[open] I was told

[lilliana]

Lilliana has a history, of perhaps, skewed luck.

The last time Ruth roamed out of Taiga… well, Lilliana had tried to forget that whole ordeal as best she could. The chestnut mare barricaded herself with the same warm smile, with the same bright-eyes that the Taigan Ambassador could be known for. Whatever shadows lurked through her mind revealed themselves only in the dark and the copper mare hadn’t argued when @[Ruthless] stayed in Nerine. If anything, she had been relieved.

(It was easier to pretend the shadows didn't exist that way.)

The red mare spends this day as she does most others; she takes shelter in one of the many canyons that distinguishes Pangea from her other sister kingdoms. The slender mare spends the hours of her captivity irritably shifting her weight, cocking one hip and then the other when the joint starts to ache.

There isn’t much longer to go and the crimson mare has taken herself closer to the southern border (though her mind is turning towards the Meadow or perhaps the River). Lilliana meant what she told Celina - she has no intention of delivering her child in Pangea.

Lilli has tucked herself safely away, letting those same shadows cover her ochre-hued frame, in a crevasse not far from the river. It’s a voice that carries downwind, sweet and alluring, a siren-song in an otherwise barren desert. Her ears prick forward and then back. Does she dare leave?

The scent (or rather scents - there are two) that follows decides for her.

When Lilliana appears from behind one red canyon wall to be greeted by a few dead trees, birdsong and a golden piece of her heart that lodges in her throat. She is so happy to see Ruthless, but here? In Pangea? Another part of her - the one that has called her lioness - knows she shouldn’t be surprised to see her here at all.

"Hello,” the chestnut greets the galaxy-covered mare with a tentative smile. She is something crafted from the cosmos and Lilliana tilts her head curiously at a cluster of stars shimmering on her purple coat. Turning her attention back to her gold girl, the Taigan mare feels like she is drowning in a tsunami of emotions and questions - has Neverwhere sent her? Has Taiga? What of her boys? Elaina? Brazen? The Redwoods? Nerine? Her blue eyes are burning - much like Desire’s star-studded pelt - with questions.

"Lilliana,” she politely offers to the Pangean before fixing her full attention on Ruthless while she waits (what feels like eons) for the golden girl to answer @[Desire]’s question. The copper mare doesn’t offer more but her shining eyes say it all - I am so happy to see you.