cold in the violence after the war
hope is a fire to keep us warm
Brazen could not pretend to be a lynchpin for her family. No, she is not someone who keeps anyone together, not even those she loves. She is too wild, her feet too itchy, much too eager to shake familiar dust from her hooves. As unorthodox as her family is, she knows, in the end. It’s truly her mother. The woman who seems to see everything. She knows far too well that she could, at any moment, be watching her. Knows that had she need of her, she had only to whisper the words into the wind.
She’d never called of course. Ever since the moment she’d been birthed, she had been so wholeheartedly determined to prove herself capable. But then, she is much more her father’s child than her mother’s. Impossible and stubborn, as her mother had once said.
But she is not here to ruminate on her family or the things that tie her here. No, she had come seeking a distraction, and now she had found one. One in the guise of a new friend bearing conversation and possible tales of fascinating, faraway lands.
Her bright greeting is met in kind, and instantly it’s as though everything about her had softened. Brazen’s smile widens, her blue eyes warming as she settles comfortably alongside Lilli. She laughs at her new companion’s wry jest about the confusing nature of Beqanna, fully appreciating the sentiment. She had been born here, and yet it seems like an ever changing maze. In more ways than one.
She knows of the old lands. The ones that had stood for centuries before being torn apart and remade into an entirely new image. Into the one she had been brought into. Mom had known the old lands though. Had been born into them, grown in them, watched them fall apart.
Still, Brazen had never expressed a great deal of interest, so Heartfire had told her little about them. She wishes now that she had paid more attention the few times her mother had spoken of it. Brows furrowing behind the mask shielding her face, Brazen glances at her new friend before turning to peer into the trees.
“I’ve heard the name,” she says slowly, frowning. “But I’m afraid I don’t know much about it.” After a moment, she shrugs, shedding the weight of the concern before turning to look back at Lilli, features resuming their easy, friendly mein. “My Mom would know though.” Her lips quirk wryly before she continues jokingly, “Sometimes I think she knows everything.” Pause.“We can ask her, if you want.” She laughs then, eyes glinting with a faintly cynical humor. “I can guarantee it wouldn’t be boring.”
Brazen
