i want to try everything; smidgen

[lilliana]

"I think you have plenty of powers," Lilliana warmly counters her newfound friend. There is a genuine smile on Smidgen's face and Lilli basks in the simple pleasure of it. "It can't be a coincidence that today has been so lovely and you come across my path." The words are musical with teasing and Lilli's blue eyes spark with the mirth behind her words, an easy smile that spreads without thought.

But all teasing aside, Lilliana does believe that Smidgen possesses her own light. Perhaps not the supernatural kind, not the kind that a horse would have to find in a quest or on the Mountain. But there is no doubt in Lilli's mind that there is a kind and caring spirit in the little Falabella before her. Smidgen dances a circle and Lilli laughs again, brightening to the silver mare's antics. "You're very pretty too, Smidgen," the chestnut adds as she studies the unusual loveliness of her blue eyes. "You have a touch of the Fey about you, I think."

As they both glance upward, the birds dance and flit on their branch, flaring wings and chirping their indignations at each other over a female. The female slips away unnoticed and a chestnut ear flicks to catch Smidgen's giggle as a knowing smile curves against the side of Lilli's face, "So it would seem." The words come out dry but as the two males discover their potential paramour gone, they too fly away. "For something so basic, it seems that it can become quickly complicated." The young mare has heard her fair share of Beqanna's tangles of the heart (or perhaps not so much the heart as it is just the tangling) and Lilli thinks not for the first time that it is better to keep oneself separated from such things. She gives a simple shrug to Smidgen's words because what else is there to say? Birds must have their own set of burdens they carry on their wings.

Who is she to judge who carries the heavier ones?

And then Lilliana lets herself slip into the whimsical, a place that is so easy to slip into in the presence of another dreamer. Her blue eyes roam over the billowing clouds going golden against a setting sun, illuminated by the dying rays of daylight. "I don't know why I dream of flying so much," she adds quietly. "When I was small, I could spend all day looking at the sky and thinking of all the places I could go. I hated the fact that I was stuck on the ground."

And how stuck she had felt. Her hooves had been firmly planted when all her heart had wanted to do was soar, when all she wanted was to find a way to bring the dreams of others closer to Earth. If there had been a way to bring her father home, to find Aesop for Elaina, because where could the lost things go besides the heavens? As a filly, Lilli had always assumed that her answers would be in those clouds, in the stars and it is a habit that she has yet to grow out of.

Lilli dreams until her heart stills and she catches Smidgen's gaze, a grin broadening on her face as realization creates a mirror image on her crimson features. Smigden, like Lilli in being one of Beqanna's more unassuming residents, seems to have her fair share of secrets. Longing washes over her features as she earnestly gazes to her friend, "What do they feel like?" It's something she has always wanted to know, always dreamed about knowing. The silver mare talks about going where the wind takes her, where the invitation calls to explore beckons her and Lilli thinks it sounds like a wondrous existence. 

And then Smidgen heads for a set of rocks, climbing to the tallest one and then fearlessly leaps. Lilli can feel the fear rise in her throat, afraid for the smaller mare and the worry that she would injure herself. But with effortless grace, the tiny mare takes to the sky with a pair of blue iridescent wings that earn Lilliana's wholehearted admiration. Her head follows Smidgen as she flies above her and then a bright, lilting sound colors the air around her. 

Lilliana laughs from deep within herself and as the little mare comes to stand before her, the chestnut can't help but gaze warmly on her. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you Smidge?"

@[Smidgen]