[open] love still binds us, family finds us

[lilliana]

WE ARE ALL JUST FRAGILE THINGS /
SOFT AND SMALL /
BUT ALL THE BROKEN CAN FIND /
HOPE IN THE MOST UNEXPECTED PLACES /

It's funny how a death changes everything.

(And how typical for Lilliana that isn't her death that changes everything.)

She's stayed out by the River, still searching for Neverwhere. The brute that had spoken about the little spitfire of a dappled filly could only have been talking about her oldest friend. And so she's spent the golden days of summer basking beneath the trees, reacquainting herself with the feeling of the sun shining on her back. The arrival of an old friend has brought back memories of the old days as well.

Lilliana has spent the last few days laughing so much that her sides hurt again. She's smiled so much that her face aches. And perhaps, it because of all those smiles, they've finally reached her eyes again.

They haven't spoken about if he will stay. The Brochturach she remembers had loved traveling and had shared stories with her from all the realms that he had wandered. Those stories - like her laughter - have returned and she's listened to all the places he's been and the things that he has seen. They've recounted the years apart and yet, for Lilliana, it's funny how the years feel like they no longer exist.

He isn't dead, is thought that trails her out in these woods most often. He didn't die.

It had been a grief that plagued her. Lilliana had carried it and journeyed with it and then - in an attempt to move forward - had tried to bury it.

But he hadn't died.
And the thought brings back so many other memories from her past. That last fight with her brother - Malachi - on the Pass when she had insisted going her own way. Elena pressing her heart-marked face against her shoulder during their last night together in Taiga. Brazen as she fought so hard to stay with Reave when he had been born. Being reunited with Neverwhere after Pangea and the way her friend refused to let Lilliana blame herself for the scars on her skin.

She hadn't found Neverwhere. But like her dear friend, the gold-marked Taigan is stubborn. If not today, then there was always a chance for tomorrow.

Her thoughts lead her to the riverbank and the chestnut peers down at the slow-moving water. It's something she had done often as a youth - picking herself apart for a trace of her ancestors like it might give her answer to who she might be in the future. There are Aletta's imperial cheekbones, round and graceful. The summer sun glints on her wavy forelock and the gilded hairs remind her of Ichiro, her grandsire - unrelenting and fierce. The blue eyes that stare back at her are the commanding blue of her sire - Valerio - the strongest windtalker of Legado's line.

You are Lilliana, she remembers. You are the fourth child of five from Valerio the Guardian and his Queen, Aletta. Lilliana recalls, remembering the mantra she used to recite when she got lost in realms Beyond. She continues to stare down, realizing that the blue of her eyes no longer seem so deep and drowning; that is no longer the haunted gaze of her father. You are Lilliana, she starts again. You are a mother to six five, the former Taigan thinks. You have been Guardian to the Redwoods, a diplomat to the North; you belong to the herd of Neverwhere and Brazen and Eurwen. (And so many other thoughts fill her mind here as she thinks of who she is to Leilan and Warden and Wishbone; of her cousins Elena and Ori).

Glancing down at her reflection, for the first time in a long while, Lilli glances back at her.

Turning her copper head to the sound of an approaching horse, the slender mare smiles gently. "Can you help me?" she asks, "I'm looking for someone."

fragile things (reprise) - megan hilty
image credit to footybandit