I've never loved a darker blue than the darkness I have known in you
She loves the way the storm crackles across the sky—the way that it lights up the horizon and brings a brand new life to Tephra. She would spend hours with her head dipped back, watching the way that it plays out. She would do nothing but lose herself in the energy of it, reminding herself of the way that her sister is like a comet across the heavens, the way that she burns so brightly.
But she doesn’t have hours to herself, and she finds that she is intrigued by the stallion before her.
Her gaze only flickers up for a second, watching the sky blaze before she glances down, giving her full attention to Ruinam. She is quiet as he talks, feeling her heart clench for just a moment.
The memory of the war, the wound, is fresh, but she gives no sign of it.
She just sits silently until he is done.
“I am, unfortunately, too familiar with the question that you’re asking,” she says and although her lips curve in the corner, it is a sad, quiet smile. “When I first felt the magic coursing through me, it was…a lot. Too much for me to handle. Too much in general.” She shakes her head. “I felt like myself, but it was intensified, sharpened, and the places of restraint were worn thin—overtaken, almost.”
A pause as she tries to gather her thoughts.
“Before that, and before the plague had receded, I had been taken captive in Loess alongside other healers. When the magic began to course through me, I knew I had to make it right. I tried to use my magic to help with that. I tried to ask Loess to reverse course and free anyone who felt trapped there, but I didn’t have full control of my magic. What was intended as a warning turned into something dangerous. What was intended as a warning started a war that took lives, harmed families, left innocents hurt.”
There is a small tear on her cheek and she takes a deep breath.
“That is something I will have to carry with myself forever. Something I will have to spend the rest of my life trying to rectify.” She looks up to hold onto his gaze. “It’s why I am so committed to helping protect Tephra and the lands connected with her. I have to know that my magic can protect too.”
like fire weeping from a cedar tree, know that my love would burn with me