08-04-2019, 11:49 PM
 I can remember a time when I was so afraid when even my shadow wouldn't follow me That tiny baby muzzle had been lowered to the earth. She stops, halting the walk she was taking with her parents, before her mother got sick, before her father got sad. She flicked her tail to the side and stared at an old withered plant that had been crushed by the cold and frost. Pouting slightly she stared at the dead creature, her lush, vibrant amber eyes taking it in deeply like a fresh breath of air. “Isn’t it sad?” She says, but there is not note of a pout on that young, little face. She is speaking, but it sounds as if it were to no one in particular. “Everything dies you know…” she says, a lesson she had learned from her grandmother, but a concept she still could not quite grasp, as if it were still just out of reach for that innocent little mind of hers. “Do you think I will end up withered like that plant? Lying forgotten in some ditch where only the dreamers can find me?” Bringing her face up she blinked at her parents who stood dumbfounded, but only once. A solemn expression daunted her face, whiskered lips pulled into a straight line. Then with no spring in her step, she turned her attention back to navigating through their nature walk. Strange, that little girl with such a bright smile, it was like she already knew the fate that awaited them, her, everyone. She has been on far too many journeys in her young life and Elaina has found that she craves some sort of stability, aches for roots to grow from her feet and into the ground. She had an opportunity, in Woodlands, but as she watered and tended the tree she wished grow, she found no roots were able to imbed themselves, it had felt wrong. There had been times when Elaina had been so carefree, planting seeds and whispering wishes to set those roots down deep into the ground, but she has found it so much harder now. The day they traveled to Paraiso, she had thought, perhaps, perhaps that was the day that she would find the solid ground she so desired, rest from the constant waves and current that pushed her in so many different directions she wasn't sure which way she had come from to begin with. But this land, the moment those hooves reached down upon the end of the trail, she had felt that same familiarity and comfort she had not experienced since Windskeep, her birth land. But here, she could breathe, she felt the familiar spirits of her parents cascade along beside her, even if they could not be there in the flesh. This was what she needed. But then that was ripped away from her too, tumbled off into the mist like a broken kite flying off a string. Hyaline. A land of mountains, a lake, it was stunningly familiar, but there was something different about it. She no longer felt like a little girl, first the lost one in Murmuring Rivers, wiping her tears so no one saw and screaming inside her head until she couldn't hear herself crying anymore. She wasn't the curious filly of Paraiso, learning about her parents and following Lovelace around like a lost puppy while she dreamed of Aerwir’s brown eyes and dark skin. Neither was she Elaina of Woodlands, standing beside a stallion she couldn't truly love no matter how hard she tried. She was not the confused girl of Culloden. It was different this time. Hyaline was different. Kensa was different. Elaina was different. She had just her own two feet to stand on, a role to perform, and a service to offer. Hyaline could be home, it could be. They say when you stop looking the thing you lost tends to turn up. Well, Elaina fooled them all because she would never have stopped looking for her. Not in a thousand years. Not in a million. “Lilli,” she says, she is like a broken record, but her cousin’s name is sweet perfection on her lips, as if that is the name, above so many others, that has always belonged there. She can smell the sweat, the fear, the uncertainty wafting off her crimson skin like smoke from a signal fire. Elaina pulls away, amber eyes searching the planes of her red face for something, antyhing, a hint as to what had happened to her. Those muscles bunch beneath her golden coat. Elaina had so often disregarded her own safety, ever the daring child, but when it came to Lilli, she wanted to ensure her well being. “You aren't hurt are you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” she says and envelopes her once more. And maybe, in a way, Elaina was a ghost, she has died from the hurt and risen from the ashes of her grief so many times she no longer walks the earth but floats above its floor. How is she real? She shakes her head. “I just am,” she says, an answer with a finality that says Elaina can hardly explain it either. That was the best answer she had, as unsatisfactory as it was. It is then Lilli pulls away now and stares up at her with expressions that mirror Elaina’s own. Did she really think Elaina would not follow her? Would not return for her? Elaina’s heart was not complete without Lilli, she had been more of a soulmate than Aerwir had ever been, and she could not bare to live without her. Without knowing she was safe and happy. Starlight is the only thing that illuminates them. Her eyes of fire are only the cooled by the ice in Lilli’s own and everything is as it once was and was supposed to be. “Well, I—I live here now, I guess, with Kensa, Hyaline’s leader,” she says, the words fall from her lips and Elaina feels like she is telling Lilli about someone else’s life, because right now she feels like that little girl inventing adventures besides Paraiso’s lake. Her best friend braiding flowers into her hair (always with the expression that these would totally bring out her eyes.) She suddenly squeals then, high pitched and full of girlish excitement. “I cant believe you are here!” She says, practical prancing on the spot she stands. But she halts when she notices the stunned shadow pass over her friend’s face. “Did something happen? You left Beyond,” she says, an obvious statement, but Elaina could bite her tongue on the subject no longer. They have so much to catch up on, that much is clear. “Well I went to Windskeep, i saw your sister, and Roland, they have a kid! Can you believe it?” She says in shock, for if anyone knew Brielle. “My grandma, she’s amazing, still kicking, of course,” she says with a soft natured sigh. “And Windskeep, it’s almost rebuilt, and it is beautiful, Lilli, stunning actually,” she says. There was no denying the ancient land she had been born in. It was something special, something to behold. “And you? What have you been up to? I’m surprised you have stayed,” she says then, watching Lilli’s face carefully. “Have you—have you met someone?” No, these girls really don't miss a beat, do they? benjamin and beylani's sunflower-girl |
@[lilliana]