I'll be almost to the ocean when you open your eyes
A shiver wound its way along her spine. It was hard to tell if it was simply the cold she was unused to that caused it, or something more insidious. Meeting Tiercel's gaze, she saw reflected what she already knew: they would never be the same. None of them who had lived through the dark, and worse, would see the world or themselves quite the same way again.
The half-healed knots of tissue along her leg pulsed sickeningly. How long would it be before she could close her eyes and not see a blood red ring in the sky? If asked, she would be unable to untangle the emotions leaking from the darkly tinged stallion from her own.
They were, after all, simply different shades of the same experiences. There were pieces of them left behind in the darkness, and she wasn't brave enough yet to go looking for them. Not when the fire was so warm and bright. Not when the dark felt so close still.
Understanding, or as close as she can come to it, settles on her face. She may not have experienced what horrors he alludes to, but the truth was that none of them had had the exact same reaction to the long night. She did not know that for some, it had gone much deeper. That the hell had swallowed some of them up completely. Only a few had returned from it. Some in pieces. Some not at all.
Swallowing hard, she nodded, amethyst meeting sapphire. "I think we might have to admit that maybe the best we can say is we're alive, and go from there." She murmured, heart welling with every dark thing the eclipse had brought on them. She was afraid she'd never understood what they had done to bring so much tragedy on their heads.
It seemed impossible to talk about anything else, but the mermare realized she had to try. Otherwise they'd be worse than drowning, pulling each other deeper with every passing second.
"You need to come back to Ischia," she said abruptly, the words a surprise as they left her mouth. "I just mean... You should come, and see her as she's meant to be. Bring your family, stay for a few days. It would do me just as much good, to play hostess again." Her mouth tightened, the volley of words drying up again. So long away from the world had left her social graces somewhat wanting. More than somewhat, honestly.
Aquaria
@Tiercel