[P] last year I abstained

[Samaira]

hold me on your heart as the brave sea holds the foam

The festivities had not managed to make her feel better; had not managed to fill nor remove that place inside her that was drip, drip, dripping its emptiness behind her with every step she took. The laughter, the smiles, none of it had worked its way to her lips, which remained somberly downturned at the corners—when they lifted it was only for the sake of her patients, or her colleagues.

Samaira had stood outside the Shed-Star’s tent, looking beyond it’s darkened opening, wondering if going inside would bring her any peace. She had stood there, waiting for her hooves to carry her within, to ask the questions on her heart. She hadn’t, even after the man made of moonlight had gone.

She also hadn’t gathered the courage to approach the altars. Her heart ached too fiercely to set her eyes upon them, to accept the truth that stared her in the face every day in Terrastella.

So, the pegasus had sent off her bonded to do something on his own; eat, rest, celebrate in his own way, she did not mind what. Only that she was left alone, to wander the night and the quiet with only her heart and the ghosts that resided within it.

That was how she came upon the lake, leaving the joviality of the court behind her for its stillness and tranquility. For the stars, and the moon, and the shadows, which brushed across her curves like a breeze. Something inside her was missing, or buried, or lost. Some piece of her that had wanted so badly to trust. Something—

“Samaira!”

Something tugged on her, like an invisible string, compelling her to lift her head despite her desire to be alone. The voice was familiar, and her eyes were moon-bright and wide, and she wore the night like she wore the earth as blue wings and brown eyes framed by pale lashes came into focus toward her.

“Elchanan,” it took her a moment, just a moment, to recall his name. But only a moment. She remembered him because they had met on her first distant flight after her wing had healed. In a cave, somewhere north of here, she thought. Somehow, though her heart laments, she stops for him. “What are you doing out here?”

take me far away to the hills that hide your home

⚕