She didn’t rush home like she led him to believe. There are extensive miles between Sylva and Nerine, hours – days – of exploration and adventure. The sun rises and sinks day after day, and still she doesn’t yet turn homeward. Deciduous trees tower high above and jagged mountain peaks bury into the looming clouds. Every detail is regarded and memorized, swallowed with an artist’s eye until she musters enough strength to return home. After having been gone for days – though it seems like an eternity – it’s almost as though she can hear the lapping waves even from this far away.
The trek is long, but it distracts her in so many ways. The exploration cleanses her and settles her reeling mind, even if only the time being. Her fiery eyes – still lit by the colors of autumn – rove across the first sign of familiarity. Foliage thins and soil breaks into sand made softer the farther she transgresses into Nerine. Hearing the gulls cry above and the true sound of the waves offers a comforting blanket that eases her exhausted muscles.
But she doesn’t find solace in solitude.
The past few days have been spent in loneliness and she enjoyed those lasting moments. It had eventually become serene once her thoughts trickled out through the cracks of her mind. Now, however, she wants company to sate her needs. To hear conversation again and to drink in a scent beyond blooming trees lures her to the only place she knows him to be. ”Lior,” she croons airily as she approaches the caverns dotting the coast. A feeble grin uneasily crawls across her lips as she searches for him with footsteps that whisper across the beach dunes.
In searching for him, she is also hoping to find affirmation that she is succeeding at being a Queen. They have an ally, a sub-kingdom, but no one other than Djinni and Stillwater know. Vibrating with elation, she soon discovers him, but pauses to merely look and scrutinize his unruly locks. ”Hello, Lior,” she finally says with a salty breeze kissing her skin.
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