DAWN
i just killed off what was left of the optimist in me
Her body still aches despite the healing, and the thought of all of the political visits she has to make now loom darkly in her mind, but she forces herself to focus on the conversation before her, with the mysteriously scarred stallion in front of her and Caelestra at her side. All she wants to do is sleep, and cuddle with her children, and take some time to recover from her still tingling brush with death. Her body trembles beyond her control as she stands next to the bear-healer and her eyelids are so heavy that she can feel them slipping down to cover her eyes. Giving her head a violent shake, she adjusts her position and looks out towards the sea.
The ocean has always grounded her, if nothing else.
She misses the surprise that flashes on Vadar’s face when she rises, but her mind is in a thousand different places all at once. He takes on Cael’s offer with just the hint of hesitation, but she is not surprised – magical healing is enough to make anyone hesitant, she knows. Her own mother healing her scrapes and bruises as a child had made her uneasy until she had grown used to the near constant flow of power into her; she had been a rambunctious foal, always hurting herself one way or another.
He offers his name and she looks back at him, a tired smile on her face. “It is good to meet you, Vadar,” she tells him, and she means it. She doesn’t know that it was his monster that destroyed her, and perhaps she’ll never know. All she knows is that without him stumbling across her, she would likely be a corpse upon the beach right now. “You are welcome to stay in the Cove for as long as you like.”
Vadar talks about the magicks they encountered in Tephra, and Dawn’s smile falters a bit, mind wandering to Litotes and Kensa and the dragons and the darkness and the volcano. “It was... incredible,” she agrees quietly, trying so desperately to hide the despair that rises in her lungs and threatens to choke her. There is so much to be done. Too much. She needs to take a minute to just breathe.
@[Caelestra] @[Vadar]