in the cold light of day we're a flame in the wind
not the fire that we've begun
Goodbye, Dawn.
The words echo in her mind as she stares out into the sea, trembling and trying not to cry. How had things fallen apart so quickly? How had she not realized how she felt until it was much too late? I love you, Dawn. She bites her tongue as his voice rings in her head, trying to dispel the dark words that are clouding her mind. No, you don’t. You don’t love me and you never will and I have to accept that. She had told him that she wouldn’t come between him and Chryseis—and she won’t. The girl makes him happy in ways she clearly can’t; she is a radiant ray of light and Dawn is just... Dawn. Plain. Ordinary. Nothing.
It doesn’t help that the conversation still weighs so heavily on her shoulders days after he had left her side—likely for the last time. She doesn’t expect that she’ll ever see him again, and she cannot blame him. She has complicated things in ways she didn’t know possible. They are still children, all of them, despite it all; what happened to childhood? The days in the Playground, racing in circles until they were too exhausted to move. Then came the days when they outgrew the Playground and Dawn and Rhae would meet in the Meadow, giggling over funny clouds and the posturing of stallions trying to seduce lonely women. It was never supposed to be like this.
She can hear the splashing in the waves as something big approaches, but she doesn’t turn her head to look at them. Her bear could handle any threat, of that she is confident, and if they were truly a threat, they wouldn’t be sloshing through the water anyways. The friendly ‘hello!’ is mostly ignored, as is the cough that has become synonymous with the plague. It isn’t until he asks her if she is okay that she finally glances in his direction, eying him briefly before returning her gaze to the horizon.
“No,” she says simply, as the tears she’s been holding back fill her eyes. Don’t fall, she pleads with herself. “No, I’m not quite alright.”
Dawn
Hyaline's resident polar bear cub
@litotes