its a long way down; demetyr & any

[lilliana]

She had been looking for it.

In the last days of winter, when the icicles started to drip and the frozen ground lost the last of its frozen firmness, she had begun to look everywhere for it. Her blue eyes had searched the barren branches that rustled above her crimson head. Her nostrils had flared and quivered, longing for those first sweet scents that waft so delicately on the warming breezes. Lilliana has watched and waited and finally, finally, that patience has paid off.

The first buds of the season adorn the crowns of trees above, the green is that irrefutable shade that ushers the beginning of spring. The air is warmer, brighter, full of unfulfilled potential after the final hush of winter. There is no bite in the breeze, no chill that settles bone-deep and numbs the senses. No, here is spring in all her radiant glory. The land is waking beneath Lilli's hooves and she can feel it stirring. Even Taiga, for all her shadows and wooded secrets, isn't immune to it. The sun has found its strength again and even the densest parts of the wood partake in new growth, ferns and flowers sprouting on the forest floor.

Everywhere she looks, everything is alive.

That renewal hums in her veins as she slips out from the protection that those trees offer. What starts as a simple walk breaks into the cadence of a canter and the warmth on Lilliana's back spurs her forward. The fire in her veins lights her legs, fuels her soul and onward she goes. The stride lengthens and she pushes herself, lowers her head and reaches that slender neck out longer and longer still. Each stride she takes is another thrust of energy that propels her a little faster, that let her hooves leave the ground in a moment of sweet suspension. She can't fly but the exhilaration and adrenaline that floods her veins trick her into thinking she is so, so close. Would things be easier if she could leave them on the ground? Or would the higher altitude mean that everything would have to inevitably shatter?

Breathe, she tells herself as her body comes back underneath her. The woods, the trees, everything that had faded comes into focus again. The smell of freshwater beckons through the few trees that stand between her and the river. Sweet, precious water that tempts her forward and Lilliana walks on legs that ache with the run (but how she had loved the chase, the chance to stretch them out in delirious speed). Her sides rise and fall with the exertion of it all and Lilliana grins, wild and reckless in her pride. Her blue eyes settle on the water that bubbles and flows ahead and the young mare, her neck damp with sweat and her lungs still demanding more air, makes her way down the bank.

Just a drink, she thinks. But the river is too inviting and Lilliana wades ankle-deep, letting it cool and refresh her before reaching down for that first satiating drink of water.

LILLIANA

i left home on account of snow
(buried all the things i know)

@[Demetyr] i am so sorry that it took me so long to get this up.