Coming together [Avalir!]

She had always been older than her frame had suggested. Her mind was forced to accept many unkind facts about life, the coldest one being that death came so readily and you lost people so easily, people who mattered so much. Even though life decreed that you needed them in your life, it wasn't ever certain they could stay and fulfill their duties, it left one cold and bitter inside. She had felt that once upon a time, she had hated every force of the earth that had taken her mother from her, and in turn she had hated herself. It was a long and painful process, but trying to make peace was never easy. The sting was starting to fade, though, at long last. As he moved back from her she studied his eyes, noting that he seemed to be transfixed with her adult form from time to time. Did she really look so different? Was it a good thing?

"Leaving to go where? You can't leave now that I've just found you, then I'll have to go through the trouble of finding you again." She teased, laughing up at him though there was a serious note of worry in her expression for a moment. She didn't want to loose anyone else in her life, and now that she was venturing out into the world again she had been kind of hoping Avalir might help be her guide, not that she couldn't do it on her own. Perhaps she had grown needy in Frostbite's smothering but tender care. Or maybe she had just waited so long that she didn't want to accept the possibility of a once and only meeting.

"No, nevermind." Her smile this time was mysterious, she knew full well that he wouldn't be able to understand initially what it was she was thanking him for. He couldn't possibly know that so many simple things he'd done had stayed with her through a span of time where he surely thought his influence had faded. It wasn't just what he'd said and done, but who he was. She had tried to mold herself into a replica of everything that was him for a spell. One might say she could have never understood the stallion enough to be successful, but understanding didn't always come with time. The few moments they'd had to speak and interact were uncomparable to normal circumstances.

Shyly she peeked up through the rainbow prism of colours sliding in front of her vision, taking in the compliment with a curious stare. "Do I? Well then my hard work is paying off, I see." Another small laugh was given, and she tried to remember a time when laughter seemed as impossible as bringing back what had been taken from her so long ago. Both were things she wished for, she'd forgotten how good it felt to have someone near whose presence just brought out happiness from inside her. The sound of laughter always reminded her to never take others for granted.

He noticed how her eyes studied his own; but his stare was quite evident. He hoped he wasn't making her uncomfortable, but it was just...she had grown so much. He almost couldn't believe that so much time had passed, and looking at her was a reminder of a reality. It was an odd mix of pride and sadness; he almost wished that he could've watched her grow into the young lady before him.

There was another reason behind his gaze, though, one that her next question picked out. He had spent his whole life learning to memorize the serians around him, watching them as they spoke and moved and breathed. Because he was a wanderer by nature, and he never exactly knew when or if he'd see them again. Every moment with another soul was spent engraving their face and form into his mind's eye.

After all, he didn't like to lose those close to him either. But being apart from them, it was unavoidable. He noted the worry in the almost teasing words, and smiled a little ruefully. "Nowhere in particular, but no need to worry. It's not the time yet."

He knew the idea of parting must be more painful to her than to him, and he wished in hindsight he hadn't said anything. But surely it would be worse if he disappeared without a word, as he was prone to doing. But Luna didn't deserve that, not after all she had been through. Still, he couldn't deny his own nature, his need to...escape. But that would come later. He was with her now, and she deserved every precious moment.

"You would hardly need to work at all, it seems," he teased lightly, trying to trace the way the light reflected off her mane. It was impossible; she was a constant stream of color and light, a flickering impression. Her laughter rang of true feeling, coaxing a grin to his lips. It seemed she was happy where she was now, whole.

"So how fares Frostbite and Tigress? You seem to be doing well under their care."

Where his comments should have calmed her, they did very little but make her feel anxious. Sometime soon he would leave, and there was nothing she could do about it. Or was there? Was this her fault because she'd been away for so long? Maybe now, seeing her, if she visited it would change his mind? Probably not, she didn't dare think herself so important to one Serian, but it was a pleasant thought. He obviously thought enough of her to grant her this one meeting, though it had been so by chance that she'd caught him.

"You're just flattering me now." She said softly, glancing away shyly and staring pointedly at a blade of grass dancing in the breeze. Though honestly it was in her nature to be a bit vain, it had been a while since she'd heard a sincere compliment from anyone other than her foster-parents. It just seemed different to hear it from someone who wasn't under any obligations to be kind to her. She tossed her mane back and bravely met his eyes again, the soft smile ever in place as he spoke.

"They are both quite well, and I think I made a good choice at last. Soon Prophet... I..." She laughed, after all these years feeling small and nervous when even his name came up. It was hard to put into words how she was feeling about the knowledge that soon she would see him. It had been for the best that Frostbite wanted her to grow a bit before seeing him again, she was worried that Luna would end up trying to run away after her father and his lonely path. Looking back, the icy mare had been right, but it had made Luna hide herself away for weeks after the knowledge had sunk in.

