[P] but what of his love?

[Elena]

It's always a matter, isn't it, of waiting for the world to come unraveled? When things hold together, it's always only temporary

S

he is unsure, and broken.
The sea brought her here. It threw her against the shores of Terrastella, a girl who was once blind, but now had eyes that bloomed to be blue. She had her heart broken, she had seen Hyaline fall from grace, left Lilli behind, and she had ran after magic that should have rather been left alone. She was a weak, fragile thing, like a flower blooming too early in spring.

She is eager to test her strengths and limits.
Elena arrived in Beqanna young and hungry, without having had an opportunity to prove herself. She went searching for her cousin, but she found a kingdom and a leader to serve instead. She found a new calling, to engage herself in diplomacy and become a politician. To help create peace rather than just hope for it.

She is happy.
They had spent every night together since she had been stolen from Woodlands and taken to Culloden. She slept beside Lilli every night. Malachi joked that he thought they spent a lot of time together when they had been small, this was nothing compared to now. Truly joined at the hip. Elena has not slept as well as she did with Lilli in ages—not until Elli.

She is lovestruck.
She follows him around like a puppy, believing this to be true love just because he tells her so and he is so much older than she is. Elena thinks he will guide her through whatever else she may face in this world. Elena learned quickly what love was not, and that lying to yourself is far easier than lying to another.

She is young again. New.
She runs on shaky legs, bounding after her parents, blond hair bouncing atop her golden head. Parents, one of morning sunshine, one of midnight darkness, they chase after her with all the tenderness of experienced parents, if they have only been mother and father for a short short time.

And it would always be too short.

Her senses start coming back to her. Bits and pieces. Scales, fire, eyes. Smoke, screaming, asking. And then she can suddenly taste the salt, hearing the waves, and is faintly aware of ocean mist. She is all of sudden so aware that she is home. Blue eyes greet the familiar sights of her cottage home. Elena wonders first of Elliana. Where is she? Did she see her like this, them like this? She remembers then that she is with her father, in Denocte, Azrael was watching her, she knows nothing of the bridge, of the city, of the nightmares. She is safe—for now. Elli is busy counting the time that passes from lightning to thunder, just as she had taught her. Azrael tells her stories of shed stars and constellations.

She is grateful to him all over again.

“Torix,” she says, watching him trying to rise, looking around. It feels strange having him here, but just like on that bridge, it is comforting too, all at once. She realizes she would want no one else here with her. It is the first time she does not wish for her daughter’s company, and it send a sharp blade of guilt into her stomach. Her limbs feel as if they were blades of grass, bending and flowing. The palomino barely makes her way to him before collapsing beside him. Her forehead presses to his own, and suddenly her heart stops racing, even if she feels like every nerve is on edge. “Are we okay?” She asks him and pulls away as easily as she bent close. “I don't think I can tell anymore.”

@Vercingtorix
Code by rallidae
picture by cannon