good at goodbyes
Galilee’s joy distracted them all as she peeled herself away from Brennen. Mosrael’s heart swelled and she rushed to offer her mother the support of her side as Brennen moved away to introduce himself to his newest child. She appears at peace as a gentle smile spreads across the velvet of her lips.
“She looks like us, Mosrael, doesn’t she?” The question is only enough to encourage a stiff grin past her hardened exterior. Looking like her was no great feat, she knew. There was even another before Belgaer that shared the same tell-tale ‘child-of-Galilee’ features. No. It was hard to feel honored by another copy of herself. Especially since this version seemed improved upon by the wings that clung to her back, almost too big for her body.
Everyone’s attentions shifted, however, as Galilee exclaimed two name no one there could have claimed to expect.
She thought she’d be the final sibling to arrive but as she stood there beside the others two shadows glided across the sand. Glancing upwards surprise replaced the furrowed brow upon her face as she quickly recognized the two figures belonging to her two older brothers; Aemar and Raelyx. Self-proclaimed oddities, the two mirrored her surprise as they shifted and landed in the warm sand. Neither seemed to have changed much in the time of their absence and she wondered if they would notice her own. Though she remained wingless, her changes were far more subtle than both of the stallions could ever claim to be. What, with Aemar’s odd bird like features and Raelyx’s all too familiar purple spots paired with a wingspan to make the largest of birds jealous. Only Belgaer truly knew the extent of all that she’d been gifted with by Nike and she trusted him not to tell.
Raelyx, yet another Galilee doppelganger, stepped forward and offered his greeting to her and she stiffened at his touch. At the edge of her vision she caught Aemar acknowledging Belgaer in his same-old arthritic manner. It seemed that, despite their starkly differing outward appearances, the two had more in common than she’d realized. A slight smile tugged at the corner of her mouth, there for only a breath before it fell off once more.
All eyes were on Raelyx now as he rushed to introduce himself to their sister – already he claimed to love her. Mosrael wondered what that must be like, to know that you held affection for something you hardly even knew.
As their father offered a greeting to his oldest two sons she could hear it in his voice. He wanted them to stay. Venom shot through her gaze as it shifted from one brother to the other. With them there, Brennen would have no need of her and he most definitely would not consider her for the roll she so desperately desired to fill. She took two brisk steps away from everybody, her movements suddenly mechanical as she searched for the nearest escape.
When will he see me? Her thoughts screamed, threatening to reveal themselves to anyone who cared to listen. When will he realize that it’s me? That I’m the missing piece to his equation?
She was angry at him, angry at the truth of her sex and angry that she would never truly be viewed as equal to her male counterparts. Just as little Khaeli would be nothing but a girl, a prisoner to the thing she lacked between her legs.
