Nerine smells like freedom.
The wind tugs at her thick, copper mane as Lilliana takes in those first wild sights of the true North - of these untamed cliffs, of all these jagged ledges that demand attention from her blue eyes. Lilli gives it, freely and with open admiration, as her gaze drinks it all in. Taiga and her shadowed woods have nothing to compete with this kingdom; there is nothing to hide here. Nerine is dazzling in the ways that her beloved forest is not - grey cliffs that boast heights and views she could never otherwise see.
Those daring ledges could tempt Lilliana for things she might have never otherwise aspire too.
But today she is not here for the ledges or the views.
She is here for several reasons. One of those includes the roan mare to one side of her and the chestnut casts another concerned glance from underneath her dark lashes. There is a furrowed line on her forehead and her smile, an uncomplicated thing and so freely given, finds itself constrained against the borders of this worry that is building in her chest. Brine has not made an easy choice but she had seemed so confident of it in the Field - who was Lilliana to question it? So they, Brine and Lilliana led by the prettily-spotted Eurwen, journey past the Taiga (with Lilli casting a few more uncertain looks towards her home, a few moments where she looks to the forest behind her and something glimmers in those blue eyes as she stares into the penumbra of those woods).
Whatever she thinks and turns over in her mind stays there; they remain her shadows.
A fresh breeze plays with them as it slides by and Lilliana feels it again, that tug towards the North as her attention turns excitedly forward. "How long have you lived in Nerine, Eurwen?" the chestnut asks as the scent of pine and evergreen fall further behind them. "I've never been," Lilli admits somewhat sheepishly as she looks towards the spotted mare. It feels like such a silly thing to admit too and yet so revealing - the Taigan diplomat has only been to Ischia (at least officially) and Hyaline.
And then she turns her attention back to Brine, "There aren't kinder souls in Beqanna than Aten and his mate." Lilli says this in hopes to comfort her, to settle any doubts that might have settled in her mind in their journey north. "I doubt Ruth will have any peace from the brood that he and Lethy sport," and there it is, that easy smile, her familiar teasing. Their brood is something of a trademark for the pair - the two of them are responsible for several of Taiga's younger inhabitants and their laughter has been the ringing assurance in the woods that they are well-loved and adored as all foals should be.
"I'll check in on her to make sure that she has everything she needs," Lilliana tries, a gentle promise she makes. She is no substitute for Brine but Ruth becomes added to the others that Lilli has started to take account for - Smidgen and Tyr.
There is a moment where Lilliana meets the gaze of the mother, hoping to convey that her daughter will be in good hands in Taiga. She hopes she can express this before asking Eurwen as the crimson mare stills, "Eurwen, do you know a mare by the name of @[Neverwhere]?" An inquiring tilt of her head and a small smile hopes to prompt her further, "Or where we might find her?"
@[Eurwen] @[Brine] no particular order lol
but it's all in the past, love
it's all gone with the wind