There's blood on your tongue
when you kiss me goodbye
The night yawns overhead, bright and filled with promise. It is a time of peace and rest, yet she is not resting. She had spent too long lost in the throes of slumber, allowing the world the pass her by. Now she only sleeps when she must, and this moment is not one of them. So she is awake when he finds her, red face tipped to the heavens, serene and contemplative as she eyes the stars through a faint gap in the trees.
It’s so easy to become lost in memory. And these nights remind her of a star-tipped child who has not been a child in a very long time. She had raised her as her own though, and she would always be hers, no matter how much space or time separate them.
It reminds her of them all, of course. Her impossibly strong daughter contained so feebly inside a broken shell, her lost twins bearing the bark of a beast their father had had trouble seeing past. She’d loved them more for that, she thinks. Because they’d needed it.
And it reminds her of her children who had never drawn breath. The ones that she still holds in her heart, a hollow ache she suspects will never disappear.
So his distraction is quite timely perhaps, drawing her from terribly dark and sad musings that should have no place on a night like this. She lowers her head as he draws near, her bright amber eyes turning to him, nostalgia replaced by a warm welcome, a slow smile curling her lips as he greets her. “Ruan,” she says, returning his greeting with gentle friendliness.
Her gaze drops to the spotted boy as Ruan introduces him, his touch familiar and paternal as he noses the child. Elyseria’s smile deepens, her gaze brightening as she drops her head lower in greeting. “Hello Rian,” she says softly, her gaze curious and open as it shifts to Polaris when Ruan introduces her as well. “Hello Polaris. It is a pleasure to meet you both. Please, call me Ely.”
Her bright gaze shifts to Ruan again as he continues, delicately lined head lifting slightly as her features soften beneath his admission. “It’s so easy to do, with those close to your heart,” she admits, understanding too well why he’d kept them hidden away. She only wishes she could have done the same.
Elysteria