staring at the ceiling in the dark
same old empty feeling in your heart
The dun mare shakes the rain from her eyes again, a difficult task when it continues to run in rivulets down her thick mane. Lepis is not a creature made for a damp world, and the gaze that meet Lilliana’s is far more steel than sky today. She doesn’t look away, even though
The Redwoods will be happy to see her, Lilliana says. Will they? Lepis’ family had provided bulk to the territory, and now they are scattered. Some remain, but Lepis no longer considers the coniferous woods to be a land of familiar faces. Or at least familiar faces that Lepis had any desire to see. Izora Lethia, whose loyalty to her husband blinded her to the greater good. Aten, who was finally free of the looming threat that only he could see behind her. Celina, who doesn’t want to see her at all. There’s only Pteron, and perhaps Adarra if the girl is not too much like her mother’s side to want to spend time with Lepis. The dun mare leaves the words hanging, much like Lilliana had her own earlier question. Her only reply is a shake of her golden wings, dislodging the rain that settles along her tricolored feathers and the slightest raise of her striped brow.
If she knew how firmly Lilliana bites her tongue, Lepis might have said something along the lines of her initial greeting. Something to tip the scales in her favor, something pointed and aimed at a tender place in the copper mare’s armor. She might have, but she does not. Instead her attitude remains mostly defensive, and so while she may think many horrible things in the direction of the red woman, they remain quite firmly within her own mind. The younger mare is not blameless for the wreckage and change that has occurred since their first encounter, but nor is she the true catalyst for the upheaval. Lepis is angry, and she does not keep it from her expression, but it is a simple task to keep it in check. Simpler than it had once been, anyway.
“Be careful.” Is what she finally says, the words clipped and short. The mild irritation that remains on her face appears present in her words as well, however off-topic they might seem. “There are things moving in the shadows, and Taiga is no safer than the rest of Beqanna.” Concern for Lilliana’s safety is not her priority. Lepis would not mourn her, and surely no soul could blame her for it. Taiga though, remains important, remains worth protecting so long as her family remains there. The duality of it is uncomfortable – Lilli the traitor deserves nothing and Lilli the Taigan deserves protection. Behind her blue lips, the dun mare grits her teeth, and if the copper woman thinks it is solely for her benefit, all the better.
“I have somewhere to be.” She sidesteps, just barely off the trail, just enough to signal that she is leaving. A peal of thunder overhead causes her to glance up, but the distraction is brief. Soon she is shaking her wings again, shedding the water as best she can before looking south along the trail that leads into Taiga.
LEPIS
staring at the bottom of your glass--
hoping one day you’ll make a dream last
but dreams come slow and they go so fast |
