Sabra
A hollow laugh bubbles past the wound in my chest, my head shaking ruefully. He has not changed a bit, and for the moment it doesn't seem like a bad thing. I'm reminded of why I felt such a heady attraction to the dragon stallion in the first place.
"You would think that," I scoffed, wings fluttering against my sides. "If nothing else, I will say that life was not boring with you. Hellaciously annoying, violent and occasionally heartbreaking. But never boring." How many long and pointless days had I spent since then? Purpose, that was the difference between the two of us. One of them, anyway. The stallion I knew had always known what he wanted, even if the path forward was not always so clear. And he had never had a problem with razing that path when the need came.
I? I have never been so confident.
(Cowardly)
Yes, even cowardly.
Maybe that's why I've had such a long interlude with death. In a way, it's felt easier than facing the damaged reality I've built around myself. In fighting for the purpose that's so long eluded me.
The sigh lingers between us, crystal and cinder, glass and obsidian. The cracks are showing. Perhaps it's because even after all this time, we still know each other, and we can trace the fracture lines along each other's armor with deft precision. A shiver of nervous energy crackles along my spine, cold that no amount of sun or fire could cure. My teeth bare in a sardonic smile, eyes flashing as they blinked up at the dragon's scaled face. "Self-pity has never been a good look on you, Cas. That's my territory," I hesitate, looking away before I finish the thought. "Trust me. If you're not careful, it'll drown you." And we can't have that.
And then it's my turn to sigh, though mine is more a gust of exasperation than sorrow. "For crying out loud, wyrm. Get it over with, touch it, sniff it, lick it, whatever. Just do what you've got to do to stop looking at me like a piece of meat." I grumbled, shoving closer until my chest is presented for his open examination under his nose. "Yes. It hurts. With every beat of my heart. But gods know I've dealt with worse, so it really doesn't matter." My gruff tone cloaks the anxiety thrumming through me. What else is new, though? He's right, it's likely neither of us will learn. Not really, not when it counts. The curse of stubborn, proud fools was ours to bear, as much a part of us as the wings on our backs.
Without thinking about it, I've begun to pace before him. A nervous tic I picked up on the mountain cliff cave, back when my world shrank to fifteen paces long and ten paces deep. Forty paces around. Here though, it's just a gentle rocking from side to side. A reminder that I can go further, if I want to. "Do you still live in Loess?" I ask, abruptly halting. I've found him in a common land, and I do not know the circumstances surrounding his abdication. Is it sad, that I'm not certain if the next words he says will be truth or lies.
I wanna be Immortal, like a God in the sky
I wanna be a silk flower, like I'm never gonna die
Photo by Kareva Margarita
@[Castile