Lost in the deep end // Lilli

[lilliana]

"They were heathens," comes a voice that starts years behind in her past before it steadily rings in the present. It is faint at first, barely a trickle above the nearby creek. And then she smiles because how can she not when she speaks of Tarian, Liam and Kildare? How could she not smile when she thinks of those boys that have brought so much joy and love into her life?

It can touch her even here, even when she stands here buried underneath the shade of Taiga's redwoods.

"But then," she adds with an impish flourish, "I was accused of being far too indulgent with them." Lilliana says this as an incredulity - as if she could ever be accused of being anything other than what she is and finishes with that familiar grin of hers - beaming laughter ready to break through the spring sunshine. But Lilliana doesn't laugh. Instead, she takes a moment to note the way that Tyr's ears prick forward, to the attentive way he listens to the very heart of the forest around them and she finds herself relieved that he has made it through these last frigid months in one piece (at least what she can see with her eyes). His dark blue coat is thicker than hers, a gift from his ancestors in the way that hers do not grace her with and other than a lack of muscle definition, he is no worse than the last time she has seen him.

She has to do better, she thinks.
She must do better, she insists.

Tyr seeks to change the subject but Lilliana doesn't excuse herself so quickly. "Forgive me, Tyr."  Her voice is firm, unwavering in its insistence that she should have done better by the celestial stallion. "I should have spoken with you sooner. I hope that the winter here wasn't too harsh for you." Her first had been  - what a rude awaking a Taigan winter had been after being more acclimated to climates that would have been far more suited to Tephra or Ischia. Even after three years here, she still bears a copper coat that is far too sleek and thin for these blustery winter breezes.

Another reminder of a life, of a history that couldn't be ignored.

"There is," she responds. "Taiga has a coast that reaches from Tephra to Nerine." And Lilli would know - she has walked those beaches, dreamed on those beaches about all the unknown places that those blustery sea breezes blow in from. She sends her wishes and her thoughts on the salt air like she does her stars. Somehow, perhaps some way, she likes to think that they might be heard by another soul that likes to listen for distant echoes on the edges of the wind. 

Another airbender, another star-talker that might hear these things and speak her words out loud to someone who might understand.

"And there is a shorter span of shoreline to the east, towards Silver Cove," says the Diplomat. Tyr can have his pick of beaches - Lilli would show him all of them if it meant helping him find his own place within the Taiga. If he decided that he wanted to stay. Lilliana tilts her head, listening to that same birdsong as it balances against the pulse of the distant coast as it calls to her, "I could take you, if you'd like?"

@[Tyr]