11-01-2021, 02:26 AM
I L I A N A
He tells her that she is lucky, and while she understands that to an extent, she is still too young to fully grasp the weight of such a statement.
She is too young to understand just exactly how lucky she is; to have two parents that love not only her, but also each other. To be surrounded by siblings that were either born from that same love or were at least adopted into it. To have been born into a family that would love and protect her at all cost when so many in this land could not say the same. The simple fact that her father was even here to teach her how to shift said more than she could comprehend at this age—so he tells her that she is lucky and while she nods, she does not fully understand why.
“It’s mostly just been my dad,” she answers him with a slight shrug. “Most of my older brothers and sisters don’t live here anymore. Except my sister Casimira, but she shifts into a dragon and doesn’t really like doing it.” That was a difficult thing for Iliana to grasp—she could not imagine hating her panther form the way Casimira seems to resent her dragon, but when asked about it her sister had visibly shut down, and Iliana had learned to not ask again.
“Maybe someday I can meet your twin, and you can meet mine?” she offers with a carefully concealed enthusiasm. He seemed hesitant to reveal anything to her, and she couldn’t figure out if it was because he was still leery of her and her predator form, or if it was something unrelated to her and she was overthinking it all. She wanted to be his friend, since other than her sister she didn’t have any, but maybe the feeling wasn’t quite mutual. After a beat of silence as she tries to figure out how to steer the conversation she finally settles on small talk that she hopes might allow him to relax a little. “Were you born here? I feel like I would have seen you sooner if you were, but Hyaline is a pretty big place.”
She is too young to understand just exactly how lucky she is; to have two parents that love not only her, but also each other. To be surrounded by siblings that were either born from that same love or were at least adopted into it. To have been born into a family that would love and protect her at all cost when so many in this land could not say the same. The simple fact that her father was even here to teach her how to shift said more than she could comprehend at this age—so he tells her that she is lucky and while she nods, she does not fully understand why.
“It’s mostly just been my dad,” she answers him with a slight shrug. “Most of my older brothers and sisters don’t live here anymore. Except my sister Casimira, but she shifts into a dragon and doesn’t really like doing it.” That was a difficult thing for Iliana to grasp—she could not imagine hating her panther form the way Casimira seems to resent her dragon, but when asked about it her sister had visibly shut down, and Iliana had learned to not ask again.
“Maybe someday I can meet your twin, and you can meet mine?” she offers with a carefully concealed enthusiasm. He seemed hesitant to reveal anything to her, and she couldn’t figure out if it was because he was still leery of her and her predator form, or if it was something unrelated to her and she was overthinking it all. She wanted to be his friend, since other than her sister she didn’t have any, but maybe the feeling wasn’t quite mutual. After a beat of silence as she tries to figure out how to steer the conversation she finally settles on small talk that she hopes might allow him to relax a little. “Were you born here? I feel like I would have seen you sooner if you were, but Hyaline is a pretty big place.”
-- the shadow is mine, and so is the valley
@Vital