“The stars, mother, they shine so bright, they dance.”
“What else do they do, sweet?” The mare asked in a hushed tone.
“They shimmer,” She replied softly as she watched the rain drip from her mother's face.
“And the sky, it cries for you.” She said, in her own way trying to comfort the mare.
“So you don't have to.”
As Georgiana pressed her head into her daughter's chest the harrowing sobs she emited filled the young girl's heart with sorrow. Her little brother was weak and had died. She had watched his little ribs flex in and out and then as his spirit left its vessel; his starry eyes shut tight.
● ● ●
Its not your fault; that's what Sirena told me. But its another child I could not raise. I failed him. I lost him.
Georgiana lay amongst the reedy grasses as the moonlight flitters down through the clouds, ill with the memories of her child playing over in her head. She had pushed through in the past, even on her own, but it was different this time, she has been strong for so long but this time it is so much harder. She cannot mend herself, not this time.
The feeling of his baby fur, softer than anything she had ever touched. His tiny voice. So sweet.
She crumbles under the weight of the sky knowing that losing Ike effects not just herself, but her family too. She feared how Braylen might react when it happened, and she hates herself for just leaving. Sirena had no qualms about leaving; she braced against the stormy ocean alongside her mother who blazed into its clutches in a flush of emotions, very well knowing that she was almost certain to die.
For the most part Sirena followed so the blind mare would not have to be by herself, with her condition, but also in a sort of self-centered way she felt she could not be a part of her father's herd without her mother. She never really tried in the first place; didn't get the chance, but she knew for sure when the time came to leave the herd she was born into and find her place in this world, she wanted her mother to be there.
So as they roamed the land they had washed upon, Sirena at all times protected her mother and they kept each other safe, Georgiana with her knowledge, and Sirena with her sight. Nothing of immense interest happened, truly; they met only a few other wanderers not unlike themselves and it was a fairly peaceful time. At times Georgiana went silent, and fell into nothingness. She was numb, then she was a fire-pit of confusion and anger and sadness.
It made Sirena grow stronger, on a pile of rubble that was a foundation formed by her gypsy mother's self-destruction.
They have returned to the islands, though Sirena cannot be sure which one. Again, just as they had left, they returned when the sea was at its worst, somehow surviving yet again. It is a still night, a small chill in the air, but the storm has passed. They had washed ashore not long ago and made their way inland. Barely, though, as Georgiana practically collapsed. She currently rests near a cluster of trees at the base of a rocky hill, while Sirena contemplates when the herd stallion that she could smell so thickly in the air will turn up. If she weren't such a suspicious mare she would be polite and alert whoever was here of their presence, but alas she edgily watches over her mother like a hound and waits.Georgiana & Sirena
AND UNDER THE STARS |