He remembered well the pain that had driven him from the place he had come to call home. The one place he had entered, settled and fell in love in. The place he had been betrayed in and brought to ruin. That pain had thrust him onto a pyre and lifted him to the Gods, and crashed him back into a body that was and wasn't his own. A new start. Yet, those pains seemed to have been reborn too. A different skin, different faces, a different script. But the pain is real, the shadows are real.
Isorath understands those chains, blackened horrible things made to drag their wearer to their knees. He cannot in good conscience ask Aislinn to bear them for him, to see the rubbed raw flesh and the lightning which lanced beneath her skin in furious, mournful arcs. The embrace though, he can do that. As foreign as it is to him after so long, to dust those tender hallways of cobwebs and it's sheets — is refreshing. A page turned to reveal a new chapter to curious eyes, the first drink of spring water after an era in the desert. He held her closer than he had anyone in an age, the gilded scales upon his marble frame shifted and rose at her electrified touch, as if they were unsure of having someone so close. After a heartbeat, the slid back into place, smooth once more to the touch, instead of spears of defense for unbidden nerves. Their pace is easy, surrounded by music and braziers, sheltered beneath the citadel's imposing walls and stained glass. Terrastella's seat of power often reminded him of the ruins dotted upon the very edge of the Tharmesh Expanse. Remnants of a bygone age, the stained glass their tears now littered and strewn upon the grass in grief and ruin. He liked to think they looked like the Citadel once, his lilac gaze flicked to the depiction of Vespera and then back to Aislinn as her voice reached his ears. "Much has, and there are more changes coming, I feel." The Regent mused, caught between curiosity and apprehension. He hoped that the latter didn't reveal itself on his delicate features as their gazes met, he hoped the curiosity and inquisitiveness within burned far brighter. How he wanted to say something to the Stormsinger, but the words ended up choked before they could take their first breath. In the end, all he can manage is a humble "Thank you." Still, the feeling persisted, as a wound would. His porcelain skin rubbed raw and red as time ticked forward. Even if he cannot feel time crawl forward, he felt suspended. Taken out of time's flow until the time came. At her words, he uttered a soft snort, the diplomat in him amused. "Indeed, though I fear her inexperience may be detrimental in these first seasons of her reign. The Crown is a fickle, uncomfortable thing and it gives power to emotions that they should not have." He responded honestly, there is more again on his tongue he wished to say, but he swallowed it with an impassive tilt of his antlered head. Lilac eyes spare each path a glance, long and measured. He wished to leave. But he cannot. He is suspended here. He cannot go forward and he cannot go back. Aislinn provided him a moment of relief, and part of him wished that it would never end. Though truly he is a son of Vectaeryn, and they never ran from their problems. A Crossroads, it is fitting. Caught between light and shadow. What will you do now? "What I must." Isorath replied quietly, a breathless thing which is almost swallowed by the crackle of the fire and the wind which danced upon the night sky. "I fear..." He began, and for the first time in a long time, he allowed the apprehension, the concern, the fear to wash across his delicate features in traitorous waves. Pristine marble suddenly smudged, soot stained fingers spindled across the the golden cracks. He wanted to vanish beneath the volumous curls of starlight which fall down his neck in waves to kiss the stones beneath his hooves. "My heart found it's fire again, and I fear there are consequences for it." He does not let his confession linger for too long, a nervous laugh, a fleeting skittering thing, escaped into the air between them. "You should go, enjoy the festival and all it has to offer. There is much to see and I'm sure there are others who would be pleased to see you." TAG: @Aislinn |
