I watch the city burn, these dreams like ashes float away...
Little Singe pressed tighter against her at Ruan’s show of power, and Lilitha lowered her head again to trail her nose along the little girl’s spine in quiet reassurance. “I think it’s perhaps a stretch to call him my father,” Lilitha said, sadness weighing down her voice, holding Singe a little tighter against her. One day, and she already couldn’t imagine letting her little firefly grow up alone out in the wilderness, with no one to protect her or take care of her. Kingdom or no, home or no, he hadn’t even sent someone to look after her, or made an effort to find someone who could take her in.
By the gods themselves, she’d never abandon her Singe that way.
She pressed a sad little kiss to the girl’s withers, and looked up at him. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m not so sure it’s true. Maybe he meant well, but he had more important concerns than me. Still. I can’t know what those years were like for him, and I hold no ill will toward him. But calling him father is a bit too generous, I think.”
Lilitha listened to his question, grunted with a little nod. “They’ve declared there is to be one kingdom per region, and what happens with the others is up to its inhabitants. They can choose to be a subkingdom, a herdland for the kingdom, an independent herd land, or whatever they see fit so long as there’s only one main kingdom per region. Taiga can be free, Ruan.”
Well.
“Or at least they’ve said so. Guess we both know how much stock I put in the word of the fairies.” She tilted her head, studying him quietly. “What about you?” she asked. “What would you do? You’re back, and have more claim to Taiga than anyone else I know. You’ve led her before. What do you want to do, now that you’re back?”
...your voice I never heard, only silence.