With Kagerus' arrival, the relative calm is shattered, but Solace doesn't mind. The trio of children (well, the pair of boys mostly) infuses a sense of chaotic energy into the scene. It is something that Solace has grown used to, and even find comfort in. As they each vie for attention and Indi steals the stage, Solace extends her wing to brush the tips of her sky-tinted feathers across her wife's shoulder in a wordless greeting as their eyes meet.
The reunion seems to be not quite what Set expected, and Solace's eyes narrow slightly as she watches him make his unconventional departure. Not that she was bothered by the decision, but something about its execution sends a red flag waving in her mind. Regardless, it is a thread she doesn't intend to follow, not now at least, and she enjoys greeting each of her children with equal affection as they eventually look to her one by one. Olena bolts for the shelter of her mother's wings and Solace is happy to provide the girl with a downy tent of blue, and her already glowing heart feels a little warmer as her smallest child presses their sides together.
There is a brief breath of silence, and her crystalline eyes return to Ori. The mother of eleven wasn't in the habit of apologizing for her children, but as Oberyn flaps his wings and yells "Watch this!" before taking flight in a flurry of feathers and flying hooves, she feels the need to give an apologetic laugh to her full-grown daughter.
With the little pegasus colt clear and floating above them, Solace lifts her wing a little to encourage Olena into the gathering of family. "We keep to ourselves these days," the frost-kissed mare volunteers. Since returning to Tephra, both of her pregnancies had been touched by a misfortune of some sort, and despite her apparent lack of age, she felt her years in her bones. But these things were not enough for her to overlook the gifts she had been given in recent years. Her former life was a story slowly being lost to time, and although a part of her soul would always long for the mountains, she wasn't sure she would have it any other way.
All of this passes unsaid, and only half-understood by the Solace. Instead, she only smiles, that smile forever tinted with the bittersweet, and she draws a deep breath into her lungs. "It feels like home now though."
we are the ever-living ghost of what once was
@[Oriash]
