goodbye, my almost lover
goodbye, my hopeless dream --
Leliana was not surprised that someone found her, but still it took her a second to open her hazel eyes, to lift her head so that she could focus on the mare standing above her. Despite the agony that raged in her chest, the storm that swirled in her mind, she still gave a soft smile, the kindness apparent. "Oh, sleep has long eluded me." She stretched out her forelegs and heaved herself up, shaking the needles from her coat and settling her wings at her side.
She had no way of knowing that this was yet another mare who had found herself wrapped up in Dovev's embrace, that she was but one of many now. She had no way of knowing that her fears were not only realized but manifested in the one standing before her. But even if she had, her reaction would have been the same—the same soft smile and kind gaze.
How could she do anything else?
"My name is Leliana," she offered, her voice like fog, clear of sleep and gentle. For a moment, she watched the other mare, studying her. She was beautiful, fierce, strong and in many ways, she reminded Leliana of Exist. She had that same fire to her eyes, that same steel beneath her gaze. She admired that, wished she could have the same, but she didn't envy her. Could not bring herself to envy the other. It just wasn't her lot in life to burn that brightly.
She was content with it.
Experimentally, Leliana reached out with her healing, let it rest upon the stranger's brow and then sink into her flesh, work through her veins and muscles, root out whatever pain may linger there. There wasn't much, only minor aches, but it was enough. When her healing came back to her, curled into her palm and then her chest, she smiled again, the sadness almost imperceptible in the folds of velvet crimson lips.
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