[private] this fire inside me; selaphiel

[Kamaria]

A s she has gotten older, she has been able to wander farther from Islas. They have been two intertwined pieces of seaweed drifting in an empty dark sea for as long as Kamaria can remember. Loess and its darkness swallows them whole, showing no signs of spitting them out. The shadows’ weight feels heavy in a way she cannot quite explain — as if the dark were pulling her down into the red clay of her home and turning her bones into stone. Kamaria has fought against the pressure of the darkness so she can stand up every time she wakes up and so she can convince her mother she is strong enough to wander alone. And one day, Kamaria decides she is strong enough and old enough. She still hasn’t fully learned how to control her emotions, but she can send enough comfort to Islas so she can slip away quietly. How long had she been dreaming about this plan? Kamaria cannot count the number of times she has fallen asleep with thoughts of something other than red rock and sand under her feet. She has seen the mountains looming behind her eyelids; she has heard the roar of northern waves on granite cliffs in her ears; she has smelled the sweet greenery of an island jungle in her nose. Kamaria’s sleep has been plagued by the wonders of what lies beyond Loess — beyond her mother and those melancholic dark eyes — and she feels the heat of excitement warm her legs as she walks through the darkness. It doesn’t take Kamaria long to wander beyond what she knows of Loess. Although they spend their sleeping hours within the walls of a cavern, she has explored almost every inch of the red kingdom. The perlino girl might feel tired (sick, even) beneath the pressing eye of the dark, but that has not limited her childish playfulness. Her navy-striped legs guide her to the east of her home, where she knows the mountain range looms like a great sleeping beast in the darkness. When she crosses the border, Kamaria feels something like a sigh slip out of her lungs. A weight lifted — or perhaps more like a door opened.

credit to nat of adoxography.

@[Selaphiel]