reality is what she makes

[Oriash]

Oriash

they promised that dreams can come true

He finds her quickly, which surprises her. It was almost as if he’d been looking for her, and perhaps he had, or perhaps she’d simply been in the right place at the right time. After all, she doesn’t flatter herself to think that he really wants anything to do with her, and yet, he greets her in a way that feels fatherly, familial, and she finds herself even quieter than usual for a moment. You stayed… he says, and his voice is soft. Hopeful? Could he possibly be hopeful that she would stick around?

Certainly, though she can see why. To keep the child he’d stolen away was a win in his column in this war she didn’t entirely understand, but she’s no fool. Eventually, she’ll understand that her power too is attractive, that there is so much she can do besides color the world and get lost between reality and illusion, but she has only just begun to scratch the surface of these things, self-taught as she is. In this moment though, she simply understands she is capable of being a very useful pawn, and yet…

And yet she cannot help but hear something more in his voice. Not that she doesn’t think there are motives that she can guess at and perhaps some she can’t, but still, if that is all she is to him, he does quite a good job hiding it. “I was hoping to make it my home, if you’ll have me,” she says, quiet as always but she meets his eyes and keeps her gaze steady on his, though some part of her feels like she ought to curl in on herself. That is not the girl she wants to be though, not the girl she wants to present to the dragon king. After all, it was time to be more than she was.

but they forgot that nightmares are dreams too.

@[Castile]