darling, be patient, zohariel

[liesma]

i still chase you into heartache
Every time you take a step

The great yawning distance between them is not lost on Liesma. The cool greeting such a stark contrast to the way her sister had greeted her the last time their paths had crossed purely by chance. The shadows crouching around the darker sister’s shoulders sparking confusion in the lighter sister. Creatures of the night, the two of them, but this darkness is something different altogether.

The stars Liesma had pulled down around her blink out suddenly when she blinks her own surprise. She feels suddenly tentative, hesitant, and to feel anything other than pure, unadulterated joy in the company of her sister makes her uneasy. Something has shifted, something fundamental.

How have the stars treated her? She feels no urge to tell her sister that she has spent precious little time with them as of late. She feels no urge to explain why. Instead, she takes a careful step toward her, the unease making her limbs hum. Theirs has been a stoic family, certainly, as creatures of the night often are, but this is something altogether different. There has never been any love spared between them.

“Zo, are you all right?” she asks, quiet. It has not occurred to her that she might have done something to upset her sister, why would it? It is so plainly obvious to Liesma that something terrible has happened.

liesma —