Summer in Taiga was warmer than Lilliana could recall it being in years. The Taigan Guardian had gathered her youngest set of twins and Reave and brought them to a secluded spot where they could spend the season. A small cove near the Nerinian border that boasted a beach whose waves could be heard crashing through the Redwoods and a few small islands that could be explored when the tide was low. During the height of Northern summer, the mother and her three children spent their days exploring the beach. The yearlings - Oren and Roselin - could be found exploring every nook and cranny of the craggy coastline. Reave sometimes followed and on other days, her smallest boy seemed content to walk the beach with his mother while searched for treasures that would wash up on their shore (seashells, driftwood, precious stones).
Sweetness blossomed with the beach roses and despite the sadness of Brazen's loss, Lilliana found moments of peace with her children.
On a night when the moon is full and the beach is wide open, a star ventured down from the midnight-velvet sky. 'The audacity,' it thought as it hovered on the pebbled shore (Leonidas never cares to compete with any glow). The light was a specter on over the waves and flashed in a pattern of dimming and beaming, acting like a beacon to whoever lingered in the copse of woods nearby. The star floated up and down in a series of motions that looked almost... impatient.
Finally. Lilliana arched a brow (though not nearly noticeable in the dark) at the glowing orb when she finally approached. Oh? she countered before starting down the water's edge as the bonded continued with questions about what took her so long, why she never brought her children for their evening walks, and a myriad of other things that could occupy a mortal during daylight hours. The chestnut mare listened with an ear pricked towards Leonidas and the other flickering to the sound of crashing waves. Nestled between the sea and the star, Lilliana finds she doesn't mind the company.
She's half-distracted, her thoughts turning over the trivialities of the day and impending changes that Yanhua and Amarine had discussed bringing to the Taiga. Her mind tracks back to the discussion of Tephra and seeking out relationships with the Western Isles. Leonidas - who shares her thoughts - hums inside her head with disapproval. Do stars have nothing to worry about? she wonders to her companion.
We do, the floating light replies. But our worries are different from yours, I think.
It makes her curious, what worries Leonidas has, but the young star has other plans. And before long, the pair are racing down a long stretch of beach that they know well; the cadence of hoofbeats clashes (and is nearly drowned out) against the surf. Is that as fast as you can go? Leo goads and surges forward, encouraging Lilliana to do the same. The chestnut lengthens her stride and finds herself laughing as she does, enjoying the sensation of her legs stretching out.
(Lilliana has always prided herself on how swift she could run; the only child in her family to be born ungifted, the only one without any affinities to the Winds, she always loved the way that she and breezes came together in swift accord of a racing gallop that had left all the others behind.)
There is no doubt that she is covered in sand and her mane is tangled by the salt air but the chestnut doesn't care. Her sides are heaving by the time they slow (Leonidas tells her that he let her win, this time), and she still laughing when they stop, not yet realizing the petrified forest with its colosseum-style pillars is so close by. Lilliana tosses her head to the evening sky and turns to say something to Leonidas when spies a shadow. Their sprint is still evident from the air that rushes from her flaring nostrils and there is no time to tell the star to dim his light, for her to vanish into the dark cloak of night. True to his beaming nature, Leonidas shines brighter, eager to see the stranger approaching them.
Remember when our songs were just like prayers
Like gospel hymns that you caught in the air?
There's a lot of nonsense - Lilliana races a star down a beach and they stop. Leonidas likes attention. Somebody talk to them <3
but it's all in the past, love
it's all gone with the wind