something in the wind has learned my name
and it keeps telling me that nothing is the same
Beqanna had been a fairytale for Lilli. It had been the setting of her ancestors even her mother had been here once. ('The land had been ravaged. They had spoiled themselves with magic and so the land turned on them," her dam had said. 'They became so drunk on power that they would have sold their very souls for it.') The picture that Aletta had regaled to her children had been tainted with corruption, with darkness. They were safe in Beyond (or so they innocently believed). They had thought themselves protected and as Lilliana stands here in quiet contemplation with Ryatah, she finds her mother's portrayal of Beqanna almost arrogant. As her blue eyes take in her pale counterpart, there is nothing in the silver mare that she finds corrupt or evil. It is only her original assumption that remains - that there was something maternal and gentle about her.
That assumption (whether correct or not) remains instilled in Lilli as Ryatah speaks. Her youthful exuberance, all those questions that seem to come out at once, are met with patience and understanding eyes (a gaze that seems a testament to time and experience). The chestnut listens and learns, stands still with fascination because there is something about immortals that Lilliana finds captivating. She has only known one in her lifetime and trying to imagine the decades, the lives, the events that Ryatah has seen dance across Beqanna's stage... It seems impossible for her to even comprehend.
So the chestnut blinks it back and instead focuses on what Ryatah offers instead, this history of the Dale that she is so hungry for. It is the last tie she has to her family and Lilliana fervently soaks up every word that the immortal mare has to offer.
Her ancestors came before Ryatah but still. There is something to be said for standing in the presence of someone who had stood in the Forbidden Dale. Ryatah takes the images that had been figments of Lilliana's imagination (and much like Elaina had with her father) gives her something tangible, makes it something almost real and for now, that is enough. For someone who has been starving in a land of unknowns, the fragment that Ryatah offers is enough substance for her aching soul. At the mention of the Valley, her smile falters (only because this mare doesn't fit the image of horses that she had been told of) but it is quick to return. (It's magnetic, that smile, it never stays away for long.) The look she gives to Ryatah is an understanding one because Lilliana knows exactly what it is to have homes that aren't really homes. She knows what it is to reside in places for the sake of only existing.
It's that understanding that emboldens the young mare. Lilli reaches out to brush her nose gently against the silver neck of the other, a touch of kindness if Ryatah wishes it. To let her know that there is someone who knows the emotion and who remembers with her (different places but that yearning, that loneliness that digs a cavern in both their chests is still the same).
Ryatah continues to speak. Lilliana takes these names as she had with Aten, she remembers and she promises herself that she will keep them with her. It is the next words that cause her eyes to momentarily widen, the blue to burn a little brighter with shock. She had heard rumors, of course. The words Carnage and Pangea had seemed synonymous to her. One could hardly be uttered without the other following in the same breathe. Ryatah speaks the name of the Dark God with such ease that Lilli holds hers before asking, "You knew Carnage?"
That assumption (whether correct or not) remains instilled in Lilli as Ryatah speaks. Her youthful exuberance, all those questions that seem to come out at once, are met with patience and understanding eyes (a gaze that seems a testament to time and experience). The chestnut listens and learns, stands still with fascination because there is something about immortals that Lilliana finds captivating. She has only known one in her lifetime and trying to imagine the decades, the lives, the events that Ryatah has seen dance across Beqanna's stage... It seems impossible for her to even comprehend.
So the chestnut blinks it back and instead focuses on what Ryatah offers instead, this history of the Dale that she is so hungry for. It is the last tie she has to her family and Lilliana fervently soaks up every word that the immortal mare has to offer.
Her ancestors came before Ryatah but still. There is something to be said for standing in the presence of someone who had stood in the Forbidden Dale. Ryatah takes the images that had been figments of Lilliana's imagination (and much like Elaina had with her father) gives her something tangible, makes it something almost real and for now, that is enough. For someone who has been starving in a land of unknowns, the fragment that Ryatah offers is enough substance for her aching soul. At the mention of the Valley, her smile falters (only because this mare doesn't fit the image of horses that she had been told of) but it is quick to return. (It's magnetic, that smile, it never stays away for long.) The look she gives to Ryatah is an understanding one because Lilliana knows exactly what it is to have homes that aren't really homes. She knows what it is to reside in places for the sake of only existing.
It's that understanding that emboldens the young mare. Lilli reaches out to brush her nose gently against the silver neck of the other, a touch of kindness if Ryatah wishes it. To let her know that there is someone who knows the emotion and who remembers with her (different places but that yearning, that loneliness that digs a cavern in both their chests is still the same).
Ryatah continues to speak. Lilliana takes these names as she had with Aten, she remembers and she promises herself that she will keep them with her. It is the next words that cause her eyes to momentarily widen, the blue to burn a little brighter with shock. She had heard rumors, of course. The words Carnage and Pangea had seemed synonymous to her. One could hardly be uttered without the other following in the same breathe. Ryatah speaks the name of the Dark God with such ease that Lilli holds hers before asking, "You knew Carnage?"
LILLIANA
@[Ryatah] i am so so sorry this took so long and also i couldn't help myself
but it's all in the past, love
it's all gone with the wind