i am the mace, the map, the fall and the high
As the chill of winter fades into spring to mark the half-year since he had taken Nerine into his guardianship, Reave finds that his restlessness does not wane. He refuses to acknowledge why, but he knows the answer. His mother hadn’t returned. For months now he had stubbornly believed she would soon. She must. He had, after all. He had no reason to believe she wouldn’t as well.
But Lilliana is nowhere to be found.
That knowledge builds a fury deep in his chest, one he’s not entirely certain he could contain if he admitted it was there. Although why he should care if it is released, he’s not certain he knows anymore. And so he does the only thing he can - he seeks distraction.
It is a flawed coping mechanism. Even young and impetuous as he is, Reave knows that. Even if he did not, Rune would remind him. Annoyingly. But he had already tried sifting through the possibilities as he stared into Lilliana’s favorite places in Beqanna. Too many of them ended poorly, each one adding another twig to the blaze in his heart, until he could not look anymore. So today, he runs, only one goal on his mind.
He is breathless when he reaches the river, but he does not stop. Plunging into the wayward currents, he allows himself to be carried away on their swift grip, Rune’s desperate cry ringing in his ears as he swoops low over the water.
When the river finally slows, Reave is exhausted. He doesn’t leave the river though, instead settling into the shallows as he lifts his bone-masked face to the sun, blue eyes blazing fiercely from behind it as though he could take on that element too.
It is only when he feels the presence of another that he returns his attention to the shoreline. Her memories swarm around her, even from this distance, telling him tales he had not asked for. Slowly, he stands, water falling in rivulates from bone-ruptured skin, blood that had been washed away rising anew to tinge ivory bone red. When finally her memories have worn themselves away to fleeting tatters, Reave tilts his head curiously as he moves to the bank. “Don’t be shy, princess, I’m dying to meet you.”
reave
@[Elliana]