so darling, darling stand by me
ohh stand by me, stand by me
ohh stand by me, stand by me
The stormsinger is cocooned in Calligo's embrace; stardust clings to her skin in gauzy silver, and her eyes rage in storms and promises of thunder in the dark. At the cliff's edge, she hangs onto the grey stones with her hooves frosted into the snow banks at her feet. The skies above her cry in inky tears as the stars slowly yawn awake in glimmers of blue as the sun descends further below the horizon. A perfect backdrop to the daughters of Dusk and Night eternal — with the roaring sea below and the music of the festival at their backs.
She thinks of the question that lingers on her lips like the aftertaste of sugar; sweet and unspoken. For a moment, they stand together in the quiet that settles. Their sister hearts beat in the wilds of this night, but there is a heaviness that weighs upon their shoulders. A wordless blanket that drags the queen's wings outwards, and whispers in the flurries in both of their feathers. Under the stars, the stormsinger's breath hitches with the cold that dances along the curves of her frame. Her ears barely catch the words that fall from Florentine's lips; suddenly breaking the icy surface of their silence.
Reich, I—
Aislinn's gaze abruptly turns, blue orbs falling on the flower girl. The oxygen in her lungs stands still as her heart remembers; oh, for how it had bled. The crack in the queen's voice is a familiar one; a feeling of ghostly daggers piercing one's chest and cleaving it open for the world to marvel at a broken heart. Aislinn's own ribs constrict at the memory — for the pain will never truly leave her — as the breath in her throat catches. What has he done? But as soon as the thought begins, it is fleeting.. it is not her place. Instead, she notices the burden that sits upon Florentine's shoulders. For she is as if the gods themselves had cradled their hands and crafted her from the burnished gold of newborn suns and blossoms of softest lilac.. and grief, however small or endless, does not bode well on the goddess made spring.
You seem to come with purpose, Aislinn.
Her heart cracks under the weight of hearing his name. Asterion.. she had not yet sought for him, although she burned to do so. The shame of her cowardice so many moons ago has weighed over her like a phantom shroud; a world of guilt and shame that has taken the luster from her eyes and drags her down like gravity. She cannot bring herself to see him.. not yet. "Would you believe me if I told you that I was looking for you?" she asks, her voice a soft chaos that murmurs lightning and shadows and stars. There is a truth to her words; for they are no longer the same women who had found themselves upon these same grey stones in the late of another night. Another starry expanse listened as she had laid bare her tears and sorrow; another map of constellations watched as her heart had been betrayed. But they are not those same women from then.. oh, no. For now, the gold-dusted girl she had met has risen to queen, and she is but a stormsinger who's heart no longer bleeds at the hands of a gypsy king.
The lovely bronze of her lips curl sweetly as the thick of her lashes lays on her cheeks; her chest warming at the thought of their olive branch, and the journeys they have both made. Her sigh is a whisper that rises and falls, before her gaze flickers open in licks of blue flame. Once more, she stares to the edges of the sea and the night sky, and the lanterns that float towards the end of the world. Wishes are bound into each lamp in golden candles that pierce the dark; and she wonders, but for a moment, the beauty of letting go such a wish made with only the stars above as witness.
Much like the plea that hides in the curves of her mouth.
She cannot stand with want and the silence that threatens to build between them. Although her heart shrivels at the sound and sight of Florentine's ache that tries to hide, the stormsinger cannot help but feel her own smile shake. Gooseflesh shivers down her spine as a flurry of snow swirls around them, tossing the moonlight of her mane around her, hiding her eyes. Her gaze does not meet the gems of the queen's own as her whisper floats between them on the shifting of snowflakes that land on the honey of her coat. "I have a favor to ask of you."
Stardust clings to her in shifts of silver against the ebony of her skin. For a moment, she wants to believe that she can almost feel her goddess cradle her close. Shadows writhe and hold her; a comfort of darkness that warms the coldest parts of her soul.. the parts of her that are ravaged by the seedling demon that claws in the heart of her. Even now, in Night's embrace, she can feel it.. and she shakes her crown violently to be rid of such an evil that roars.
Her voice nearly breaks.. but she is still a stormsinger, and her words breathe hurricanes and wavering strength as she turns to meet Florentine's waiting eyes. Blue and amethyst stones that burn through the emotions that wreck havoc on this night. "Would I.. be able to stay?" She inhales, before exhaling long and slow. A muscle furrows above her brow, before looking downcast and out towards the sea. "There is a darkness that grows.. and I do not know what to make of it." But does not say the next words that squeeze her heart and steal her breath.
I am afraid.
@
"Aislinn speech."
