let the river run dry; mary

[kildare]

He had finally kept his promise. 

His wandering heart had finally settled enough that once Kildare put his mind going to Loess, he knew there was one stop he needed to make first. Once he had ensured his aunt's safety, once he had fulfilled the promise he made to his father, he could go to Loess with a clear mind and ready for... for what? Turning his mind to Loess had been as far as he had gotten, Kildare had only really thought to see Mary again. 

The wanderlust that surged in his veins had kept him most of the summer and well into the autumn. Kildare did exactly what he always done: what he wanted. 

But, eventually, as the days began to grow shorter and the wind carried a frigid warning, Kildare found himself heading east, away from the wide-open oceans that he had come to admire. He followed the common trails through Beqanna. Tephra and its volcano loomed behind him, the autumn woods of Sylva as it waited with the rest of the world for winter. It had only been that when the young black stallion came closer to the Loessian border that he turned north, determined to make good on his word. 

Once he did that, he could turn his mind towards other matters.

He had come upon the Taiga with a guarded expression, not entirely certain of those trees that seemed to smother instead of encouraging company. His bright-eyed, laughing aunt lived.. there? But by the time that he had come, there was no sign of Lilliana. Her scent had grown cold and Kildare didn't intend to rouse suspicion by patrolling the border looking for her. 

He would be back, he tells himself.

And perhaps somewhat relieved, Kildare leaves his past behind him again. He slips to the South where his stride takes on new energy and the young stallion turns his mind towards the kingdom in the South - the kingdom that Mary had said was the strongest in all Beqanna. While he doesn't doubt the might of Loess, the black stallion finds himself interested in seeing it for himself. 

When he slips through the southeastern border, when the mountains of Hyaline all start to fall away, it's a familiar scent that causes his mouth to tug in an easy grin. "Goddess?" he calls out to a few empty rocky hills, "Hope I haven't missed all the fun."

But he's missed her, he thinks. 

@[Mary] you are a saint