[P] the first snow of winter

[Elena]

Winter is not kind to Elena. She was made for summer skies and warm sunshine. But Winter always brought something in her, like the sharp blade of a knife against her heart. Nothing could replace her family, and on this cold morning, the ache in her heart cuts a little deeper than usual. She loved Terrastella, she loved her court, she loved healing, loved the friends she had made here, friends that have nearly become family, but it was not entirely the same. She wanted her mother and father to meet Elliana, she wanted Elli to know her great-grandma. She wanted her daughter to gaze up in awe, just as she had, at Paraiso’s giant waterfall, or smell the lavender beside Murmuring Rivers. Elliana, her heart, her joy, her anchor. The gravity of her life. Elena wished she could at least meet her namesake, Lilliana, her godmother that she hears so much about but has still never seen. It startles Elena still, even on this cold morning when Elli stands carefree in the new snow, and she sees Lilliana pass over her face, and her skin flashes crimson for a second, as those same bright blue eyes look at her.


The corners of her lips quirk into a smile, and it is serene, kind, the kind of smile her own mother wore when she first saw her daughter in the winter snow. She watches as Jack runs over to her, a biscuit (where he got it Elena does not know, does not want to know) in his little paw. Elena sees her daughter’s lips moving, talking to her companion, but she cannot hear what stories she tells. Her heart still bruises against her ribcage every time she breathes, pushing against it. It hurts, standing here in the cold. “Elli,” she calls out to her and her ghost like daughter turns to her. She is a shapeshifter and suddenly she no longer looks like Lilli, but Tenebrae.

She has her head tilted, staring up at her golden mother, their matching blonde hair collecting soft snowflakes like pollen in the wings of a butterfly. “We are going on a trip,” she says and the two set off in even, graceful strides. Elliana for her part, shifts again and she looks like she is no one’s daughter but Elena’s. Matching blue eyes, ivory hearts on their brows as if they had been kissed by love.

The prairie offers fresh snow and it is near the lake (the lake that Elena cannot manage to face, but she imagines the image of her daughter ice skating and it is almost enough to break her.) She thinks the prairie is close enough, maybe one day. They are not alone in Elena’s idea though, for there stands another mother and daughter, two faces that are all too familiar to Elena. Elliana races ahead, nearly losing Jack in the process who clings tighter to her neck. “It is good to see you again,” the palomino says when she is close enough. Elliana greets Maeve with enthusiasm that tells Elena they know each other from another time, another place. “This is Elliana, Maeve, it is good to see you,” she smiles at the young girl. “I was not aware Maeve was your daughter,” Elena says tilting her head before turning blue eyes to eyes to watch the girls. “And how is motherhood treating you? You seem….at ease, more so than I last saw you,” Elena jests, gently (and so very carefully). Elena, try as she might, she can never resist playing with fire.

picture by cannon <3
@Morrighan @Maeve @Elliana