He smiles at her and she finds that it suits him quite handsomely. The stark flaxen of his forelock against the emerald of his eyes and his tawny skin marked with shining, golden light - she wonders who he is, where he’s from, who his family is, and how it happened that she had come across him so unexpectedly. Can he sense the fear that riddles her bones, the sickness that tremors her muscles and fatigues her heart? Olena swallows hard, caught up in the moment of meeting a true stranger and realizing that he knows nothing of her ailments - there is no reason for him to be cautious with her or overbearing - and the idea of it sends her reeling. A few seconds of clarity, of imagining what her life would be like if she was not brought to her knees by her weakness.
Nashua looks away from her and the gentle smile on her face fades into something like concern; her jaw slackens slightly and her brow crosses, trying to find his gaze once again with the soft pleading of her stormy eyes. In his seconds of finding composure and that grief-filled silence, Olena realizes that she has taken multiple steps towards him without even a thought. And now that she was here, close enough for her to touch him, she finds it surprising when she does not hesitate to bring her dark muzzle to his shoulder. She fights the urge to bring her whole self alongside him, far too nervous to do anything more than the gentle gesture of empathy that she has already done. But does he know how terribly she needed to feel his eyes on hers again?
The slender girl does not comment on the fact that he had left Tephra for a moment. He had flown through the clouds to somewhere far away from here - to some time in the past when Loess had burned. She waits patiently for him to return to her and when he does, turning his face towards her, there is a soft gasp that passes through her lips - as if she forgot she had pressed them to his skin and that she was not, in fact, invisible. Olena pulls her chin to her chest quickly, her gaze flickering down for a moment before slowly finding him again.
Her nervousness is forgotten then as he gestures to the slick raven-colored wings at her sides. Her dark lips pout confusedly, moving the iridescent black of her feathers in the same way as Nashua had. She thinks she’d rather hear a story with him as the main character, but the darkness that had clouded his bright gaze made her so sad, she didn’t dare ask him in fear that it would show up again. Olena snorts softly, tilting her head. “Please tell me, Nashua,” she replies softly, the gentlest smile on her dark lips.
The young girl shifts her weight, leaning closer to him as she settles in to hear what he knows.
OLENA
& all the stars go dark
i turn the light on in my soul
@[Nashua]