[open] blossoming alone over you

[Altissima]

The tug that had drawn Altissima out of Loess in the middle of the night had not been as strong as the one that encourages her to wander in the summer and spend the colder months with both the hot springs and Tarian to keep her warm. She’s been sleeping so much that a fit of restlessness had encouraged her to stretch her wings and enter the chilled world she hates so much. It reminds her too much of how she had almost died during the darkness, how she had been unable to keep herself warm curled as tightly against herself as she could manage, hiding in the forest and waiting for either the sun or death. But she is eager to move today so she pushes herself until she is warm with exercise, the early morning light twinkling around her as she drinks it in - feeling at peace even in the cold air with the sun as her companion. When she tires, she angles herself to land near the river and almost drops right out of the sky when she catches sight of a familiar figure standing on the riverbank. Despite the fact that she is grown and even pregnant with the beginning of her own family, Altissima feels exactly how she did when she had seen him last when she was a yearling. Small, uncertain, wary, and practically choking on the hope of being recognized and welcome. The desire to run to avoid any lack of recognition or interest floods through her but she’s been trying so hard to fight that instinct with Tarian, it’s begun to seep into other places in her life. So she lands nearby, her wings disappearing into her blue-tinted sides once her hooves touch on the ground, and she approaches. Her heart is racing and, though she’s not sure why, she does not use the formality she had greeted him with last time. “Dad?”

image by yoricade

@litotes <33