IPOMOEA
yesterday i was clever
H
e smiles wistfully at her words, and for a moment - a long, trembling, heart shattering moment - he almost corrects her. And Ipomoea almost tells her all the things his heart is too weak to put into words, and all the ways he knows where his home is, the way it calls to him from a world away.But then he would have to tell her why he tells it not today, not yet, when the war is over, and he would have to live with whatever judgement she, a soldier of his own court, would lay at the hooves of the regent running away to chase dreams and battles he has no business being in.
He looks at her, and he smiles. There’s a sadness lingering in his eyes but he hopes it looks only like he is still searching, and not like he is hopelessly lost. Maybe one day he’ll tell her the truth, and explain then why he did not tell her now - he hopes, at least, that that day will come. There’s a part of him that is still not sure when he will return home, or even if he will. And then there’s another part telling him to be brave, to be patient, to take fate into his own hand and make a way to return home. Ipomoea has never known what it’s like to direct destiny, but with a city of stars and jewels and dreams laid out before them, he thinks he might be able to learn.
"I figure I’ll know it when I see it," he tells her instead, and it eases a strain on his heart to know that this, at least, is somewhat true. In the way he knows Denocte, as beautiful and daring as it might be, is not the place for him; so too he trusts that Delumine will remind him of all the ways he belongs to it when he sees its meadows at last.
But for now, the grade on the mountain is easing, and the path is widening, and he can see small purple flowers beginning to dot the soil.
"But, for now Denocte is not too bad a place to be. Come, the court is just on the other side of this prairie, and it’s a wonder to see." He hopes she’ll like the city enough to stay a while, long enough to tell the dawn when she returns that the rest of the world is not so bad as it always seemed. Ipomoea smiles, and heads into the rolling hills.
@Maerys | "speaks" | notes: annnd scene <3
