WE ARE ALL JUST FRAGILE THINGS /
SOFT AND SMALL /
BUT ALL THE BROKEN CAN FIND /
HOPE IN THE MOST UNEXPECTED PLACES /
Lilliana is unfailingly kind.
It has failed her before, and it will undoubtedly fail her again.
But it's such an integral part of her, the chestnut mare doesn't know who she would be without it. Who is she, if not kind? Who is she, if she isn't trying to give pieces of herself away to make somebody else whole?
She braces against the weight of the pegasus mare, stiffening only because of the mention of the Isle. Lilliana is aware of it. Kingdom seat of the North, home to one of her dear friends, Leilan. Ruled now by her son, Nashua, and the slender female feels a ripple of guilt flowing through her that she hasn't returned home. The search for Neverwhere had claimed almost all of her time and then finding Broch...
The thought of returning home lurches her forward.
Both wings are broken, and Lilliana decides that she will have to move with enough determination to spur the pair of them forward. It will have to work, because there is no other magic that she can give to the injured woman than to let her lean into her and the willpower to carry the weight of the other out of Tephra.
"Leonidas is like you," she tries to explain, pushing herself lightly against the other mare, mindful of where her copper body presses into her so it doesn't cause further harm. And then Lilliana corrects herself, "He's a star."
She doesn't know how else to explain him, because the rest of the tale seems so fantastic. He was a star, but one that was summoned from another place. And as glances up at the hovering orb, she realizes that he is the last real connection to her life before Beqanna. He was her last tie to Orani and Jacob, to Jay and Malachi.
It makes this bond all the more vital to the flame-marked mare.
Moving away from the lake, the former Guardian pushes them towards an obscure trail that had once taken her from Taiga to Tephra. One she had taken multiple times over the years of her friendship with the former King and Queen, and as they slip under jungle ferns and through the vines, it makes her all the more grateful for that friendship. She wouldn't have been able to move this easily or guide Ciri without that knowledge.
Leonidas has dimmed his glow, making sure not to attract attention to the pair.
"Do you know anything about what is wrong?" Lilliana finally asked when they started to approach the border of the territory she had once ruled. Fearing for Warden and Wishbone, finding herself afraid of something that a star refused to reveal.
@Ciri
fragile things (reprise) - megan hilty
image credit to footybandit