[P] and the marsh became her mother,

[Elena]

Elena Daray

let us live like flowers
drenched in sunlight

H

er life is quiet now—so quiet. In her youth, she had spent so much time in the loud that her ears still ring from it. There are parties, celebrations, that the Champion of Community rejoices in, but there is no hungry villain after her blood, there is no navy man trying to rip her to shreds, there is no threat on her home that wants to destroy everything inside her. Elena questions if she has ever known quiet before Novus, before Dusk, and she thinks Windskeep, but in a heartbeat, she remembers the war, the Great War, and wars are the loudest of everything (all drums and thunder and noise.)

It feels like it has been ages since she has been in the swamps. She walks through the water, knee deep, admiring the plants that have erupted for spring, not quite ready to be picked, but notes where they are, how many, and when they may be ready for use. There is a cold chill in the spring air, she expects to be the only one out here, but Elena is constantly surprised, why should today be any different? Blue eyes note the way she walks, the way she holds herself, the way she moves to carelessly through her swamp waters. Those blue eyes narrow and ice bunches behind them.

“You shouldn’t be out here,” Elena approaches her with all the confidence of someone who has lived in Terrastella far longer than she has. “These plants are delicate, you are destroying them,” she says, and though it sings like an accusation, her tone is much more gentle, only when she realizes how young the girl is. Older than Elliana sure, but not by much in the grand scheme, barely an adult, if an adult at all. “They are for the sick,” she explains this time, she cannot help the way her motherliness creeps into her voice. “Are you sick?” Elena asks her, those blue eyes looking onto the unicorn child. The empath stares a moment longer. “You want something,” she says and sighs. They always wanted something.

code by rallidae
picture by cannon
@Avesta