09-06-2021, 08:55 PM
all of time and space, everywhere and anywhere, every star that ever was
The mare is kind. Too kind. Lilliana. That name seems to ring a bell somewhere but it’s only a faint ting hidden in the back of her pain riddled mind. The dark mare says nothing as the chestnut begins to explain how the falls work and she drops her gaze to her blurry red and black reflection, grimacing and closing her eyes against the wave of depression that follows. Behind her eyelids flickers the image of a white mare with large downy wings. “I need to get back to the Isle.” She says thickly, catching the thread of thought that for Tephra to be so quiet wasn’t normal.
She had been here once before, she realizes. Back when she had accompanied Amet in a kingdom tour on behalf of Hyaline. Hyaline. The Heart of Hyaline.. A place that had once saved her and destroyed her. The place where she had first found a sense of home, where the creature who continued to break her apart now ruled with a violent fist. The golden scaled stallion would be crushed, she thinks, to see what his Sanctuary had become. Deep in her heart she knows the wisteria no longer stands. She doesn’t need to set eyes on the burnt remains to know it’s gone.
She raises her tired head towards the sky, looking at the mix of red and the single pure one that dances among them. As if talking. Movement to her side pulls her attention and she snorts softly although she clenches her teeth together and gasps with a wince as she pulls the wing over the others shoulder. “Both are broken. My wings.” She finally manages after the pain subsides for a moment. “Who is Leonidas?” She asks with confusion before focusing on the more important question. That something was wrong.
There could only be one thing.
No. No. Surely he had not followed her here.
Or had he tracked her like the wounded animal she was?
“We need to go to the North. Right now.” She spits out, fighting through her exhaustion and despair towards the sudden urgency biting at her hocks. “Is there a path where it’s easier to not be seen?”
She had been here once before, she realizes. Back when she had accompanied Amet in a kingdom tour on behalf of Hyaline. Hyaline. The Heart of Hyaline.. A place that had once saved her and destroyed her. The place where she had first found a sense of home, where the creature who continued to break her apart now ruled with a violent fist. The golden scaled stallion would be crushed, she thinks, to see what his Sanctuary had become. Deep in her heart she knows the wisteria no longer stands. She doesn’t need to set eyes on the burnt remains to know it’s gone.
She raises her tired head towards the sky, looking at the mix of red and the single pure one that dances among them. As if talking. Movement to her side pulls her attention and she snorts softly although she clenches her teeth together and gasps with a wince as she pulls the wing over the others shoulder. “Both are broken. My wings.” She finally manages after the pain subsides for a moment. “Who is Leonidas?” She asks with confusion before focusing on the more important question. That something was wrong.
There could only be one thing.
No. No. Surely he had not followed her here.
Or had he tracked her like the wounded animal she was?
“We need to go to the North. Right now.” She spits out, fighting through her exhaustion and despair towards the sudden urgency biting at her hocks. “Is there a path where it’s easier to not be seen?”
-- Ciri
@lilliana