[private] and i know its long gone

[lilliana]

I SEE THE LIGHT BUT NEVER FIND THE SURFACE /
I DON'T KNOW IF I CAN SWIM NO MORE /
WHITE KNUCKLES AND WILD HORSES /
ONE DAY WE'LL WASH UP ON MERCY'S SHORE /

The meeting between herself and Nashua had been (painfully) brief.

Once learning that Yanhua had gone missing, and that the Curse roamed again, she had known that she couldn't stay in Taiga. The reasoning she had given Nash had been simple enough; if it had been the same family Curse that Wishbone had told her about - that same way that possessed Wolfbane - it would be better if she didn't remain in the North.

If she became anything more than just a passing thought, Lilliana didn't intend to remain where It knew to find her.

She had told Nashua it would be better for her to return to Ischia. They had been protected there once. Or, she admitted, she might stay in the Common Lands. They all seemed better options than staying in Taiga, and after some time, Nashua reluctantly agreed. ('I hate this,' he told her, and Lilliana had hugged her son as she had done when he had been small, trying to ignore the creeping feeling that this family was falling apart as hers had done in Beyond.)

But she didn't return to the Common Lands. The grove that she had shared Broch would remain empty. She didn't go to Ischia, but the fire-marked mare did travel towards the West. A few days after delivering an injured Ciri to the Northern King, the chestnut took a similar trail towards Tephra. Her thoughts were oddly quiet as she traveled, as she forced herself to focus on one thing.

Wherewolf had told her that his mother had come here. And now, all her months of searching for Neverwhere made sense. She hadn't found her because she had been here, and as the truth unraveled across Beqanna, Lilliana learned that the kingdom once ruled by her friends Warden and Wishbone was now lead by Gale, a son of Wolfbane and Lepis.

And that connection was too coincidental for her to ignore.

Lilliana has never been particularly gifted at anything. Her gifts have been quiet ones that never gave her any renown and in a land where horses could be a wide variety of colors, she relies on her simple one to hide her as she slips into Tephra to look for her friend. Her marking - the one gifted to her by Anatomy and Craft - remains hidden beneath a river of curling mane and her only other attribute - those startling blue eyes - are kept carefully cast down.

@Gale

marcy's shore - needtobreathe
image credit to footybandit