And now she was worried where before there was only excitement. How would she even find him? Well, she had been thinking the same thing about Avalir all the way up until the moment she entered the field, and look how that had turned out.

"Enough about me, what about you? I think we've spent almost all our time together talking about how life has treated me." It wasn't the most fun subject of all, admittedly, and she wanted to know more about the stallion who went out of his way to open himself to her when she was so young and lost and just looking for someone to understand her.

He could sense the vague tension in the air, and he regretted that their reunion had not come at such a strange time for him. But really, it wouldn't have been different - he never knew when the urge to leave would come to him, but he was glad that she had chanced upon him before he had made it up in his mind to go. He might not be able to stay for her, but he would be able to ignore his wayward longings for awhile yet, should she require. She was someone precious to him, after all, whether she recognized it or not.

"I do not mean it to sound that way, really," he amended, curbing his tongue as he noticed her shyness. Really, it must seem silly for him to spill the compliments so easily, but it was still a wonder to him how much she had changed. He had to keep telling himself, almost, to believe it was real. But then again, he had expected as much. He had known, when Sive had delivered the message from Prophet, that the filly would have to become so much stronger before seeking out her father.

He grinned at her nervous laugh, tinged with her youthful excitement at the mention of her father's name, the thought that she might see him once again. He could understand that feeling, the same flutter that used to rise in his own chest when he thought of seeing his siblings. But that hadn't turned out the way he had thought it would, the way any of them had expected, and none of them had ever set eyes on their parents. He could only hope that Luna's search would turn out better than his own.

He was a bit startled when she turned the table son him though. Albeit, he couldn't blame her exactly; he had revealed hardly anything of himself to her as a child, only fragments of his story and the lessons he'd learned. She would be curious. Still, he wasn't one who was used to speaking of himself, mostly because there was nothing to say.

"I've been around, for too long actually. Sive left me in charge of her lands while she was travelling, and now that she's back I'm free to leave again," he shrugged, sending her a soft smile. "I've been...talking mostly. With the Circle, with my shared bonded."

Saying goodbyes really, but he didn't mention that. The others were used to his transient nature. Apparently it was something that ran in the blood; Hinote had disappeared for a good while earlier, only just returned and...stranger, older. With the brothers sharing the same circle, contact with him had been unavoidable and to tell the truth, it left him a little unsteady on the inside. More reason to get away, to distance himself from the ache of their shared hearts.

She shrugged off his apology, it wasn't necessary. It wasn't his fault she was still getting accustomed to hearing such things. Normally she was quite proud, that much she could admit, but being in this stage of life was new, and it was taking a while for her to feel comfortable in her own skin. If there was one thing she liked, it was that her eyes never changed. His stayed the same as well, were the eyes truly a mirror to the soul then? Did your spirit never change despite whatever life threw at you? So many questions that would never be answered.

"I don't think you've been around for too long. Consider me a new face then, as I do barely know you really. So then, stranger, tell me more about you." She teased, smiling up at him in an almot daring manner. Surely he sought somewhere new so that nobody would know him, what with how little he volunteered about himself he had to be one of those that truly coveted their secrets. So she would play the wanderer for him, forever trailing his vague sense of mystery. That was how the story went, wasn't it? Maybe his story would be different. Maybe he would care deeply enough to open himself and share a secret part with her.

But techically he'd already done that, long ago. Surely there was more to him than that, she wouldn't accept anything that pointed to the contrary. He couldn't share that familiar shadow in his eyes that she held, not without sharing a similar life. What was his story, then, she wondered?

[Trying to force writing muse back from being devoured by 40+ hour work weeks XD]

She was still as he remembered, he couldn't help but think. That playfulness, at any rate; he remembered her shifting at the river banks, the spark of childishness she's displayed for a brief moment. The teasing tones though, that was new, another reminiscent of Frostbite's influence, perhaps. It suited her though, the charm of a young lady...and a curious one at that.

He smiled, but it seemed faint around the edges, almost as if the emotion had faded from him. It was a subtle change, unnoticeable usually save for the few close to him. Drawing into himself, hiding behind his veils, it almost came as a reflex whenever someone tried to unlock his past. But he had gotten very good at acting contrary, pleasant, as if the inquiries were nothing more than trivial. As if he were really not that interesting at all.

"You know almost all of me already, Luna," he said, eyes darting from her to a random tree. Eyes were tricky things, prone to reavealing things. "What I told you so long ago...well, it was basically everything. You know my story, because you've lived most of it. The abandonment, the searching."

His voice held an odd tone to it, something not quite bitter nor sad. "The difference, I suppose is that I never knew my parents...and I had siblings."

And I was nowhere near as strong as you. But he wouldn't tell her that part of things, that was his own personal shame.

((poor tigs yeah, college prep has been killing mine))