must have been the wind; leilan

[lilliana]

Don't.

The word is a single thought - an abrasive one that feels as empty as this corner of the forest. There is an accusation in her tone that she loathes, a familiarity about the places she can feel herself withdrawing into. 

Don't.
Don't be this.

Her memories, like most things she has held dear, are scattered. She has many beautiful, beloved memories that form the bedrock of who she is. But time passes and calls the gales in its wake. She remembers many things and for the most precious of her memories, she clutches them against her heart because Lilli likes to think that those memories might tell her who she is, who she might become.

But sometimes all they bring is doubt. 

Lilliana has never doubted her cousin's love for her. They've tried, multiple times, to let each other go. Lilli had broken her own heart when Elaina had left with Aerwir but it had been buoyed with the knowledge that her cherished cousin would be happy and loved. For Elaina, Lilliana would have blazed Beyond to the last blade of grass if it would have meant her happiness. 

But then Aerwir hadn't been enough and Elaina had been unhappy. (How? she had wanted to ask, how could there still be so much unhappiness in the world?)

And then Elaina had to let Lilli go.
Lilli, who had looked, and only found her failure.

Somehow - the fates, the Winds, Legado's mercy - they found themselves together again in Beqanna. It had made perfect sense (even if finding Elaina in Carnage's country did not) that the universe would want them together. They weren't meant to be without each other.

However fates are fickle creatures, so here she is. Searching for a reason when there is none, trying to find an explanation when there simply isn't one. Here she is, still hoping because otherwise what is her alternative?

But it would seem her doubt, however much she likes to think is collected inward, has been directed outward at a wayward stranger. If she is going to keep pursuing a career as a diplomat, if she ever hopes to achieve the things for Taiga that she wishes, this is not the way forward. 

She can't quite let the tension go around her eyes or the cautious way she stands.  The chestnut gives a soft exhale into the falling snow and there is a ribbon of air that dances from her nostrils, "My apologies." His words are dry, and frankly, she deserves them. Lilli had accused him first and so she lets herself feel the sharpness of them, lets a dagger of guilt twist within her. There is a glimmer of it across her crimson face - the shadow of a grimace against the coming storm. "That was callous of me," she tries with the start of a contrite smile. "So are you visitor or passerby then?"

When she steadies her gaze on him, as she somewhat wearily eyes the ice and scales on him, there is a famililar scent on him that lingers - one of mountain air and crystalline water. One that kindles a spark and whatever apprehension she feels is momentarily forgotten, "You've come from Hyaline?"

@[Leilan] let me know if i need to change anything