DAWN
it must be about as hard as forgetting your best friend
As she finds herself starting to steady herself, she feels him begin to unravel against her. His breathing grows harsh and though he’s not projecting his thoughts to her, she knows. She knows what he’s thinking, how he wished he could have saved them both, and her crying begins anew, but it is a quieter grief, less likely to draw attention to the pair as they try to calm themselves in each others’ arms. The silence grows around them as they work to slow their breathing, and when Rhae speaks it startles her.
He suggests they get out of the water and Dawn stares blindly towards her hooves, realizing for the first time that she is at least knee-deep in water, though everything is blurry and it is hard to tell exactly how deep they have gotten. Where once she would have jumped at the thought of him holding her, she only nods jerkily before spinning around in the water, dragging her hooves as she makes her way towards the shore. She trips when the water gives way to the bank and goes down to her knees, a dry sob ripping its way through her.
But he is right there to nudge her back to her hooves and together they find the shade of a tree and collapse under it, Dawn trembling from a sudden chill. “Please don’t leave me,” she whispers as she finds his gaze and holds it, her eyes desperate and pleading. “I can’t lose you too, Sunny.”
Just as suddenly as she has grabbed his attention she looks away again, eyes scanning the horizon desperately; begging the gods to see her mother walking towards them, a gentle smile lighting up her face. But there is no one, especially not Cress, and she’s never going to see her mother again, no matter how hard she pleads to the gods. Some of the gods are cruel, her mother had told her once, spinning the story of how she got her fire and her tattoo.
She tries to hold in the high-pitched keening, but a whine escapes anyways, along with fresh tears. “Tell me how to make it stop,” she whispers, fatigue taking over as she lowers her head to the ground. “Make it stop hurting.”
@[Rhaegor]