She can’t leave, even if the anxiousness in her chest is nearly choking her.
Her life, though so full of love and adoration, has been so very small. She hasn’t been able to travel into the far reaches beyond Tephra, let alone explore each corner of her own homeland. Parts of it are dangerous for such a thin and frail girl, as she has learned from her birth, and she knows to stay in the open areas and to keep her legs from feeling the roguish pull of the sea.
Just looking at him - this winged stranger - brings her closer to those things than she ever could have imagined. He smells of other places, exciting and new scents and even that terrible sadness in his eyes draws Olena even closer. Perhaps that is the consequence of leaving the safety of home; there are risks in making yourself vulnerable, but even so, the buckskin girl finds herself longing for it.
At least he is feeling something.
Her dark tail swishes gently at her obsidian legs, the deep cerulean markings across her face making her appear expressive and curious. Her heart palpitates in her chest like a frightened bird against a cage, however, and it causes her to tremble slightly. He smiles at her though (and it is warm, inviting, and gentle, despite the sadness in those beautiful green eyes) and it stills her at that moment.
“Please,” she replies softly, lowering her head slightly so that her pleading yet bold-colored gaze peers up at him from beneath her black forelock. She has worked so hard to get here to join him that she couldn’t imagine turning him away. The deep raven of her wings shuffles slightly, catching the burning Tephra sun and casting a deep blue iridescence across the feathers. “I may be wrong, but you look like you’ve experienced a thing or two in your wanderings,” Olena mentions this gently, afraid that her assumption would be incorrect. “I - I would love to hear about them, Nashua.” She says his name back to him, a tiny smile quirking onto her onyx lips. Her gold ears twitch nervously, praying that he’d be more than willing to share a few stories with a stranger who will not admit that she lives through others' experiences.
OLENA
& all the stars go dark
i turn the light on in my soul
@[Nashua]