- it's in the eyes, i can tell you will always be danger -
we had it tonight, why do we always seek absolution?
LILLIANA
Lilliana presses her cheek into the warmth (and peace) of the buckskin Matriarch, closing her eyes briefly as her mind calms. The thoughts that crash so often through the crags of her turbulent mind come quieter until the storm passes and when she opens her blue eyes, there are no dark clouds there. There is no gathering tempest, no squalls ready to gust or gale.
They are bright and clear; open to possibility.
"I have no intention of going anywhere," the chestnut states. (She hadn't the first time though, either.) Lilli finds herself looking up with Lethy, tracing the tree canopy above them and admiring the varying shades of green among the conifers. Taiga and her filtered sunlight - when those towering sentinels would permit it passage - always did create an alluring image. Spring was, perhaps, not as obvious in the Northern forest as it was in other parts of Beqanna but it is still Lilliana's favorite. There is always something to appreciate in a fresh start. The pair continue to wander down the trail they walk - flowing around one Redwood, beneath another large fern and Lilliana listens.
An ear keeps company with Lethy's thoughts while the copper mare stays mostly silent as the other speaks.
"You haven't changed your mind on anything we've spoken of, then?" she finally asks. The ideas that the taller mare speaks of had been shared between them, when Lilliana had still thought Taiga was empty. Before-
She subconsciously slows, a reaction to the thought that makes her tense and look abruptly away from the buckskin. The former Ambassador finally stops and turns her head to look up Izora Lethia. "I stand with you. I think that - given the history of leadership Taiga has - the council is the most suitable choice for the Redwoods. If a leader is stolen or goes missing," (Lilli tries to say this as gently as she can, for even if there is a part of her that is upset with Aten for vanishing, he was (is?) the mate of the mare beside her), "Taiga won't suffer." The rest that Lethy says are things that Lilliana easily (and readily) agrees to with a firm nod of her refined head. She wants a place for her children to know that they are safe. That wherever Nashua might roam, he has a place to come back to. That if Yanhua never wants to leave, his home would be here for him. As steadfast and unmoveable as the mighty trees themselves. (And for Aela, her golden girl, too. She wants a home for Aela, even if her misplaced child never needs it.)
The Guardian pauses, "Somewhat. There was much to speak about and I didn't want to discuss the majority of the details without you." Lilliana turns thoughtful and instinctively, her shoulder bends North. Her thoughts already flying to Nerine. Her attention follows that way and the smaller mare lifts her head, a small smile brightening her serious expression. "A Summit, of sorts." Lilliana muses, "With both of us. Leilan. Neverwhere. Eurwen and Brazen and whoever might want to voice their opinions." The voices needed to be heard here, too. A meeting in Taiga was long overdue, she thinks. @[Izora Lethia] was due any day and then after that, would have her days full with a newborn.
Autumn, she thinks. They will come together in the Autumn to raise their voices beneath the sentinels after a summer of warmer weather and sweet grass. (And she says as much to her companion with a teasing glint in her eye and a soft laugh.) There would be much to discuss. The potential of (hopefully) another council member. Brennen and his Magic, the barrier he had created from Nerinian's rocky shore to keep them safe. Pangea and Ghaul with his zealous desire to raze and rise. It makes her think of the other kingdoms. Tephra and Ischia (with another long overdue visit to Velkan and Aquaria). "You went to Loess recently," Lilliana says tentatively. "Was there any news from the South?"
but it's all in the past, love
it's all gone with the wind