In truth, the abandonment of her elder sister had been hurt her to the degree as it has her parents and error eldest bother. It was hard to hurt, hard for the heart to be pierced and left within the thrusting membranes if one were young enough to not know, to have been so young that one simply could not understand what it was that was turning their world around them. Had Talien been there when she had been born, so new the world that her face was simply a blurred part of the young maiden's most distant and long ago memories? Had it not been at least three years since Talien had turned her back on the family, leaving her own daughter to find her own path in this life within the love and care for the one who had brought her unto this world? If ever there was someone in her family that Cherish's heart went out to, it was the young woman of midnight sink and icy blue depths. She was so withdrawn from the world, done an injustice that no child should ever have to face, that she never strayed from the borders of the ancient valley. She hurt for Chiyoko, and Rishiri though it seemed the winged woman of sable was not as hurt as her older sister - at least, not in the same way. What Talien had done had wounded her parents, this was something that could not have been any clearer, but it seemed that it was Valerio who had been hurt in the most profound way by the abandonment of his sister. Betrayed, anger, hurt... Cherish could see it all in her brother when Talien ever rose into a conversation between the siblings. Yet despite all this, the girl with wings of starlight had left the carefully guarded borders of her family's home, but that was so only once when she, too had sought out the mare before her as she had been worried that the unearthly storm had ended her life, with no luck of finding even the smallest trace of her, but she hadn't gone fat emough. While she had no true recollection of her earliest moments in this world, she could not remember her sister having been there, having been part of those first days in this life, that hadn't meant she wasn't there, though... right?
Cherish stands there with her sister, unease still pricking at her beating heart within her petite breast as she reminded herself of where she was, that this was not a safe place for this conversation. Valerio had commanded her to stay far away from the dale, for more than just her safety..."Leave her to rot in that gods forsaken spit of land with her wicked lover. If she wants to see her family and the pain that has brought us all, she knows good and well where she can find us. Besides, that place is the last place such news should ever travel to. If she even cares about us, she would have come looking for us a long time ago, Cherish. So stop being so foolish"... Never before had the girl of brandished gold seen so much hurt and anger in her brother, never before had his words been a sharp and hardened. She knew that beyond the betrayal and the anger, he hurt deeper than she or Nova. Talien didn't even know of Nova, and so Cherish has been thankful that she hadn't been with them when Valerio had spoken so fiercely only to storm off after, leaving the young maiden alone and torn yet knowing deep in her heart of hearts what was right. If there was one thing her father had always told her, it was to the winds that touched her heart. They alone would tell her what was right and what was wrong, and so they had brought her here.
Her glacier gaze watched her elder sister for any signs that she felt remorse, that she hurt for what she had done to her first children, and yet she found none. A part of her broken into pieces as the cold and empty gaze Talien returned, and she caught herself nearly taking a surprised step away from her sister. What had Rhaego done to her sister after all this time she had spent here? Had a he really forgotten what was in her heart and soul? No matter how hard she wanted to fight it, to be different and perhaps of some harder and colder craft, there was no denying what was in her blood that coursed through her veins. She was still a great granddaughter of Legado The Great, the Guardian of Light, the righteous and the just king from times of old. No matter where she ran or how fast, she could not escape that. It wounded Cherish to see her elder sister like this, so emotionless and she could only wish to know how it was she had become so distant and so jaded when her family had only ever loved her and tried to protect her the very things she had willingly run herself into. Surely she didn't blame them for that? How could she? A last, there is emotion that came alive within Talien as she looks to the earth beneath them seemingly unwilling to meet Cherish's gentle gaze, and to some relief or was a glimmer of pain and perhaps even regret to some degree at the mention of her lack of presence in the lives of those who cared for her. Cherish had not come here to scold her, to attack her or tell her how wrong her decisions were. In the end, it was Talien alone that would have to face all that, and yet Cherish would do all that she could to help her not face it alone for there was nothing worse in this world that the feeling of being alone. She had seen what it does, again the image of the weeping midnight maiden dancing across her thoughts as Ichiro did his best to soothe Chiyoko.
She hadn't been sure how her sister would take the news, if she would react with the same cold distance that she had arrived with. However, what happens next she could never have foreseen... She does not waiver from Talien's gaze as they immediately look back into her own. She sees the bright shock, something akin to a fusion of horror and disbelief as she seemed to search Cherish's depths for any hope that her words were false, and oh how the girl with wings of starlight desperately wished they were not words that she had to say either. Their father had been invincible t them as they grew up one by one, looking to him in pride and admiration and love - save for Talien few surely her gaze had been nothing like that of her younger siblings. He had stood tall and proud and fierce, the protector of many and undefeated on the fields of battle. Even the pangare warlord had been no match for their father against the bloodied clay backdrop of the cliffs that Cherish had only ever heard stories of. And now, he was frail and almost helpless to the point that it made the young maiden of brandished gold sick to her stomach. She wanted nothing more than for it all to have just been against bad dream, but she knew that hoping and wishing did little to help her father now as his life seemed to rest in the hands of the herd healer and at the mercy of the gods. Talien shakes her head as steps away from her sister. Cherish almost moved towards her to offer comfort, understanding how hard it was to believe, but as her gaze meets Cherish's once more with head held high in defiance, it is Cherish who almost withdraws in bewilderment. How could she dare think her sister would usher lies!? She knew that Ichiro and Carwen had raised them, all of them, better than that. She follows her sister's gaze to the colt in the grass in the distance, her last short string of words softer and almost reluctant and she turns back to Cherish whose glacier gaze that only grew softer and gentler despite the hurt that twisted within her own heart. She does not hesitate now she she steps toward a Talien and presses her nose against the slope of her sisters shoulder for a moment before she withdraws
"I wish it were untrue, sister. But I would not think to deceive you. Surely you know that mother and father raise their children better than that."
She pauses, a heavy sigh ushering softly into the air between them.
"I only came to tell you, not try and trick you into coming home... I do not know what you will do with this news, whether you will come and see him if he truly has only days left or continue to stay away, but I only ask that it be kept away secret. The world does not need to know of our ailing father. And, if you can find it in your heart at all dear sister, please pray for him..."
She pauses, nearly choking on last string of words as her eyes became glassy with the threat of tears.
"I must return home, as they do not know I am here, and I am needed to help tend to him. And so, until perhaps we meet again my sister, this is farewell..."
Her gaze lingers over her sister for a moment more before she turns away. Her frame is put into motion as her slender limbs carry her forward first from a walk before a few steps in it became a trot. She leaps into the air now and with but two powerful pumps of her starlit wings, she is airborne and she takes to the embrace of the sky, leaving behind the dale in exchange for the comforts of feeling the zephrys run through her feathers and whipping about her chocolate tresses and wipe the tears from her eyes. She had done all that she had come here to do. She had not expected to see her sister the way that she had, but still she does not feeling anything but love and sorrow for Talien. While they were nearly the same, they were completely different, the hands of the gods dealing them both a different hand in life than the others, all save for this one card... the card of their frail father and the one who perhaps once meant the world to Talien.
Just Another Ordinary Miracle
Ichiro ×♡× Carwen
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