05-20-2023, 04:38 PM
I L I A N A
She had been raised on stories of the Chamber, and so it was no surprise that she had come to see it for herself.
Settled onto the thick branch of a large evergreen tree, her panther tail languidly flicking, she stares out into the forest with rose-gold eyes, taking it in. She could see why her father had liked it here—the darkness of the trees, the coolness of the needles underfoot, and the general quietness that only a forest could bring. She is not sure if it is the phantom beat of her father’s heart that she feels or simply her own pulse echoing back to her, but she is aware of it all the same. She is not sure if she will stay here; she has little interest in taking up her father’s mantle, in continuing the reign of the Chamber’s long-lost panthers, but it is not a decision she will hold herself to just yet.
There is always time to change her mind.
Somewhere beyond the tops of the trees the sky begins to awaken, though it comes as a nearly imperceptible lightening underneath the canopy of the trees. She yawns, white teeth glinting inside a dark mouth, but before she can lazily bring herself to stand she sees the antlered stallion—a raven perched there as if they were the branches of a tree—maneuvering through the trees. It’s the glowing white of their eyes that snags her interest, though, but the nonchalant way she makes her way to the ground betrays just how much her curiosity has been piqued as she lands with a soft thud on the forest floor.
“Good morning,” she greets the pair, and settles back on her haunches with her tail curled around her paws. She does not say anything else; the Chamber is not her home to welcome to or chase anyone away from, and instead she only watches them with her own rose-gold eyes.
Settled onto the thick branch of a large evergreen tree, her panther tail languidly flicking, she stares out into the forest with rose-gold eyes, taking it in. She could see why her father had liked it here—the darkness of the trees, the coolness of the needles underfoot, and the general quietness that only a forest could bring. She is not sure if it is the phantom beat of her father’s heart that she feels or simply her own pulse echoing back to her, but she is aware of it all the same. She is not sure if she will stay here; she has little interest in taking up her father’s mantle, in continuing the reign of the Chamber’s long-lost panthers, but it is not a decision she will hold herself to just yet.
There is always time to change her mind.
Somewhere beyond the tops of the trees the sky begins to awaken, though it comes as a nearly imperceptible lightening underneath the canopy of the trees. She yawns, white teeth glinting inside a dark mouth, but before she can lazily bring herself to stand she sees the antlered stallion—a raven perched there as if they were the branches of a tree—maneuvering through the trees. It’s the glowing white of their eyes that snags her interest, though, but the nonchalant way she makes her way to the ground betrays just how much her curiosity has been piqued as she lands with a soft thud on the forest floor.
“Good morning,” she greets the pair, and settles back on her haunches with her tail curled around her paws. She does not say anything else; the Chamber is not her home to welcome to or chase anyone away from, and instead she only watches them with her own rose-gold eyes.
-- the shadow is mine, and so is the valley
@Abrus