[open] don't let those butterflies out - any

[lilliana]

The crimson girl has never been good at hiding her emotions. Whatever she feels weaves a tale across every plane of Lilli's refined face. She lacks the stony reserve her dam has, lacks the fire that always keeps Brielle blazing or Malachi's confidence, his assurance that everything will work out. She has tried all of these masks on before and each one falls right off, shattering to pieces the moment eye contact is made with those icy blues. She can be brave when she has too and the flower child has a sharp tongue, courtesy of her silver dam who had so often cut many down with her own. But these are Lilli's defense mechanisms and only come out when her back is to the proverbial wall, when she has nothing else to turn too. Luckily, she hasn't had much need of either. Her journey had been uneventful, if not lonely. There had been few travelers and perhaps it had been against her better judgment to travel when she had.

But it had left Lilli alone with all those thoughts. It had left her wondering what would have happened if she had said something, if she had only told Broch how she felt. She had wondered if he had known, would he have come back? Or worse, did he know and still chose to leave? She has tortured herself with this. And each time she banishes Broch from her thoughts, he comes back again and again, looming large and demanding her attention as he had done every time they had met. Lilli is good at small talk, at smiling and commenting on the weather, of the beauty around her. She is even better talking about others, drawing information about their own lives and away from herself. The chestnut mare has never been open with her emotions. They have always been concealed behind that smiling face because that is simply who she is. In her youthful ignorance, she thinks if she never addresses the things that scare her, that make her unhappy, then they can have no power over her.

But she is slowly learning, gaining the advantage of time and the experience it offers. 

Broch has been a lesson well-learned. She hadn't spoken up, had avoided his own determined gaze when it sought her own because it had frightened her. And then he was gone, leaving Lilli with her first taste of regret and the learning of how to live with it. So, in a way, it his fault she is here. Elaina had returned to Windskeep. Her brother needed to dedicate himself to the raising of his own growing brood and her mother.. well, Aletta had never been the same after the loss of Brynn and the disapperance of Valerio. Lilli could spend a lifetime waiting or she could try and attempt a future on her own, try to find a place for herself and learn to find her own voice. So here she is, trying. The stallion is cheeky and because of this, her smile comes easier and quirks lopsided. He laughs and though the mare doesn't join him, her own blue eyes twinkle with the merriment of the moment.

She wants to ask the stallion, Wolfbane, something about himself. It seems the polite thing to do, the way a normal conversation should flow. But then, life is unpredictable and the current changes. "Taiga?" she asks, the sound coming out foreign on her tongue. She tilts her head up to Bane curiously, inviting him to tell her more. "Sounds intriguing," comes the playful tones, light and teasing. And then a wing comes flying causing Lilli to blink. She stares down, blue eyes taking in the span of the massive wing. Her gaze then follows the direction of the wing, staring towards the path that could take her to Taiga. She is quiet as she continues to stare down the invisible trail, only returning to look at Wolfbane with a rueful sort of smile. "Only when I have to be," she admits, thinking of all the events that have lead her down this path. But this could be a step in the right direction. Lilli takes one more long glance towards Taiga and then decides. It might be the wrong choice but it hers to make, something that liberates her.

Another look back at Wolfbane, her head already inclining towards his home. "I would like to see it," she says, the teasing and the humor falling away, replaced with Lilli's sincerity. "If you would be so kind as to show me the way? My sense of direction is somewhat legendary for my lacking of it."

wolfbane