12-25-2019, 09:10 PM
She is not sure she wants to hear the history of Nerine, is not certain that it's history will matter much to its future when there is no-one within it but a little rose-and-white mare caring to remember the names and faces that lived among its crags. These histories of lands are nothing but a moment. How many places has she been, full of memories but devoid of life? What do conquerors care for that history? They see the marks carved into the rocks, exclaim over the brilliance of ancient worlds, and install their own lives over top, ignoring that they walk on the bones of those that came before.
Whatever Nerine was, it is unlikely to be again unless the dead rise and return. Which, she thinks, wryly, given the circumstances, seems entirely possible... Her eyes skip across the emptiness around them and she tries to picture the place teeming with life, but her imagination fails her. She is not like Lilli, practiced in pulling tales out of the stars and the seas, she is not Heartfire, leeching the off the vision of others, seeing firsthand what she should have no knowledge of. Neverwhere's imagination, like her dreams, like her eyes, is clouded and blurry and full of shadows.
"I was under the impression that Lepis and Heartfire were the reason for the current state of things." Lepis so foolishly idealistic that she would set the world on fire to protect it from the cold, and Heartfire... The cold, she thinks, with an amused snort.
Neverwhere looks back at Eurwen and she tips her head slightly when the other mare pauses, lost in what-ifs and regret. There is conflict on her face and the silver dapple makes no attempt to stop it, to comfort, she stands with silent and barely-concealed impatience until a sort of resolve builds in the dark eyes that rise again to meet her.
"Well? Tell me then, though I don't know what knowing will change."
Whatever Nerine was, it is unlikely to be again unless the dead rise and return. Which, she thinks, wryly, given the circumstances, seems entirely possible... Her eyes skip across the emptiness around them and she tries to picture the place teeming with life, but her imagination fails her. She is not like Lilli, practiced in pulling tales out of the stars and the seas, she is not Heartfire, leeching the off the vision of others, seeing firsthand what she should have no knowledge of. Neverwhere's imagination, like her dreams, like her eyes, is clouded and blurry and full of shadows.
"I was under the impression that Lepis and Heartfire were the reason for the current state of things." Lepis so foolishly idealistic that she would set the world on fire to protect it from the cold, and Heartfire... The cold, she thinks, with an amused snort.
Neverwhere looks back at Eurwen and she tips her head slightly when the other mare pauses, lost in what-ifs and regret. There is conflict on her face and the silver dapple makes no attempt to stop it, to comfort, she stands with silent and barely-concealed impatience until a sort of resolve builds in the dark eyes that rise again to meet her.
"Well? Tell me then, though I don't know what knowing will change."
Neverwhere
...
