♥️
Arkana can hear the weariness in Kaiju’s voice as he answers her; in fact, she can hear the weariness in her own voice too, like the rough edge of a stone cutting through the flow of a stream. She is enjoying this conversation so much, however, that she chooses to ignore it at first, and briefly imagines a scenario in which the two of them stay up all night talking and fall madly in love by the time the sun has risen. In the dim light, with the shadows enveloping them like a blanket and the quiet of the night on this strange island beginning to settle in, anything seems possible.
Eventually, though, the pull of exhaustion is too much. The cadence of Kaiju’s voice is soothing, reminding her body that it’s exhausted from the long swim from Luthien, and Arkana feels her eyelids growing as heavy as anvils. She nods as he talks, and when he mentions his mother she thinks of Evren and the familiarity of her forest home, with its sheltering branches and the laughter of her sisters. Thinking of home intensifies her exhaustion, and for a moment her eyes flutter closed.
They open again when Kaiju mentions the Prairie and how he hopes to see it one day. Arkana smiles at him, her heart lifting with hope at the idea that this meeting won’t be their last. “I’d love that,” she says, and if she says anything more, she does not remember, for the next thing she knows she’s on the ground, legs folded beneath her, her head resting against one of the protruding roots of the tree. It’s the middle of the night, with nothing but the singing of crickets to serenade her, and her heartbeat quickens as she struggles to remember where she is, but then she sees the sleeping bulk of Kaiju, and all is well again.
With a soft smile, Arkana falls back into a deep, dreamless slumber.
When she next awakens, the gray light of dawn has just begun to peek through the trees and a few birds have begun their tentative morning warbles. Arkana’s body is stiff and sore, and she lets out a little groan as she stands and stretches and shakes the dust from her tobiano coat. Across from her, Kaiju is still out like a light. He looks so peaceful and strangely innocent in slumber, more like an oversized colt than the mysterious knight she’d met the previous evening. Arkana watches him for a time, thinking about his offer to escort her back home. She’s torn - on the one hand, she would love nothing more than to spend more time with him. On the other, she knows that bringing him back to Luthien would stir up a hubbub she would like very much to avoid.
In the end, she leaves him without a word, but not without a memento, for when Kaiju awakes, he will find a single daisy resting delicately upon his hoof.
love-child of evren & shamwari
2; mutt; bay tobiano; 15.3hh wfg |