A breeze blows across her coat, twisting between the damp guard hairs and reviving her numb skin. The shaking of her limbs and core stops, and the muscles across her back relax. Solace pulls the unnaturally warm air deep into her lungs, already sure that it will not last.
She wants to reach for Valdis, but her daughter seems to willfully be avoiding her, choosing instead an unknown colt- a colt who's appearance under any other circumstances would have raised many questions. Solace's heart clenches, the frustration on the almost-woman's brow is easy enough for a mother to read, and she feels helpless as the wind surges again, ripping her voice from her. Her own frustration bubbles in her breast, warming her if nothing else, and grinding her teeth together Solace presses into the storm as her daughter disappears into the snow.
Valdis had decided to leave her, but her hands were tied and it cut her deep to be so helpless.
From within a swirl of ice and snow, there is suddenly warmth along her empty side, and Hyaline's Caretaker twists her neck to discover who it is. Her general, the color of snow and as steady as the mountains, had come alongside her and gratefulness washes over her. She presses her lips and their residual heat to his cheek before he makes the wise yet painful decision to split from them to better their odds.
Pressed close to Kagerus' side, Solace tracks left. The path is inhospitable, to say the least. The only thing which keeps them true is the fact that the land beyond the trail is simply impassible.
Despite her winter pelt, Solace's body begins to shudder again and she wishes Kag could dream them warm and cozy back with their family - their whole family - Velk, Valdis, Abysm, Koko, Rhae, Will, Aegean. None were more or less their family, and the though of them is what keeps her spirits from plummeting.
It is clear that this is a test, that they will be subjected to the elements to pay some penance and there is no escape. The fairies didn't need them, this was all for show, she muses cynically as the frost bites her nose, but she was willing to give what the demanded of her even with only the sliver of information she had been given.
Solaces trudges on like a mule, and the minutes stretch impossibly long as the pain in her freezing legs playing tricks on her mind. She draws strength from Kagerus, trying not to think about what the next test will be. Squinting against the storm, she looks to her blood-and-bone woman, and what should have been an intimate whisper becomes a shout - but it is barely more audible than a murmmer.
"I love you, Kag." She says with all the force of her fear and determination behind it. She has no way to know if her words will find their mark, but she feels the power of them regardless and her head rises a little higher.
They were in this together.
For better or for worse.
we are the ever-living ghost of what once was
