Another dawn, another day.
This one, while it starts like most others, is a bit of a mystery to Lilliana. Normally she wakes to the presence of at least one of her siblings. Malachi will make a stop on his patrol and check on his youngest sister, normally having some joke or another at what a late sleeper she can be. Jay tends to be close by if Malachi isn’t and Brielle is like their mother, usually gone at the first hint of daylight. Today as morning sunlight streams in through the sweeping tendrils of the willow, it is only Lilli and the birds. She can hear their song, bright and strong as the sun continues to rise higher and higher, reminding her that the day is well underway. She lifts her petite head, ears flickering back and forth trying to locate either of her brothers and finds no sign of either of them.
It isn’t unnerving but it is unusual to not have either of them nearby. Lilliana can’t quite place the trepidation she feels as she gracefully rises from her tucked in legs, her eyes still scanning around the willow to see if perhaps she missed something. It wouldn’t be uncommon for Malachi to be hiding around some corner, to emerge and try to engage her in a game of chase or hide-and-seek. She waits, expecting something of the sorts to happen.. but it doesn’t. The birds continue to sing and the sun continues to rise without giving Lilli a clue to where any of her family members are. She can take guesses – Malachi is probably thinking he won’t be missed as he searches of Kalina, Jay was most likely studying the sun or the sky or the clouds for some sign or symbol of something and Brielle would be with Roland, doing something they ought not to be. Her mother would be half-way through her morning patrol, most likely on the outskirts of the rolling hills and bending rivers.
So what is she to do?
Lilliana thinks to herself, wondering what she should do with her unsupervised freedom. Part of her longs to go find Salem again in the Meadow but a recent admonishment from her mother is still ringing in her ears and Lilli can only hope that her painted friend will know to come searching for her here. She could take a chance and sneak out to the common lands herself but that simply wasn’t Lilli’s way. The filly had hated the disappointment she had seen in her mother’s eyes as Aletta had cautioned her daughter about sneaking to the lands beyond their own borders. All the excitement she had felt about her adventures with Salem had faded as soon as she saw her dam – how worried and afraid the gray mare had been. Her heart had sunk and Lilli had felt so ashamed that it had been her that had caused her mother so much pain. A meeting with Salem out in the Meadow was simply was out of the question.
Perhaps she might find Orani again, the mystical filly who seemed to know thoughts before Lilli had time to even think them out loud. If she could find Brielle and Roland, they might include her in whatever adventure it was they had planned (as long as staying within the borders of Murmuring Rivers was part of that plan). Jay was another possibility if she could find him – he could get so focused on whatever it was he was studying, he could often be hard to find in the flora and fauna. And while part of her wanted to find Malachi, she had a feeling that if he had gone seeking out the beautiful Kalina, her presence wouldn’t exactly be desired. Not that her good-natured brother would turn her away but he and Kalina seemed to be in a world all their own lately. Lilli mentally crosses him off her list as she emerges into the sunshine from beneath the shadowy branches of her resting place and decides that she should seek her mother out.
She had apologized for wandering too far from home. She had promised never to venture on her own again without her brothers or her mother to go with her. Lilli would have promised anything if it meant her mother would smile and breathe a sigh of relief, that the crisis had been averted. But Aletta had merely nodded, her thoughts already taking her somewhere else and left to address another issue. Since that day, Lilli hadn’t seen much of her mother. It wasn’t unusual for Aletta to be gone so often but now that Lilli had something important to say to her silvered dam, she was hard to track down. She walks away from the willow, taking a moment to soak in the sunshine and enjoy the birdsong before she departed. A butterfly dances by and Lilliana smiles, unable to resist the beauty of such a graceful creature. Part of her longs to follow it and see where it dances but she reminds herself that there is a job to do first. Once she has found and talked to her mother, there will be time enough to chase butterflies.
She surveys the rolling hills, wondering where it is she should start. Her mother had various trails that she used over several days at several times. Where to start? Her head moves east to west, wishing that she could be given a sign where her mother is. But the Gods aren’t so gracious and Lilliana is left to her own best guess. So she follows a favorite trail, travel-worn with those who have come and gone into Murmurig Rivers and decides to stop by the by bend where her favorite flowers grow. With autumn offering her bracing chill at night, Lilli wants one more chance to admire the forget-me-nots, the lillies and whatever else remains. By the time she reaches the bend, her disappointment shows as clear as day on her feminine features. Blue eyes fill with sadness as she looks toward the wilting forms that had once grown in abundance in this very spot.
She knows things can’t stay the same forever. Everything is changing, always. But she wishes that her flowers had stayed just a day longer so she could have told them good-bye.
* LILLIANA
all that matters is the love and the laughter