if you do not have shadows,
you are not in the light
The children had more in tune than their dragged pace and sand-matched coats. They both harbored the gumption to serve and thrive, a naïve front-line soldier with an extra skip in their step.
Unlike the worn first lieutenants and captains, their newly-found-will to avoid what once ached deep in their bones. They knew the troubles they sought; they learned the consequences. They didn’t wish for it anymore.
She smells him first; a scent so sweet her mouth savors for a moment. It sets into her skin, spreading a wide tingle that will likely hole up and stay awhile. She missed him, but she didn’t know that until now.
His snort is a flower that roots into her heart and pulls to her throat, amidst ash and blackness.
“Kalil,” it’s a name she holds as it melts to her tongue, feeling the gentle stroke of his lips caress her crest; a friendly, soft touch. It reminds her off the soft pressure of Lilliana and Fiorina as they pressed their strength against her ribs, the growing threat of Wolfbane notably small in that exact second.
A touch that brings her back to the ground where she ran carelessly and free.
He doesn’t say anything before her, nothing but the bellowing crash of waves against cliffs in the near distance swallows them. She would appreciate the silence if he hadn’t been so silent, so reserved.
He knows, he must.
The waves ripple up to their feet again, his footprints that had disclosed his path now being inhaled by the water. It pulls away, the softness of his imprint swelling until an unscathed replacement of dewy sand is left leaving her to question if he ever had walked to her at all.
The star-crossed pair stood side by side, her soft breathing almost too calm. She can’t help but wonder if perhaps everything in life is as temporary as the footprints drowned by nature’s desire to be perfect; a firm impression made and then suddenly… gone.
She leans into him more, wanting to escape every inch of herself to appreciate the moment in its entirety.
“Life is becoming more and more hard,” it falls from her mouth as she turns her head slightly to curl in his neck. A soft surrender and admission to the weakness she had harbored internally for so long. The mare from the mountain would be ashamed of her right now.
Her mother would be disappointed.
Lilliana would be saddened.
Fiorina would be disgusted.
But what will Kalil be?
Ruthless
@[Kalil]