cold in the violence after the war
hope is a fire to keep us warm
When she’d returned from that confusing and doomed battle, she’d been afraid to face Brinly. Foolish, perhaps, knowing it wasn’t truly Brinly she’d fought. But still, the guilt had been real. But then, when she’d finally forced herself past her misgivings, Brinly had been nowhere to be found. She’d worked her confusion over in her mind, turning pieces she couldn’t quite make fit over and over again until they’d been worn nearly smooth. Truthfully, the odd horn-eyed stallion she’d confronted hadn’t really fit in.
Until now.
When she’d been unable to find Brinly, she had found Lilli. There is something so soothing and freeing in her chestnut friend’s companionship that it hadn’t even been a question. For a time, there had been comfort and forgetfulness in her presence, hiding amongst the splashing waves of the beach. But she should know by now such peace can never last.
When she breaks into a trot to greet the pair already waiting for them, a smile begins to stretch her lips. But the concern lingering so heavily in the air swiftly dispels it, and Eurwen’s weighty, uncertain words still every muscle in her body. She skids to a halt, gaze falling on the spotted woman with a sharpness she hadn’t known she possessed.
In her mind, the pieces of the puzzle hover so closely together, as though waiting to click into place.
“Who took them?” she demands a bit more harshly than she’d intended. Her thoughts hum as she considers the possibilities. “Describe him.”
His scent comes back to her, arid and tinged by decay. She rolls her tongue across her teeth, hoping her suspicions were wrong and knowing they likely weren’t. She’d never felt true anger before, but what swells now deep in her gut is something she cannot mistake. Despite the depth of her emotion, her masked features are still, her open expressiveness blanketed in the blink of an eye.
In that moment, she looks more like her mother than she ever has before in her life.
Brazen