She couldn't help the hammering in her breast as she stood there, every muscle beneath her earth toned skin skin tensed and at tr ready to take flight, wings of glowing starlight sprouting from her shoulders in what could only be an instinctive response the the adrenaline that raced through her fiercer with every rapid and strong beat of her heart. So fast and wild was the beating of her heart that she felt as though though she had raced around the loving and carefully guarded borders of the ancient valley a dozen times - or flown, even. Her breaths were shallow and hushed as her senses remained at their highest as she sent a silent prayer to her ancestors that they be with her in this very moment, that they would lend her the courage that restless spirit needed as minutes ticked by and nothing save for the soft movements of the vegetation in the gentle breeze dared to stir. Winter was coming quickly on the tail of autumn, and it could be felt in the early hours of a new day and the late hours of the evening when the sun had fallen beyond the distant horizon, beckoning forth the night. While many of the songbirds and woodland creatures had either journeyed to warmer parts of the world or buried themselves cozily within their burrows for the cold days that were fast approaching, she had not expected for this forbidden realm ruled by the greedy pangare warlord to seem so quiet, so... still.
Gently, she turns the winds once more, as her father had always taught her to do when keeping herself on guard for any possibility of impending danger. She knew that this was the very last place the pale stallion would ever want her that be, and if he knew... She gives a gentle toss of her pretty spanish head, not wanting to think of his condition worsening under the stresses of knowing where it was her obsidians had carried her. If Valerio knew where she was, there was little doubt in her mind that he would have come barreling into the dale and demanded that girl of brandished gold turn around and return home, where it was safe and far away from this kingdom that he often referred to as the land of traitors and cold hearts with his usually calm and smooth baritones growing hard and sharp as daggers prepared for war. Every part of her knew that she wasn't supposed to be here, knew that she should be at home helping LoveLace and her mother take care of her father. Still she struggled to look at her father as he lay there on his bed of fallen leaves she and Nova prepared and maintained for him. She knew that LoveLace we doing all that she could for him, but still it broke her heart to see her hero, her superman of a father undefeated on the battlefield so weak and so frail.
She'd almost lost herself within her own thoughts that she nearly missed the growing presence of the scent upon the winds. With the musk of the keeper faded with his lack of presence here within his own kingdom - which Cherish was both relieved by as well as puzzled - it was easy to pick up the feminine essence of an approaching spirit. Glacier blue gaze sharpens as she searches almost desperately for a face that she could not remember. Had Talien been there when she had been born? She couldn't remember that, either and yet something in her heart assured the young fae of starlit wings that she would recognize her sister when she saw her. It was the connection that they all shared (whether Valerio liked it or not) that ran deeply within their veins, descended from the great ivory stallion from legends of old. Even in this moment, she was so certain that the spirit of Legado was with her, guarding her, and it offered her comfort to think that she was not nearly as alone in this realm as she really felt. And then, she sees her. It was startling how alike Talien looked when compared to the earth toned skin of Valerio and Cherish - although perhaps Talien took more after their beloved mother in physique -, the only thing separating the two sisters being the heart shaped star that was Cherish's namesake.
In that moment, she feels her anxieties subside a little, hopeful that if Talien was here then he who shall not be named would leave her alone, or at least she would be able to slip away before her presence was noticed by him, wherever he was or if he was even here at this moment instead of in the gathering grounds laying his claim upon other mares. She shudders softly at the thought before pushing it away, a small and sweet smile dancing across her velvetines as she watched her elder sister draw nearer, only to close the remaining distance between them. Soft tones usher forth from Talien and at first, Cherish inwardly flinches. She could still remember how the ebony girl cried in the days that followed when she told the family what she had discovered, easily able to recall the shock that had been in her mother's eyes and the heaviness that settled over Ichiro that never really left, and the wrath that burned within Valerio's gaze. She pushes these memories away along with her own hurt that had gripped at her heart. She would never understand why her sister had done what she had done, both to Chiyoko as well as the rest of the family, but that not why she was here. Not completely. She reaches out to her sister, pressing her maw against Talien's shoulder in affection and love despite everything else that churned beneath the surface. Her decisions did not make her any less of a sister. She draws back and meets her sister's gaze, trying not to be taken aback by the lack of emotion at the mention of her own daughter and simply nods. It was when Talien's second string of words enters into the air that she feels the familiar prick of sadness from that day seasons ago.
"You've been gone for quite some time, sister."
Her lyrics is soft as they usher forth into the quiet air between them. She straightens herself.
"But that is not why I am here... I bring news... You are still family, and so I feel that you deserve to know. Father... he's frightfully ill..... and truthfully, we fear that he may not live to see winter. I came here to tell you. After being gone so long, after being here, I am not sure what you will do with this news, but all the same I felt that you should know that his... time may be here."
It was clear as the heavens above the pain and the worry that plagued her heart and her mind. She may be nearly grown, on the threshold of becoming a young woman, but Nova was still so young. She was just barely a year and a half now, and if their father left to join Legado and the rest of the ancestors... She couldn't even begin to think of the sadness that would grip her family so fiercely. None of them were ready to say a final farewell to the pale stallion. No matter how grown she might become, she would always be daddy's little girl and she couldn't imagine a world without him beside her, without him to be there when she had questions about the world they all lived in. It was silly to think that he will never grow old or frail, that he would be there always... But she hoped desperately that he wasn't on the brink of leaving them just yet. She fought back the tears that threatened to fall from ber icy blue depths, fought against the knot that rose in her throat, fought against the sadness that weighed on her heart as she stood there with her sister on silence. She would not stay long, the pull of the ancient valley calling her home even in this very moment, but she waits in silence as she searched Talien's gaze for at least some trace of emotion, something... anything to reassure the earth toned girl of starlight that the warlord had not completely changed her into someone so cold and hard as himself...
Just Another Ordinary Miracle
Ichiro ×♡× Carwen
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