She is thinner, her hips sharper, her topline harsher. But there is nothing which can dull her smile when she catches sight of her brother. Blood no longer phases her, and she sees right past his cherry-tinted lips. Her family always seemed to bounce back from whatever tried to bring them down, and the reality of the situation had yet to sink its teeth into her - as it had her fairer mother. There was always a healer around the corner or a dreamer to sooth her aches, and despite the mantra of doom-and-gloom each of her days were much like the last.
Will begins to collect her legs below her to stand as Rhae nears, but he doesn't pause a step away for her to do so. Personal space had never been something their brood had accepted before, and she is happy to see that at least that hasn't changed.
"Hey you," she says, shimmying up to him as he collapses beside her. Her tone is playful, but he still gets and eye-roll for the use of her nickname. "I didn't plan on visiting tonight, to be honest."
"Look at us," she adds through her cough-laugh, falling back into him and laying her neck across his shoulder. "We're pathetic."
Like Clayton, Rhae is not same lanky colt she had last seen she notes. Her male peers had begun to put on bulk. She could see the coiled power in his haunches and in the curve of his full crest despite his sickness, and there is a flicker of jealousy in her breast. But that is nothing new, envy, rivalry, they couldn't taint her affection.
Another of his feathers falls from his once elegant wings, and Will reaches out, picking up the delicate thing with her lips. She lifts her head again, passing it to Rhae. "Here, put this in my mane," she asks, tilting her crest towards him and dipping her chin to her chest. "It will be nice to have a little reminder of you, ya know, if you wither away or cough up your lungs before I can see you again."
— soul as sweet as blood red jam —
@[Rhaegor]
![[Image: Warlightpageddoll1.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/NMPHtrtV/Warlightpageddoll1.png)