etro --
in the hushing dusk, under a swollen silver moon,
I came walking with the wind to watch the cactus bloom
More come—of course they do. She had not expected to be the only one summoned. None of them are familiar though, none the siblings she had encountered, and so she says nothing, just nodding at each of them in turn as they come with their demands and their questions. (The fact that some seemed angry about her mother’s request was beyond her, and she frowns at the steel in their voices.)
But her face opens up, blossoms, when his attention moves toward her, and her smile becomes slightly less fatigued. “If you insist.” She is by his side before she even realizes that she is moving, curling into him and sighing with relief. It seemed like so long ago that she had met her mother in the meadow—so long ago when Yael had been breaking down with her grief, so long ago since Etro had found out about her father’s murder. But he was here now, whole and alive and stronger than ever. Tangible.
“I missed you,” she whispers quietly into his neck, a secret the she shared between them although there was nothing secretive about it. Her sorrow had been well-documented. “I can’t stay long though,” and her eyes grow sad, gaze slipping away to linger on his wings before finding his eyes again. “I’m sorry.” I am sorry for what I am; I am sorry that I cannot live with you; I am sorry that I disappoint those I love.
She steps back again, feeling her hold slipping slightly on her negation, the exertion of it heavy. Others are there—others who deserve his time, and she frees him from her selfish hold, moving back to her spot outside the immediate circle. There were those who had come who clearly had their own powers, and she had no desire to strip that from them. Instead, she just watches him greet those who had come and then address them all. He was the same as she had remembered, and her expression softens in affection.
“Thank you,” she breathes out in response. “But all I ever desired was you home again.”
-- vanquish and yael's forgotten trait-negating princess --
