i will breathe the air (zeik)

[Camelia]

I will run the streets and hostile lands, I will touch the rain with all I have
I will breathe the air, to scream it loud. My feet will never touch the ground.

Although she had heard the commotion, Camelia did not approach the new king until spring warmed the earth. She’d heard Zeik’s call for the mare to depart, then Magnus and the magician’s rapid shouts and following absences. Camelia’s heart felt worn through and sore; first the magic that ran beneath the ground and into the trees was cut out like a heart from a body, then a new king rose to the throne with no ability to show grace, and finally two well-worn souls found themselves leaving in a rage of hurt and anger. This was not – this could never be – the Heaven’s Gates Camelia had known her family to build it to be.

Heaven’s Gates should be a sanctuary. The entire goal of the kingdom had always been to invite those who were looking for a purpose to their hopeless lives. The kingdom once used to bring happiness and cherished memories to the members who lived in it; it was once a place where the massive, deathly waves of life could not crash. But time and anger had simmered over the borders and all that lay within and now the hope and protection and love is dead.

As the afternoon sun warms her shoulders, Camelia begins the search for the Gates king. She did not bother with a trumpet beckoning him to her like a dog, nor did she shout his name until the birds flew from their nests. Rather, she walked first along the border and then along the interior of the kingdom until she found him. Camelia approaches humbly, her wise brown eyes seeking out the lines of his face and the set of his shoulders. She knows the heaviness a crown can weigh, she has felt it before.

“King Zeik, isn’t it?” Her smile is soft and bright, like the sun breaking through stormy clouds on a summer day. “How are you faring so far? I understand you have recently ascended the throne.” She settles herself into a more comfortable position, allowing one heel to tip into the earth to take the weight off that hip. Winter hadn’t fared her well with her stiff, aging joints, but Camelia was determined to make it through. Spring brought enough relief that she didn’t feel miserable. Focusing her attention back on the new king, the dunskin gave him a relaxed smile.

Camelia