She finds a peace with her children that she had never thought possible.
There is something in the quiet moments with them tucked into her shoulder that makes her think of all of the moments that she has spent alone—all of the moments that she has never known such love. Instead of bringing a sorrow for such things though, she is instead reminded of how lucky she is to have found it, to have found something to break the concrete walls around her heart, something to make her breathe just a little easier. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, letting the moment sink in just a while longer.
At her daughter’s question, she can’t help but frown, feeling the corners of silken lips pull downward as she contemplates it. “Hm,” she makes a soft noise in the back of her throat before finally opening her eyes again, turning the blue and the red downward to study these new colors and shapes of her daughter. The daughter born of Tephra and then born again of the sea, remade into something new entirely—
and yet, and yet, made into something entirely the same.
“No, I don’t think it ever goes away entirely,” she finally responds, unable to be anything but honest with her daughter. It wouldn’t do any good to lie to her anyway—not with her ability to dive into her mind to find the truth. “But you get better about understanding it and protecting yourself from it. You get stronger. And eventually what felt insurmountable begins to feel normal so that you don’t even feel it anymore.”
She is struck with the thought that she no longer feels afraid of Fox.
Not like she had in the beginning. Not like she did.
Her stomach churns and a flood of warmth rushes though her but she says nothing, instead just smiles.
- lynx -
love brought weight to this heart of mine
@[Persea]