I paid the price and own the scars
why did we climb to fall so far ?
An enigma upon the grounds, she seems to almost float with an air of dignity and solitude about her. There is no entourage to keep her company, no shadows following close to make sure that no harm comes to the Phoenix Woman, only the soft clattering of stone underfoot as each hoof falls on the pathway below. So few walk here, such resounding quietude was a reprieve from the whisper of feet outside corridor doors and the ever-constant babbling of who knows which people for the evening. Only the wind talks to her now, a welcoming caress against her ear, kissing her cheek and toying with her overly long tail until only tangles would remain to be sorted when night fell once more. Not yet, though, is it coming to claim the world as it did when all days came to their conclusion. Instead, the afternoon sun beats down upon her, setting fire to the already burning woman, painting her as a lighthouse in a storm, a flame given life, a torch gliding forward with nothing more than simple exploration on her mind.
No thoughts of Estelle haunt her today. Fresh from bed, put together so nicely that her aunts and uncles would have cried to see her so becoming and blossoming into a woman, and ready to take on the adventure and garner new knowledge, she is unruffled and at ease. For the first day in months she does not carry upon her shoulders a tension and sorrow that Atlas would have fallen under. There are few shadows beneath swirling amber eyes to draw away from the otherwise pretty visage that shows much more light and laughter than anything else.
Serenity.
The feeling pervades her senses, spreads throughout the area until she is forced to draw in a deep breath and let it out with a small smile at last coming to light. And it is as though the angels themselves are singing, that one simple act changing everything about the girl completely. Wings flutter upon her shoulders, all too heavy and strange even now that she is grown, having gone unused for the entirety of her life, but so lovely and flashy all the same. Chest rises and falls slowly, there is nothing to hinder her climb into the unknown along craggy peaks that are packed full of small shrubs and resilient flowers that line the edges of rocks and sprout through cracks to wave and say hello. Some distant part of her is reminded all too much of her family as she comes to a lower edge of a cliff. Not at the top, but perhaps here would be a resting spot.
There is a beauty in the harshness she longs to paint, to draw, to sketch. Even outlines are flung from her heart in the small amount of debris underfoot as she quickly lines the distant peaks. Their harsh angles and echoing silence was the most wonderful thing she's seen yet in all of Novus; it was very much like the Tonnerres with their savage barbs and icy demeanor to all but those they chose to keep. For a moment she remembers home and what it was like to sit beside a fire every night with her tea and books. Florence and Gael pulling at her hair while she studied long into the night, Eluoan beaming at her progression that had moved so quickly and all the promise she'd shown, and at last their matriarch. The glimmer that had been in her eye as Moira chose to follow Estelle into the unknown beyond their compound.
Outside of those walls was the first time she saw birds up close. There were doves in the menagerie, but that was not a place Moira was yet allowed entry into. More often than not, there were hounds for hunting trips and the occasional playmate when the boys were little, and then there were cats for the girls. Personally, she'd always enjoyed the little snow white kitten with blue eyes that had taken up residence in the Doctor's home around the time that Moira had. Often it would curl against her when it was younger, and soon it learned to bat at the twins when they'd come to bother her.
Such memories were as heart wrenching as they were welcomed, a welcome reminder that one day she would find a home - her home - again. Until then, she pauses to just watch as the clouds roll into hues of rose and tangerine, purple paints the horizon as the afternoon light fades to evening's wondrous glow and the sun begins to rest at last.
we made our love out of stacks of cards
@Asterion <3
