[P] unbraiding the sun

[Sabine]

for those who dream of stranger worlds,  S A B I N E ♥ She couldn't quite remember when she realised someone was trailing her path, but she could recall the memory of not caring whether they caught up with her or simply watched her pass. She had not even taken the time to turn that crushed-rose head to inspect the fellow traveller, so when the muted sound of hooves against sand and an even baritone broke the air, Sabine found herself swivelling on the spot to see just who exactly had been following her, for the first time.  Immediately, she wished she hadn't.  The air erupted from her lungs, cannonading and cracking. Perhaps it was that she hadn't slept in days, perhaps it was that her nerves were sat on the edge of a precipice -- or, indeed, perhaps it was simply shock that tricked Sabine's eyes into believing that the pale man stood before her was Raum. Had she been of sound mind this mistake would never have occurred; the differences between this stranger and her father were boundless, but of course Sabine was not whole, not undamaged. She was threadbare. She was porous and shot through.    The girl stared at this silver man for moments that felt like several time-travelled lives, until it registered slowly that this was not the beloved villain that walked her dreams. A memory cracks like lightning, her mind scrambling for the words that had passed this grey stranger's lips, but her breath was too fast and her heart was too cold. What had he said? It was too late, with parting advice he was already walking away by the time she remembered. A sand-what? Sabine shuddered inwardly, glancing to the east where he had pointed with that hollow gaze. This ghost had likely saved her from a death most gruesome, though Sabine felt herself disturbed more by the nagging disappointment that he had.  With a sigh, and the knowledge that if she turned away from Solterra now she would never return to try again, she set after her new acquaintance. "Wait," she hummed, her voice reaching after him with willowy hands,  "may I join you, sir?"

art created by chrystalunicorn