Hope
begins in the dark.
There were so many demons living in this place, lurking in the shadows and the alleyways, beneath market stalls and behind doorways. If Eulalie had her way, she would never have stepped foot in this desert, past these sandstone walls, again. She would have stayed away for the rest of her life if it weren’t for the growing size of her belly. For the lives she would soon be responsible for. As foals it would be easy to keep them at home where they could be safe, but as they grew she would have less control over where they went and what they did.
She needed to lay these demons to rest if she were ever going to feel comfortable with the fact that her children may one day want to travel to this kingdom of sand and sun. If it were even possible that she would be able to, it could only be done by returning to Solterra.
So, yes, despite her pregnancy and the wicked, blazing sun, the ivory warrior had braved the sands she had once called home in order to, she hoped, find some peace of mind. Eulalie paused at the threshold of the court, wondering what had changed in the time since she had left but perhaps more so wondering what had remained the same. Her heart thudded wildly in her chest, her dark brown eyes slightly narrowed in the face of the light bouncing from the surfaces around her. After far too much hesitation, she made her way inside.
Things looked the same. The same buildings she remembered, the same darkened alleys contrasting against the same sunbleached exteriors. The same dragging, lurking, slithering bodies, sweat sheened and sharp eyed. The further in Eulalie ventured, the more her heart pumped, racing, running, taking flight from her chest and reaching up, up up, back home. Back to the ones she cared for. It took everything she had not to turn around and leave.
This was a place full of nothing but pain for her, and for many others as well. Despite the horrors she had gone through, despite the things she had been subjected to, Eulalie guessed there were others who had and would go through worse things. The difference was that she had won her freedom, she had escaped. If only, she thought, she felt the same bravery now that she had that day in the market.
Maybe then, she wouldn’t be so afraid.
@Seraphina <3
