[open] blossoming alone over you

[Altissima]

She finds it easy to smile when he does, though hers is not as vivid - it’s cautious and hopeful and she still cannot get her heart to stop racing the entire time they stand there facing each other. It is beyond anything she would have expected to see Litotes grin at her like that again, and she tries to caution herself - tries to keep those walls in place because what if this is it? What if they have one good conversation and she can never find him again? But it is hard to feel cautious when her dad is grinning at her so brightly. A brief flash of surprise passes across her expression when he moves forward and Altissima is tense during the quick hug. Which she is immediately sorry for as soon as it’s over - and promises herself to try harder next time so it isn’t like hugging a statue. The cautious pale blue of her eyes deepens to a richer violet as her smile softens with the rest of her at his question. Maybe they’re both trying to find their footing in this and it’s not just her. Maybe it isn’t so hard to believe in a future where they see each other more often. She doesn’t know if this is getting ahead of herself but now that she’s let the hope loose, it grows wildly and roots itself in her heart. As for whether she is happy, that is an easy question to answer. The smile that forms when she thinks of Tarian, of the life they're making together, comes just as quickly as it always does. “I wasn’t for a long time. I thought I was but… but now I really am.” The difference between her happiness now and what she had thought was happiness all those years she spent avoiding everyone was staggering. But before she can tell him where he can find her, and her unborn child, if he wishes to visit - a small frown appears again, though this time the caution is mixed with concern. “Are you?” Altissima doesn't know whether to hope that he was or wasn't - she thinks either answer might hurt just as much.

image by yoricade

@litotes