"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
It had been some time since she’d seen her sister. Perhaps a long time by the standards of those that lived in this world, but not a significant time by any means by the standards of the Fae. But Sidhra always had a harder time fitting into these younger worlds than Anuya. She envied that about her sister – Anuya always approached these places with an open mind and such a willingness to at least try to acclimatize herself.
But not Sidhra.
When this place had stripped her of her magic, she had sulked. She wanted her voice back. She longed for the stars of their homeland – for the quiet reverence of the nights. This place was so noisy and brash. Maybe that was why Anuya seemed to like it… But it was evident that the path home was far more difficult than they had ever imagined when they had first fallen through what she assumed was just a tear between worlds. Now she wasn’t so sure if it would ever be possible to return. Strangely enough it was the Eclipse that had breathed some life into her weary bones – that had finally inspired something in her to make something of a life in this world rather than just spending her nights wanting for the old world.
Having at least part of her magic back was a comfort, too. Perhaps Anuya had an idea of how to get the last piece back. She still felt like part of herself was missing, a strange void in the center of her soul. Anuya always knew how to help with that, pesky little pixie that she was. She wondered, idly, how she’d been coping – wondered how many in this place she’d already befriended while Sidhra had retreated into her seclusion. She didn’t fear judgment from her sister – they both knew each other’s ways.
She came to the meadow at night, glowing softly under the gentle light of the stars. Sidhra still had a distaste for anywhere that blocked her views of the night sky when it was clear like it was tonight, so she hoped that Anuya wasn’t somewhere beneath the thick canopy of trees. She doesn’t worry that Anuya will find her. Anuya always finds her. So for the time being she is content to wait beneath the stars, surrounded by all the quiet sounds of night.
Anuya knew that eventually Sidhra would crawl out of her hole and stop sulking enough to say hi, just like Sidhra knew that Anuya would find her when she did. The pair of them have crossed continents and worlds together, a little bit of time apart meant nothing.
Unlike Sidhra, she barely spent a moment thinking about their home - except to think about how glad she was not to have to talk to any of her other siblings again. Or deal with any of the court politics. She would be quite happy if Sidhra was the only other fae she ever saw for the rest of her very long life.
She had been thinking about her sister a little more lately, which meant the blue pain in the butt was due to surface. They weren’t linked mentally or anything, but after five decades of having to put up with her eldest sister, Anuya had started to learn her habits. She kept her turquoise eyes peeled. Anuya was looking forward to sharing her brilliant observation, discovered through trial and error, that those with small ears could, in fact, hear perfectly fine. She was even starting to get used to not seeing any other long, beautiful pairs of ears. It made her feel special instead of annoyed.
And then, in the meadow one night, Anuya finds her - a vibrant grin breaking out as she shouts - for the sheer joy of it and not because she’s worried about being heard. “Siddy!” When she reaches her elder sister, she bumps her glowing muzzle against Sidhra’s shoulder in a playful shove. “You brat. Here I was looking forward to showing off my new glow and you’re already shining yourself. Just always have to beat me, don’t you?” There's a roll of those turquoise eyes, but it is just as playful as the shove when she straightens up again.
“Done sulking yet or are you just taking a break?”
oh, I see stars rushing through my mind, colours have no time to fade
oh, I found out there's another side where the sea and sky collide
She didn’t have to wait long. Sidhra had to stop herself from physically wincing as her sister’s voice split the silence, her long ears twitching involuntarily. But a smile found its way to her lips all the same.
“Did you really think you could outshine your big sister?” she speaks into her sister’s mind, the mental voice familiar but still teasing. It’s refreshing that this line of communication has been returned to her. Sidhra had always preferred the quiet, but to have the only voice she had known over a half century suddenly stripped from her had been...disorienting. A smile flickered across Sidhra’s dark lips as she moved to brush her nose against her sister’s side. She had missed her. Even before they’d been separated from the others, Sidhra had always been closest to Anuya. Some of their older siblings were too stuffy to hold a conversation with, or too pretentious to want to hold a conversation with. Others had been married off into other courts long before either of them had been born. So while Sidhra was in no way as mischievous as Anuya, who seemed to inherit the whole family’s worth, she was certainly better company than those who simply wanted to preen and parade around their fancy company.
Perhaps thats why they had been snatched away. Sidhra had never really taken the opportunity to consider why all this had happened to them, she’d always been so singleminded in her mission to return them home. Could it be that they had been...taken for a reason?
She blinked a few times as she attempted to process this little nugget of information, and as always Anuya was there to bring her back. ”I’ve had enough...for now. But you know I can find something to sulk about later. It’s my special gift,” she said, playing along and giving into the self depreciation all at once, ”Having my voice back helps, too.” she added. But then she quickly pivoted the subject away from bits of her still-missing magic.
“So, what have you been doing. Have you befriended this entire place already?” She asked, mostly in jest but she was almost afraid of her sister’s answer. She could tell just by Anuya’s good mood that this place really did suit her, more so than their homeland perhaps ever did. Something twisted and tore in her chest - the desire to see her sister happy and return home no longer felt compatible and Sidhra knew that at the end of the day she’d choose Anuya over the family they’d had to leave behind all those years ago. Anuya was glowing in more than just the physical sense and Sidhra knew, deep down, that the time was coming that she’d have to close the door on their past. She just wasn’t sure she was ready to make that leap yet.
