i want to try everything; smidgen

[lilliana]

She stares at the sky. She studies the clouds, the way they curve and the way they shape themselves in the wide-open blue above. As a filly, she had created castles and kingdoms in those clouds. But now, now Lilli wonders. It's easy to lose herself in the dying light of day because Lilliana likes to lose herself from time to time. Sometimes her mind drifts to what might have been, sometimes it drifts to her family, sometimes her thoughts are only a single plea: please let them be okay.

Lilli stares at that sky hard enough like it will provide all the answers, like everything she is wanting to know will come raining down upon that pretty head of hers.

It doesn't. It never does. It is never that easy.

The gentle running of the river that bubbles in the background soothes her. It reminds her that despite everything being so different, some things are still the same and so what truly changes?
Everything, she wants say.

But nothing can ever stay the same. Change is inevitable and there is beauty in the ruin.

Smidgen seems to share Lilliana's sentiments towards winter and the chestnut smiles warmly at her, basking in Smidge's attention. (Despite the day ending, Smidgen seems to have brought the sunshine with her.) "Winter seems endless," she says. All those empty, gray days that bright nothing but frigid temperatures and biting breezes. Even with summer so close on the horizon, Lilli can still feel the bitterness of it in her memory. There is an involuntary shudder down her own spine and she offers a small smile to Smidge.  Winter is gone and today, well today is another day. The bleakness of the gray season is behind them and the small smile grows. "I think you've brought the warmer weather with you, Smidgen."

The roan mare compliments her and Lilli does what she always do at this; she feels the heat rise to her cheeks and she looks at a lovely flower not far from them, admiring the soft pink of the petals. But Smidgen has said something kind and so Lilli raises her blue eyes gently to her, warm in greeting. "Thank you."

She has heard this compliment before. It had been said in a different dialect, a language that she had no way of knowing until he told her. His Lilli of the Glenn, he'd called her and the memory of it makes the smile that much warmer, that much easier because Lilli can't help but feel that this is a sign. A message, perhaps, reminding her that she doesn't always have to be so alone. There is an easiness here with Smidgen, another dreamer, that makes this all so easy to believe. There is no need to catch herself here, to be something she's not so Lilli allows herself to simply be with her new friend. The sheepish smile changes to a giggle as Smidgen shakes her head, as if Lilli isn't some foolish little mare.

Maybe she is. But that's okay. Right now, it's okay to be foolish.

Her blue eyes turn skyward again, contemplating another bird that dances on a branch in a tree above them. "Have you ever wondered about the songs they sing? What they might mean?" The bird goes from one end of the branch to another, hysterical in his movements and demanding in his song. Another long glance finds the culprit, another brightly colored male resting, watching on a branch above a female. Some things aren't so different, Lilli thinks as she looks back to Smidgen. "You are certainly a welcome interruption," the young mare beams back at her.

And then Lilli looks to the sky again, open and beckoning. "What a wonder it must be to fly," she dreams out loud. The chestnut mare peeks sidelong to her new companion, curious about her last words. "And where would you go if you could fly? Can you imagine?" Lilli aks, breathless with the dream. "To have the sky unfold before you."

LILLIANA

i left home on account of snow
(buried all the things i know)

@[Smidgen] <3 them!