tangerine
face to the sun
She like the way his eyes flutter closed as she touches him, the way she can make his smile broaden. He suggests a midnight walk and Tang finds her curiosity growing. “Lead the way.” She says with one brow lifting and her attention focused on him.
He is beautiful like this, relaxed and at peace, with a light heartedness in his voice.
She follows him through the shadows, her head close to his hip, her gold shoulder occasionally brushing his haunches and flak. As they walk she remembers the way they had found each other the first time, the tension in their touches, the lump in her throat. Was that really last winter, a year ago? Their encounter had been brief, but it had help shape her future. Serendipity. Her mother would call it.
She is lost in thought as they enter the clearing but as he halt she returns to the present. She takes her place beside him, her gaze lifting to the stars. Warrick, his name sprawls across her thoughts unbidden. Rarely can she look to the stars and not think of the auburn and navy stallion.
But Amet’s voice ends her reflection, the timber has changed - his words are low and fragile. She closes her eyes as she listens to the words which break her heart. He tells her a story, three children suffering under a cruel man, but in the end they are triumphant. Somehow, that little victory doesn't lessen the disgust she feels.
She can picture the scars along Iset’s slight body, and they seem to glow brighter in hindsight. Tang had only meet @[Iset] briefly, but she could easily see her ferocity and independence, she had an intensity that Tang would never know. She had power in her presence, she would make a good queen- even if she was not quite ready.
Amet needed her. Iset.
There is a long pause as he leans his shoulder into her and Tangerine holds his weight; his scales press into the softness of her winter pelt. She tries to comfort him with her touch instead of words in the weighted silence, in case he had more to say. Her lips press to the crest of his neck, her mouth wandering softly until she finds her way to the divot behind his ear.
“I don't know how to fix this.”
Tang inhales.
“Everyone makes mistakes.” She murmurs into his skin, letting out her breath as she thinks on her next words. Iset may be wild, in a different way than Tang was wild, but she was not evil. “And I think Iset knows what she did was a mistake, her absence speaks of guilt.” Tang ignores the tingling in her own scar. “She will be wiser because of this mistake."
He is beautiful like this, somber and pensive, trying to do the best by those who depend on him.
"Banishing Iset will fix nothing, you three need each other." She didn't know how to make everything better, she knew nothing of kingdoms and politics. But she knew about family, and she knew about forgiveness. "You have come too far, together, to let something like this divide you now."
@[Amet]