Lilliana is smiling - trying to find some of her old brightness to share with @[Izora Lethia] - though she notices the hollows beneath the buckskin’s eyes. Where it seemed the troubles she carried with her were tugging at the corners of her eyes, dragging them down, and giving the Matriach (to Lilli) a fatigued air. Her mouth is still curved upward but it stills when the copper mare sees confusion darkening those violet-colored eyes.
"Is there anything I can do?” she offers. Lilli avoids her echoes but her healing - regardless of what it might take from her - is something that might help Lethy. It’s why she visits so often with her fellow Taigan. Just in case.
A bird calls and it rings through the forest. The red mare is thinking of Owin and how small he had been. She is remembering Kalil, of how much time he spent with Ruthless on the coast. Despite the impressive canopy they stand beneath, Lilliana is silently reminded that time is precious. It is so fleeting. The thought softens her face as Lilli turns her slender head to stare out at the copse of woods around them, where the fog drifts in with the morning sunbeams that gilded the vapor as it wandered through (and around) the mighty Redwoods.
It makes Taiga look mystical, like a lost fairy tale.
It’s something that Lilliana has always adored about her home.
When the glowing mare laughs softly, an ear flicks to the sound and Lilliana returns her attention back to Lethy. "I’m here,” she says with a modest expression. It’s a place to start, and so she tells herself, that’s what really counts. "I can’t quite believe how tall Yanhua is,” she admits softly, thinking of how his height would rival that of her own sire. "And Nashua. All he talks about is Leilan and his upcoming apprenticeship on the Isle.”
How much time that has passed - how much she has missed - clutches at her heartstrings and releases in a deep sigh. There is no changing the past, she reminds herself. There is no undoing it. Tilting her head up to Lethia, she adds: "Thank you,” and then says, "for everything you did for them. For keeping Taiga safe, Matriarch.” Her blue eyes deepen and warm as she presses her gratitude into the cheek of the taller mare. Giving one more concerned glance to the other mare’s rounding sides, Lilliana continues forward. There would be another generation racing and laughing beneath these trees soon. "I want to hear your ideas for this place, Lethy. What do you dream of for Taiga?”
LILLIANA
if i ever get to heaven
i've got a long list of questions