08-04-2019, 02:29 PM
Astana is not in Nerine, not like she is supposed to. If Heartfire found out about this, (which Astana is learning she almost always finds out anything) she would be reprimanded. But she finds she leaves not because she does not care, but because she has to. She is restless, but she has always been restless. Wanderlust courses through her veins, has been her family's to hold since the dawn of time when the first of her ancestors gazed out across the endless ocean for the first time. Today, it is hers however, and she cups it in her hands gently, like a baby bird, examining it from every perspective in the hopes that its confusing depths will reveal some of its secrets to her. Of course, wanderlust has its own idea of the situation and it will adhere to that code lest it be what it is not; the golden diamond eyed girl may be the only member of her family that enjoys it (it explains why she is here and they are not), but then, she had no worldly tie to that place or its people, not anymore. All that existed of her relationships has blown away on the breeze and while she cannot resent them for leaving, as she so longs to do the same, she cannot quite force herself to forgive them for leaving her. But the way they have not found her, her mother has not even slipped into her dreams. That hurts worst of all, she thinks as she pockets the wanderlust and wanders, not for the first time, into the foggy forest. She finds a small clearing, it would seem spring was taking its time breathing its life back into this place. It is mostly brown, and still colorless, barely large enough for twenty horses to stand nose to tail, and settles, rather unceremoniously in the sparse shade of a half dead tree. She thinks, poor tree. This world is not all good and kind, but she does love it so and to see something ruined, dying, it puts her heart at unease. Heartfire rules an entire kingdom, she cannot keep watch on Astana all the time, she has meetings to attend to and the big job of telling people what to do. So, what then of the adopted diamond eyed daughter of the Nerine Queen? Astana rests silently, watching as a confused doe leads her child into the clearing, pausing to look at the golden girl. “My loves,” she says, and they look up to see her staring intently at them, her heart breaking a thousand times for their confusion. ”There is no more life for that place to give, yet.” Astana wishes more than anything that they would understand, but the doe and her little child stare, startled, for a moment before disregarding the wind chime voice of the golden child altogether, and shuffle further into the more dense area of the forest. Astana stares somberly, letting those thoughts drown out. She wonders then, where Kildare could have gone. The boy with eyes like spring had been the reason for her coming here. He was older than her, by a year or so. He was taller, with a handsome face and a coat as dark as the night. He was like shadows, but he had a smile that he wore like the sun. How a boy could be both night and day was beyond her little mind’s comprehension, but Kildare was able to wear both with such grace that often on their journey, those diamond eyes would watch him with mild curiosity. He was, to her, an enigma of sorts, a source of her ever constant fascination. “Do you think adventure comes to those who wait? Or only to those who seek it?” She had asked Etoile one day as she stared over the vast expanse of dunes in their sandy home. Etoile had simply rolled her eyes and shook her head. This only encouraged Astana to keep talking. “I think it rests in everyone’s hearts, but it is so quiet in the beginning, that not everyone can hear it,” she says, to which Etoile responds that that was silly and foolish. Astana turned diamond eyes to her twin then, reckless grin all over that pretty face. “But I hear it, Etoile, I hear it,” she says defensively before she turns back once more to the horizon. “But—what is it saying?” |
@[kildare]