DAWN
i just killed off what was left of the optimist in me
The newcomer doesn’t respond to her weakly spoken words, but the woman barely notices his lack of a response, as numbed to the world as her body feels. Her mind is filled only with thoughts of her beautiful, perfect children, and the man that should’ve, could’ve, been their father. The beautiful boy grown into a heartthrob of a man that her heart refuses to let go of, though he had rejected her on this very beach, not long after the onset of the plague. Oh, how so much has changed since that fateful night. She hadn’t even caught a glimpse of him either of the times she was in Tephra recently, which should concern her – but right now, not much concerns her aside from the pain.
A sudden snarl startles the dying queen, but she hardly has the strength to open her eyes. Squinting against the light, she opens her eyes to see a bear – not something she expected at all – stalking towards them, hissing words at the stranger before shifting back to horse form. Caelestra?! she thinks, surprise coloring her gaze only for a split second as the black mare drops to Dawn’s side, pressing her nose into Dawn’s ruined ribcage.
Dawn screams then, but almost instantly the pain begins to subside. She remembers their first meeting, where the woman had admitted to wanting to use her abilities as a healer to help the Cove, and everything suddenly clicks into place as her arteries knit back together and the skin begins to heal over without a trace of a scar. The healing of her ribs comes slower, but slowly the broken bones begin to repair themselves and the injuries to her internal organs become less and less until they, too, are gone. With a shudder she manages to sit up, taking her first deep breath in what feels like an eternity.
“I owe you my life, friend,” she murmurs as she climbs shakily to her hooves – the wounds have healed but now the exhaustion sets in, and the blood coating both sides of her barrel make her a macabre sight. Caelestra steps forward to address the dark stranger and Dawn lifts her head to watch him and gauge his reaction, too tired to do much else but watch the two of them interact.
He asks if she is Clayton and she chuckles weakly, the hint of a smile playing at her lips. “No,” she rasps, giving Cael a grateful glance before looking back to the stranger. “She is Caelestra, a valuable friend, and our healer.” Her voice grows stronger as the fuzziness fades from her mind, but even still, she longs for a nice long sleep surrounded by her children. Soon enough. “And I meant to just introduce myself as Dawn. I lead the Cove with Clayton” – though if we’re honest, she’s not seen him around much since the birth of their twins – “who looks nothing like Caelestra here.”
She rolls her shoulders experimentally, but aside from residual soreness from her tangle with Kensa, everything seems to be in working order. “I don’t believe I caught your name...?”
@[Caelestra] @[Vadar]