[private] like the dawn, you broke the dark - valdis

[Solace]

Valdis falls into her embrace and for a moment Solace allows herself to believe that all is well. For a moment she buries her muzzle in her daughter's mane, submitting to some motherly instinct as she draws the scent of her into her lungs. But too soon the young mare is moving away, and a suppressed cough is enough to send Solace's spirits crashing again.

Her children were her weakness, even though they didn't know it. 
(Maybe it would have been better for everyone if they had of known) 

"I've avoided sickness so far, Velk too," she replies, although she truly believed it was only a matter of time before she contracted the plague. If she was lucky, Kagerus' gift of immortality would be enough to protect her from anything worse than symptoms. "And what of you? Have you caught the fever?"  Her voice is raw with the concern she feels, the helplessness. She wishes she could sweep her up, return the young mare to Silver Cove and make her fit.  Did she not know that she could have whatever position or power she wanted if she stayed?  

"You look pretty with frost in your hair,"  Valdis says, filling the silence as her beautifully stubborn mouth is setting again, and Solace watches helplessly as the walls go up.

(did she get that from me or from him?)

"I hope it doesn't last," she sighs, pretty or not she didn't like the cold on her neck, she didn't like the constant reminder of the missteps she had taken under the pressure of the grueling quest. But she lets the topic drop, her blue eyes searching Valdi's face with, for once not trying to curate every expression. 

"After we met Castile I thought you went to Silver Cove." Her tone lacks the fire of accusation or displeasure as the gold-splashed mare steps forward again, reaching her muzzle to brush a flake of frost from the princes's cheek. "Where have you been?" Solace nearly whispers. 

"You're too old to be told what to do, Valdis, that's not why I'm asking." Hyaline's Caretaker had better luck ruling a kingdom for a lifetime than holding her family together, she understands making up for lost time and reprimanding her nearly grown daughter won't do her any favors now. 

"I just want you to be safe."

S

olace

    we're reeling through an endless fall
we are the ever-living ghost of what once was

EDIT: cause it was a mess and i forgot a piece and then had to make it a little cleaner while i was adding the forgotten bit :|