Tonight, her heart is electric, like the bolts she once watched launch itself off of Andras’s inky black skin. It is the very thing that keeps her from settling. She does not realize that the path she is walking is one her mother once walked along. Maybe, if she looked hard enough, she could find strands of golden hair caught on a branch. Or maybe, she would find the crimson hair of her namesake that too walked through this very forest to reach the river.
It could be that Lilli and Elli were not all that different, but where the river sang to Lilliana, Elliana longs for the deafening surge of the ocean. She had tried to distance herself from her childhood hero, but when the time comes that she faces Lilliana, Elli will realize too many things at once. That a namesake may be more than just a namesake. Elliana is strong-hearted, opinionated, social and mysterious. And she likes to think it all belongs solely to herself.
It is the fireflies she notices first, they remind her of the dancing embers that had erupted when she threw a flower into the fire beside the blind man she would come to learn was her father. She misses the transition, misses the journey this girl goes through in the span of an evening.
“You must be special,” she says in a voice that is solemn but sincere. “I’ve heard fireflies can make fickle dance partners, but when they find one they like…” she pauses, blue eyes are enamored with the girl’s coat, the fire of it, it reminds her of Morrighan, it offers a strange moment of comfort. “Someone once told me the waltz is their favorite.” Someone. No, she wasn't told. It was decided on in a secret meadow in hushed tones with a boy beside her as they watched them dance. Elliana offers the firefly girl one of her special smiles, not the one she usually reserves for strangers.
“I’m Elliana.”
She ends it there, at least she thinks she does. Ever since she boarded that ship, since Dejya, she has always ended it there. Elliana, but she feels the reflection of a firefly in the corner of her eye.
“But please, call me Elli.”
It could be that Lilli and Elli were not all that different, but where the river sang to Lilliana, Elliana longs for the deafening surge of the ocean. She had tried to distance herself from her childhood hero, but when the time comes that she faces Lilliana, Elli will realize too many things at once. That a namesake may be more than just a namesake. Elliana is strong-hearted, opinionated, social and mysterious. And she likes to think it all belongs solely to herself.
It is the fireflies she notices first, they remind her of the dancing embers that had erupted when she threw a flower into the fire beside the blind man she would come to learn was her father. She misses the transition, misses the journey this girl goes through in the span of an evening.
“You must be special,” she says in a voice that is solemn but sincere. “I’ve heard fireflies can make fickle dance partners, but when they find one they like…” she pauses, blue eyes are enamored with the girl’s coat, the fire of it, it reminds her of Morrighan, it offers a strange moment of comfort. “Someone once told me the waltz is their favorite.” Someone. No, she wasn't told. It was decided on in a secret meadow in hushed tones with a boy beside her as they watched them dance. Elliana offers the firefly girl one of her special smiles, not the one she usually reserves for strangers.
“I’m Elliana.”
She ends it there, at least she thinks she does. Ever since she boarded that ship, since Dejya, she has always ended it there. Elliana, but she feels the reflection of a firefly in the corner of her eye.
“But please, call me Elli.”