There are monsters outside and they're waiting; Brinly

[Brazen]

cold in the violence after the war
hope is a fire to keep us warm

For all that she wears her kindness and friendliness so openly, there is a fierce tenacity that lingers just beneath. And it's that which had matched Brinly when she had glared and met her with stubborn resistance.

She cannot regret it though. Not with Brinly safely home away from whatever awful creatures had waited back in Pangea.

On those windswept familiar cliffs, Brazen finally feels as though she can breathe freely again. Perhaps it cannot change the past or erase the horrible things she had done, but for a moment, they feel less important.

For a moment.

Until reality intrudes, and she wonders if she had done the right thing. If perhaps she should have asked why Brinly resisted, rather than digging her own heels in further. If perhaps she had just been terribly terribly selfish.

"Brinly," she whispers, suddenly uncertain. "Were you… happy here?"

---

Brazen

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@[Brinly]

[Brinly]

Brinly

She is silent for much of the trip back to Nerine, but that is not uncommon for her. There is a tension the roils just beneath the surface of her, but she does not think Brazen will notice, or at the very least perhaps she will just assume it is the same simmer that Brinly always has. Truthfully, it is nearly every part of Brinly warring with itself; the part that wants to keep her distance from everyone and yet also wants to keep Brazen close, the part of her that wants to disappear back into the forests but also wants to stay in Nerine.

The part of her that she is, fighting fiercely with who she wishes she could be.

Some of that tension slowly disappears once they reach the northern kingdom, and Brinly would have been content to just move past and forget the entire ordeal if she did not notice that Brazen has suddenly slowed. She whispers her name, and though a slender auburn ear flicks back in her direction, she does not look at her. It’s not until she follows it up with her quiet question that her face turns to hers, her eyes seeming to sharpen as they narrow, suddenly defensive. "What makes you think I'm not happy here?" But she bites back the rest of the words that heat her tongue, realizing how unfair it was to snap at her.

She comes to a complete stop, turning to face the other girl, her expression softening. "Of course I'm happy being here, Brazen. I've stayed, haven't I?"

— burn until our lives become the embers —