Rivaini

The truth arrived like the sifting of snow that would soon bury other islands, but not Atlantis. Never Atlantis, which was supposed to be a place that existed beyond time - beyond the cold and death and absence of sun that prevailed elsewhere when the seasons shifted. Their home was warm and unchanging, a place where birds soared and hearts healed. If any snow had ever fallen here, it was gone before the light of morning; gone before Rivaini’s pale eyes had ever touched it. Evaporated back into the bright blue sky.

If only the same could have been said of the truth.

She knew the moment that it had reached Faolain at her core. Could feel the transformation that it wrought in her beloved shadow, whose dark skin quivered even as she flinched away. The gap that this gesture opened was small - almost unnoticeable in the tangle of ebony and copper that their bodies had become - but regardless, the distance hurt Rivaini, who knew that her actions had brought it about. Any lingering remnants of joy that she’d felt at her companion’s obvious relief evaporated, leaving parched earth and desolation in their wake. Perhaps it had been wrong of her to act in such secrecy. Perhaps she should have sought out Faolain after the battle, not Rougaru. Perhaps it had not been too late, then, to heal the wounds that he had inflicted, and she had only widened.

But Rivaini knew deep down that the black ‘Teke would have never understood the offer of such a sacrifice, let alone permitted it. Maybe the real mistake that she had made was in keeping her heart locked away, afraid of the pain that might be inflicted upon it. She had allowed her loss of Çiçek to overwhelm her - and could only hope that in doing so, she hadn’t lost the other half of her heart. “Shh, Faolain - Fae,” The silver bay murmured soothingly, twisting her neck in an attempt to touch the damp press of flesh that was her friend… and more. But the black mare was just beyond her reach, as she had always been. “There’s nothing to be sorry for, Fae. If anything, I am the one who should apologize. I just couldn’t bear for him - and for you, to have no choice. But I did, Faolain. And I didn’t choose him.” Emotion had deepened her voice, but vulnerability made it a whisper. “I chose you.”

It would be easy to stop there. To let the dark, slender woman draw her own conclusions from those three words, as she had done when Rivaini had spoken of bargains and withdrawn claims. Perhaps Faolain would even arrive somewhere close to the truth - but no, it wasn’t good enough. The guardian of her home and heart deserved better than a game of words and ponderings. She deserved the truth, even if the joyful trembling of the red woman’s heart was not something that she could return. Shifting her muscled body, she turned in such a way as to be able to touch Faolain, whose head would be pulled down by gravity to rest in the hollow of Rivain’s withers - unless she had found the strength to fight that force. “I love you, Faolain,” she said simply and without embellishment, straining to stroke the gentle arch of the ‘Teke’s neck. “I’m not even sure when it started, because I denied my heart for so long. I was afraid of being hurt - afraid that you might not feel the same way, but now-” Now it didn’t matter. Now, she hadn’t the strength to resist the pull any more than the sea could resist the drawing force of the moon that brought about the tides.

“-now it doesn’t matter. I just want to be with you in any way that you will have me, and to protect you in any way that I can.” Çiçek had left before she’d learned as much - and if she ever saw her sun again, they would share a laugh over how very stupid she’d been. After she got a pinching nip for the distress she’d undoubtedly caused the golden mare, of course. The thought of it made her chuckle softly - a strangely-buoyant moment that briefly lifted the suffocating burden that pressed down on them both.

mare / six / silver bay tobiano / andalusian mix / 15.3hh