Light.

He had braced himself and turned his eyes skyward when the veil dropped, ready for daemons or monsters or some new terror.

But nothing had happened.
Just birds and sunshine and gentle summer rain.

The flames along his crest and dock had returned, cracking over the few inches of hair that had begun to grow back when the eclipse had smothered them. Then the sun had begun to travel across the sky as if the darkness were only a dream. He was still on edge. He had lived through too many years in this place to feel at ease when Beqanna was rearranging herself. So he shakes the sleep from his bones and begins to walk, following the sun south and listening for whatever the powers that be would throw at them next.

But no gods or monsters were to be found, and instead, he sees a mare.

He is going to let her go - unwilling to break the silence he had adopted after Sumara left - until something pulls on the threads that hold his heart together. It's a familiar ache, even if he hasn't felt it in years. The scent she carries causes his mismatched eyes to close, and he takes a moment to let the feeling pass. The Beach. He can almost feel the ghostly fog and Rapture's cold skin, her tears, and the weight of her head as she wept.

It's from this pace that his voice reaches out to the stranger, dampened by the river air and soft rain that falls around them, a low rumble quieted by its disuse.

"I'm Levi," he hesitates, unable to shake the feeling the scent she carries gives him, "is there something I can help you find?"

Levi