i hear hurricanes blowing; Lilliana

[lilliana]

Sometimes sleep is an easy thing.

Sometimes Lilli can fall into it as easily as slipping into the embrace of an old friend, a black depth that lets her fall away from the rest of the world. But sometimes sleep evades her completely and Lilliana is left with only the silence of the woods: the shifting and groaning of the Redwoods as the wind whispers through the leaves above her. When she can no longer tolerate the silence, the chestnut mare moves to the northwestern part of the territory. The climate changes, the air becomes a wilder thing as it mingles with the brine of the ocean. 

Lilli likes to listen to the waves in the distance, a soft lullaby that can eventually call her to rest when her mind would rather wander.

It is a bitter chill that rolls off the Taigan coast that wakes her. It is brisk and piercing as it whips around the massive Redwoods. A sign of winter and as the chestnut rises, there is a sense of dread that comes with the realization. Another winter - another harsh, bitter season that will bury everything beneath a layer of ice and snow. There is a beauty to be found, perhaps, in the sparkling icicles and in the peace and stillness of a winter wood. Lilliana has looked for it before, searching for anything to admire in a season that otherwise leaves her feeling as bleak as winter itself.

She has no intention of dwelling by the coast when the wind carries such an ominous warning as that.

So the chestnut mare weaves through a hoof path in the northern forest that takes her to the heart of it. Her mind is in no particular place, floating between thoughts about the onset of winter and an overdue visit to her friends in neighboring Nerine that she keeps prolonging. An ear swivels as it catches the sound of rambunctious laughter of one of the many foals in these woods. Lilli slows and a faint smile etches on her dark mouth. That sound is one of the many reasons she has come to love the Taiga. 

It is no quiet Murmuring Rivers or ancestral Paraiso but to Lilli, this place has become home.

It had been that reason that Lilliana had approached the Comtesse. She had stood idly by before as one home had been traded for another, as her family moved from one place to the next, trying to forge out a future. The longer Lilli has remained in Taiga, the firmer her own roots have become to this place and the stronger her desire grows to ensure that she (or any horse) never has to be unwillingly ripped from their home. 

And then that dreamers' heart of hers can never be still. Lilli envisions this forest as a place of refuge, a place for those that might need sanctuary and haven from a world that can be entirely too hard and unforgiving. It had been a vision that seemed to be shared with the Ischians as well. It had been a learning experience that Lilliana had been grateful to be included in on and had sparked a further desire for diplomatic endeavors in the future on behalf of Taiga. It had been a moment where Lilli saw a glimpse of something she might accomplish for her home - a career in diplomacy might be her way forward.

An alto voice calls out as the young mare rounds a corner and comes to an open meadow. The scent of freshwater, crisp and clean from Hyaline's mountains, fills her flaring nostrils as well as another familiar smell. The smile that tugs is a genuine one and Lilliana, while surprised to see Lepis so soon after their diplomatic trip, nods her head in greeting as she approaches the pegasus mare.

"Comtesse," she calls out warmly, "How does this morning find you?"

@[Lepis]