[P] Starry Night

[Maude]

While the boy stands rigid and afraid, as if a mouse paused mid-step to peer at the hawk-shadowed sky, the two ladies gently ease into conversation. Maude had a little brother quite like this stranger; he was quiet and shy, and had often kept to the desert, stuck to his mother’s side, unlike her other sibling. Of course, she’d never met her Jude, only Byron, but, thankfully, her little brother had lots of stories to share about the life he and his twin shared in the deserts of the Throat. She thinks of them now and feels her own throat tighten, the fear that she may never see Byron again, and might never meet Jude at all suddenly looming within her thoughts, like a sheet of ice water that perpetually came crashing down over her head, time and time again. Trying her best to remain warm on the outside, despite the chill brooding within her heart, the maiden smiles and carries on with the conversation, while the wind lightly touches the wet tracks of her quieted tears; she was getting better at pretending that everything was okay, she supposed. "Denocte?" repeats Maude; the realm by name alone sounded quite lovely. Having not heard the Novus name for her own present land, or any other, for that matter, the enchanting, almost magical syllables by which Florentine calls the realm of Night draws Maude in like a weary traveler to a warm fireside. Her laughter comes more easily as she drifts away from thoughts of her family, torn apart by disaster, and lingers on the silly notion of wars being started over someone misplaced as her, and the wonderful, fairy tale image of the realms of Denocte still swirling in the background of her thoughts. The pink maned colt’s sudden burst of vocalization steals away whatever reply Maude had formulated; turning her eyes towards him with her own, soft smile at play. Wondering if she should stand, she decides that, whether it was rude or not, she would rather remain right where she was, and simply continues moving her eyes to and from each of her new acquaintances from her comfortable patch in the grass. "Thank you, miss Florentine," says Maude, not sure what else to say, really. Sighing contentedly as she looks out on the last, lingering beams of the setting sun, she returns her light green eyes to the pink-tinted youth, gesturing next to herself on the grass with her ginger muzzle. "You can sit here, if you want. It’s a good spot to watch the sunset, and its almost over." how to be brave how to love when I'm afraid

Image by Araxel@DA
@Jude @Florentine