and I guess I’ve known it all along; Posted on February 9, 2021 at 07:22:58 AM by vihaan.
the truth is you have to be soft to be strong The silence that stretched between them was comfortable and when Everglow broke it, Vihaan drank in the sound of her sister’s voice, and the moments after the words faded on the breeze, she dwelt on them deeply. Emotions ran through her, swelling and rising like the very ocean itself, so that for some moments she struggled to form words for the lump that had formed in her throat. Still, after all this time, sometimes it felt a dream – one that Vihaan never wished to wake from.
“The first three years of my life, I travelled with Darshan, and the lands we crossed to come back to these islands…” The lilting of her voice almost betrayed her own surprise – she had not thought of the time before these Islands for so long. “Deserts that were so empty that the only sound was the wind. The way it moved over the hills of sand, sounded like the song of loneliness.” Vihaan trailed off, inwardly searching for some kind of direction, wading through the emotions with in her whose depth she believed she’d never understand.
“And there was a forest, much older than Luthien’s, where the trees crowded so very close that we could never walk like this,” and she leaned into Everglow’s side. She fell silent for a moment, relishing in the nearness between them, marvelling at the way that Everglow seemed to fill the whole of her heart, so that she didn’t feel the ache that came from missing those who’d left her, and those she in turn had left. A slow, deep breath, released in a soft sigh, and Vihaan lipped at a strand of Everglow’s mane, still working to swallow that lump in her throat.
It wasn’t that she doubted Everglow’s love for her - never. (How could she when Everglow, more than anyone, had put that love into action?) But, some part of her still didn’t fully grasp all the stories Darshan had told her, of the Great Love that few were lucky enough to find. Some part of her found it hard to believe that in some way, she might be someone else’s Greatest Love, if in another form.
But Everglow gave her hope. Everglow gave her everything. Everglow was everything.
And everything was for Everglow.
“All the places I’ve been, all those I’ve met, all the things I’ve experienced… I wouldn’t change anything, not a single thing, if it meant my path lead me anywhere but right here with you. I mean – what I’m trying to say,” All the pieces inside of her finally settled into place, as the words from the mouth of a blind mare spoke to the truth that Vihaan had carried in her soul all her life. Finally, she understood. “You’re my home too, Everglow.”
We wouldn’t be bound to anyone except each other.
“And you’re right, it’s time. In the end, it doesn’t really matter where we are, so long as we’re together.” Finally feeling as though her emotions had settled, Vihaan had made as if to head off, but movement in her peripheral vision had her turning to observe, and she was rooted to the spot. “There’s a pair of hinds grazing up ahead,” she murmured softly to Everglow by way of explanation. Her gaze lingered on the two slim, red-brown figures. For a moment they, too, froze and stood alert, but then something shifted – perhaps a kind of understanding that transcended all the differences between them and Vihaan and Everglow – and the does resumed their browsing of the grasses at their hooves. “They seem at peace. Maybe it’s because they have each other.” A smile ghosted across her lips, and Vihaan pressed a gentle kiss to the curve of Everglow's shoulder, in the hopes that her sister might feel it, and know that it was for her.
After a moment, Vihaan moved off with Everglow at her side, heading for the borders of the meadow. In time, their wanderings led them to the sea – Vihaan could hear the whisper of the waves upon the wind. Slowing in pace, and alert to any apprehension that surfaced in her sister’s form or features, Vihaan paused at the cusp of the shoreline, where the grass gave way to sand “It’s high tide,” the dunalino murmured to the golden mare beside her, looking to her as she always did, even though Everglow couldn’t see. There, burning bright in her bronze-brown eyes was the fierce love she felt for her sister. “Not long now, and the water will be calm, good for swimming. I’ll not leave your side, and we can see where it takes us. Does that sound okay?”
daughter of Shamwari & Darshan ,
mother of Akello & Ahimsa
& keeper of Everglow