Smoak's anxious mind and staccato heartbeat are thankful that the beautiful blue-tinted best friend of his childhood heeds his call. But she is no child anymore ─ she has grown into her previously lanky legs, the curve of her hip prominent despite the shag of her winter coat. And her wings. He is in awe as she glides across the lake, wings extended proudly. Much has changed, but he would know her anywhere, even with the new additional of her feathered appendages. And even with the sleepiness that clings to the corners of her eyes. Her familiar, welcoming scent mingles with the unfamiliar scent of another, but the bay stallion is too overjoyed to be so near to her that this observation is noted as low priority for the time being.
She smiles hesitantly at him but does not close the distance between their bodies as he would have expected her to ─ young Solace would have bounded to him, nearly knocking them both over before that sheepish blush would find her face. He smiles warmly at the thought and steps closer to press his cheek gently to hers as her intrigue falls from her lips.
"Looking for my parents," he tells her without preamble or uncertainty. She deserves the truth from him and he deserves someone to share it with for the first time in years. "They disappeared," he tells her, the sad grimace reaching his voice as he pulls his bone-armored face from hers, "They're gone from Beqanna. I would have found them if they weren't."
His green eyes inspect her for a moment before he nudges her again on the cheek and smiles warmly at this feeling of home. "Wings, huh?" trying to move the conversation to Solace. "I didn't know you could look anymore beautiful," he adds offhandedly, with a small inkling of his old self hidden somewhere in the depths of the thin man's body.
"What have I missed, Lace? Tell me everything."
here's a handshake, soldier, 'cause we both lost the war
@[Solace]