then, and Ely is pleasantly surprised to learn he had known life before the world had so drastically changed. Her bright gaze sharpens with curiosity as she takes an almost involuntary step closer before recalling herself, her natural reservation stilling her feet once more. They are nearly close enough to touch now, but she refrains from reaching out. “Ah, the Reckoning,” she murmurs in response, her gaze once more slipping past him to survey the surrounding wood (a land so drastically different from what she’d once known). “I knew many in the Valley.”
They had been allied, once upon a time. But she doesn’t suppose he would recall so much, especially if he had traveled. Indeed, she had known Eight even, perhaps too well for comfort. But that is a story for another time.
She softens with his last question, eyes returning to him, though the barest hint of sadness lingers in the depths of her russet gaze. “The Dale was my home.” Would always be, she supposes. But she does not think the gods would ever bring it back. And she has never been one to live in the past. “Now though? I’m afraid I haven’t anywhere to call my own,” she finishes, her gentle smile fading slightly beneath that tinge of nostalgia.
Elysteria