So for the time being she was happy to entertain herself with her sister’s antics, and let Anuya fill the silence with the stories she undoubtedly had about all the discoveries she’d made while her too-serious sister had been lost to a quiet life of contemplation.
Anuya doesn’t even pay attention to Sidhra’s response to her greeting because she is so surprised to hear the familiar thought-voice in her head that she shouts “WHAT!!” overtop of whatever nonsense the elder fae was telling her. Well wasn’t that something! One less thing for Sidhra to sulk about, at least.
And it is great news - though Anuya’s going to miss making up reactions for her sister, knowing full well that Sidhra was unable to do anything about it. Her turquoise eyes dance, glad to have gotten a smile out of her older sister, glad to see that she’s doing better - even joking around about her sulking ways. Anuya missed the tricks she could do, from tossing acorns to shapeshifting, but she hadn’t needed hers the way that Sidhra had needed to be able to project her thoughts. And maybe having that back will help make this place a little more like home.
The starry fae laughs at Sidhra’s question. “Just a few. Did you know that these horses can hear perfectly fine with their tiny ass ears? I, for one, was pretty shocked.” She describes Aureus and his star companion and Gravitas and his stupid smirk and how she had been pretty proud of shouting at them when she first met them, only to discover it had not be necessary. “They’ve also got this like… magic mountain thing? And you can go on quests so I’m on one to get my rock-throwing power back.” Telekinesis? Whatever it was officially called. Anuya just thought of it as her ‘throw small objects at someone until they pay attention to her’ magic.
When Anuya tilts her head to regard her sister, her long ears flop a little with the movement. “It’s not so bad here, you know.”
oh, I see stars rushing through my mind, colours have no time to fade
oh, I found out there's another side where the sea and sky collide
Sidhra cannot help but flinch at the Anuya’s rather enthusiastic greeting. She pins her long, dark ears and sends her younger sister a seething look followed by a huff and a roll of her eerie silver-white eyes. She should hardly be surprised at Anuya’s antics at this point. They aren’t even deliberate they’re as much a part of her sister as the blood that runs in her veins.
“Anuya, have you ever known animals with smaller ears to have any difficulty hearing?” She asked, wondering for a moment if her sister had made it a habit to yell at all creatures with smaller ears. She didn’t recall anything as such ever happening, but honestly she wouldn’t put it past her sister. However, she is also pleased to hear that she has made some connections in this strange world that seem, well, interesting. Her first impressions of this place had been underwhelming, to say the very least. But perhaps she was wrong.
Anuya continued with her flowery descriptions of this place, and Sidhra was happy to listen. Sidhra was intrigued by the notion of a magic mountain, however. She was so close to reclaiming the full breadth of her magic, perhaps this mountain could help her in finding the missing piece. Though she, admittedly, was less enthused at the idea of Anuya having her telekinesis back. Anuya always found the most unconventional uses for her magic. It was part of why Anuya had never really fit in back in their homeland, and perhaps why she fit in so well in this place. This place that appeared, well, equally as unconventional.
She offers a small, sad, smile to her sister because she knows what Anuya is saying without actually saying. The sisters had always been able to communicate without actually having to speak - perhaps a side effect of Sidhra’s muteness. Anuya has developed some sort of affinity to this place - or an attachment at the very least. Sidhra knew that she’d been unfair in her unwillingness to even consider this place. Another sigh escapes her, more pained this time.
”You’re right. I’ve not even given this place a chance.” Though she speaks directly into her sister’s mind, her tone is decidedly somber. She hadn’t been fair, perhaps, in her judgment. She was so quick to assume that everyplace was immediately inferior to her homeland that she was unwilling to give anywhere else even a passing thought. But perhaps she had been hasty in her judgment. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time.
Sidhra’s seething look only encourages a brighter smile out of Anuya. She hadn’t even been trying to be obnoxious just then, it just came out naturally. She was just that shocked about the whole mind-speech thing being back. Annoying her sister just came as an extra little bonus to the whole thing.
Sidhra goes on to point out a very reasonable flaw to Anuya’s whole ‘shout at strangers’ plan and she huffs a little bit in response, rolling her turquoise eyes. “I don’t make a point of talking to woodland creatures very often how was I supposed to know.” Though she certainly hadn’t shown up here and started shouting at the first horses they saw… did she? Somewhere in the years she had spent on her own, with just the silent Sidhra as company, Anuya had gotten it into her head that they couldn’t hear properly.
Well, regardless, it had made her a few friends through the process so she doesn’t really regret that she had gone around shouting at everyone she met.
“There’s no perhaps about it, you definitely should. There’s kingdoms and herds and whatnot but who needs the drama of that.” They’d been in a “proper” home before and Anuya wasn’t really too sure they needed one here. Not for the first few decades, anyway. Besides, it seemed to her like most of the population just sort of wandered around willy-nilly and that suited this star-strewn fae just fine. “You gotta find your own friends though, you’re not allowed to have mine.” And even though she is a little serious, the bright smile that shines on her face when she nudges Sidhra lets her sister know she’s joking. Mostly.
oh, I see stars rushing through my mind, colours have no time to fade
oh, I found out there's another side where the sea and sky collide
