No one responds to her query, but somehow Cassady is still not afraid. She stands perfectly still, as if stillness might make her malfunctioning power work better, and moves only her head, brown eyes narrowed to see if that will help her find the voiceless presence. It doesn’t, but she doesn’t give up hope. Carwyn had gotten her wings back, and grandfather his, so it only follows that she will at some point regain her own powers. And maybe – hope beyond hope – only the one she wants!
Cassie does jump when he presses against her, the heavy weight of his wing settling warm across her back, but then she leans into the pleasant touch, enjoying the feel of another living being. Perhaps a normal mare wouldn’t lean into an invisible stranger they think is a ghost, but she is near to being touch-starved. Kellyn wasn’t a good mother to begin with, and she had touched her half-rotting daughter as infrequently as she could to at least maintain some sense of affection between them. Brennen and Carwyn had been better, and were much better after the Reckoning had made her whole again, but nobody particularly enjoys touching someone whose skin is falling off – and certainly she has never had any romantic overtures or been touched by anyone who isn’t her direct family.
And then the touch is gone again; Cassady takes a half-step in the direction towards where he used to be, a small and rather sad sound escaping her throat. “Don’t go!” she bites back any more words, shakes her head, smiles into nowhere because she doesn’t know where he is, doesn’t even think to listen for his movement – after all, she thinks he’s a ghost and while she can touch them, incorporeal beings don’t usually affect the rest of the world. “I’m sorry, usually I can see and hear you.” she continues, in a lighter tone, hoping to tempt the warmth back. “That was nice – the touching. I hope you’re not too lonely.”
Some of her ghosts have been fine – well-adjusted, just simply dead. But some she encounters outside of death are desperate, stuck, and lonely. Sometimes they just don’t travel the same wavelengths as the other dead, and she is the first friendly face they’ve seen. Some are angry – though she knows her dead relatives who appointed themselves guardians of Cassie and Kellyn tend to keep those ghosts away. “I’m Cassady, by the way.”
cassady