Somnus’ silhouette against the twilight sky was familiar to the girl of dusk. She knew those curves, the flare of a mane painted black where it should be gold. She knew the dance of his gilded wings, sculpted now by the black shadows of night.
His arrival was well timed as Florentine, ever the reluctant queen, dropped the book she had been reading (about Novus’ history) and drifted toward the window. His flight captured the girl’s attention like a poem.
She watched the dawn boy descend, pulling the gold from the sun as he went. The sky seemed darker for his loss and the ground a little lighter as the grasses welcomed him down.
A smile tugged at the young queen’s lips. She turned from the window, her eager feet clattering through the library. Disapproving looks dogged her back, nipping along her spine. She ignored the teeth of judgment and in a flurry ascended a spiral flight of stairs, reaching the trellised balcony atop the tower.
From the ramparts Florentine’s gaze, so full of amethyst, fell upon Delumine’s regent far, far below. She scaled the wall, only to tumble from the tower’s tip like a bird shot with an arrow. Feathers and flowers were pulled from her mane as she cascaded down, down towards the earth.
This was her mother’s trick, to climb and climb and climb so high, only to freefall from the very pinnacle of the earth. Mere moments from the ground her wings spread to catch the uprising air. She landed with a thump, less graceful than her mother, but Florentine had never been the gazelle her mother was. This girl was born of ice and fire; she was a war within herself and not one to worry about deportment.
“Somnus!” The flower girl chimed, slender limbs carrying her slowly towards Delumine’s second. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your shapely derrière? Is there a new maze we have yet to explore?” Her lips turn sly, her gaze glittering like mirthful stars.
And then there is a breath, a moment in which her brilliant smile falls away and her lashes cover her eyes for a second, and then two more. When those eyes open, the stars still shine, but their mirth is gone, they are as tender bruises. “I have missed you.”
@Somnus - she misses him terribly <3
★ She is clothed with strength and dignity,
and she laughs without fear of the future ★
