Common

The moon casts shadows over the commons and it bathes the snow angel in pure, unwavering light, making her gleam and glow in an almost ethereal fashion. She looks mystical, fleeting almost. Like if you saw her, looked away for a mere second before turning back, that she would have simply disappeared.

But this is not the case.

Jaci is very much real and Jaci is very much hurt. Orkaan had left her abandoned in the inlet. For days she stood on that snowy tundra, lost and alone, thinking of his amber eyes that swirled like a firestorm, thinking of the gentleness of his shoulder on hers. But he left her all the same. Jaci has never been abandoned before. Her parents had doted lovingly on her, she even had her grandmother in the picture. Sure, her father would need to head off to protect their mountain tops, but he also returned in a few days time. Orkaan though…he hadn't returned for her. The girl made of the whitest snow had stood there and stared into the infinity of the ocean, until finally, those baby blue eyes closed and a single tear rolled down her cheek.

He wasn't coming back.

So she had emerged from the ocean, dripping wet, onto the land where it all started. Back in the Commons. Her eyes look sad for a moment, basking under the moonlight. Then, suddenly, they light up, her heart flutters, twin peaks of pure ivory press forward. This wasn't an ending—it was a new beginning. She came to the Lost Islands to find adventure. She had already found her first one, and now, as she looks between the trees casting shadows from the moon: she knows there is another coming around the corner.

And she couldn't be more thrilled by the prospect.