the girl, she's hiding horns; any

[Leokadia]

she got blood cold as ice
and a heart made of stone

There is meaning enough to fill volumes behind the words she so thoughtfully gives to Ciri about walking with someone important. It is an uncharacteristic kind of comment for Leokadia to be sure, she is usually direct unless being more verbose and eloquent serves a specific purpose. The meanings do in part have something to do with Ciri, with the connection that bounded up between them as soon as they met...but there are other things behind the words, things that she would not tell on this walk north.

Leokadia begins to feel like she knows when Ciri's eyes are upon her. It is not a crawling feeling like the leer of a stallion or the judgemental rabble. It feels like the sun or the moon gazing down at the shelter of a broad tree, shining around the edges, most assuredly there even if you weren't looking directly at it. When she does look and indeed meets the dark mare's lovely eyes her heart jumps like the rabbits she use to startle from the undergrowth. It follows that she would think of what she wanted to do with those rabbits and feel a very small concern for her own well being. Was she being flushed from her hiding place too, only to be sorry she hadn't stayed stoic and still? It's a small fear, easily dismissed by one so unconcerned by fears small and large.

Her eyes are pale, not so light as they had been against the clay she'd worn when they met but still so light as to look white in the right light. She does not pull them from Ciri's direct look for a long moment, at least two breaths. Only when she begins to wonder if the warmth she feels creeping up her neck will show on her light skin does she glance away, side step, look back. "I'm not sure how to answer that, it's a feeling mostly… I like you, and… you don't make me feel like I am not right somehow. I know I am not, but you don't seem to care." It is too much vulnerability, and she is glad for the yawning gap between the two of them.

She hopes Ciri does not ask anything else about that, her stomach is in knots and she mistakes the question about family as a safe one that will also tell her who is important to the other woman. Something she deeply would like to know. The names her companion gives are stored away easily and permanently. There is no one more specifically described than these and she wonders why until the question is turned back on her. She finds she can only give a half answer. "No one, I was adopted but she left me abandoned again not long after." No one else drew very close since then, or did more than criticize or mock her. Often it was fair for them to do so, she knows.

"Where did you live before the isle?" She finds herself drifting back, her small frame drawn back toward Ciri each time she glances the other mare's way. Leokadia does not forget the space between them as their hooves move in rhythm over the packed earth but she ignores the prickling awareness.

"I am asking too many questions." Leokadia states suddenly. She feels strange and wants to run the sensation off, to burn away her hyper awareness of herself. When she nips Ciri's neck, she sprints off before the other mare can see the warm flush that will show on the light skin of her muzzle.

but she keeps me alive
she's the beast in my bones

Leokadia

@Ciri