[open] and if we die, burn down the forest

[Isilya]

Isilya

yet it was not that nature had shed o'er the scene
her purest of crystal and brightest of green

The reign of nightmares continues to recede into Isilya’s memory, becoming just a dream itself - yet another time when she had existed as part of the forest around her instead of moving through it. She returns to her status as caretaker - not of the kingdom itself (they had a strong queen and king now), but the smaller lives she tended to within it. The few lantern birds that remained even now, years and years after the eclipse, and the gardens she grew.

Two new trees are growing in a particular corner of the forest that has become her nursery, and it is thoughts of those little dreamers that keep a smile on her face as she wanders elsewhere in the early hours of the day. Everything is still sleepy, waiting for the start of a new day, and there’s a light fog that swirls around her golden legs as she moves.

A small hum is just rising from her lips when she hears something that does not belong to the early morning quiet. Someone running? Not one to assume the worst, it is curiosity instead of concern that draws her forward closer towards the border. And that is when she spies the yearling boy, now collapsed, and all traces of a smile abandon her gold-and-green eyes.

Recklessly selfless, she approaches without hesitation - lowering her head and beckoning a soft glow from the flowers that adorn her that assists with the still-weak light from the rising sun as she looks him over, searching for something she can heal - something she can fix. “What happened?” Comes Isilya's soft voice, not bothering to ask if he is alright. Surely that is fear, and not just the results of a boy over-exerting himself for fun.

’twas not her soft magic of streamlet or rill
oh! no, it was something more exquisite still

@scourge