I don't play by the rules

’My dad.’

Ki’irha nods. She is able to understand that much. But before she needs to try to do more investigative work and bother the child into performing more charades, a deer steps out of the forest and is bounding towards us. Her crowned head is suddenly held high, watching the buck, and her eyes glitter and a smile dances across her face.  He runs along the beach, and never before did she think she would be happy that the stallion was close by. But after their last fateful day in the steppe, with their unresolved feelings and the confusion that had flushed red hot beneath her pelt, she still found reservations knowing that they were probably going to have to come face to face sooner than she had wanted. But still, this meant she was one step closer to returning the child to safety. 

“Handsome boy,” she croons, smiling down as she sees his mouth move. Eyes fall back towards the filly, and the smile lingers. 

Oh, could she have fun with this.

Sure, she hadn’t actually done anything to protect the child or deliver her home, but Ki’irha can only imagine the badgering she could subject Rikyn to. Yet, knowing that her own daughter is still missing, her heart aches again. She knew what it was like being a mother, and she had never known pain as when she realized that she had been separated from her own daughter. How could she find any joy in mocking the fact that there was a good chance the once lord of the north was breaking, having no idea where his child was in this cruel new world?

“I think I know your father, if this is his companion.” Her voice is beginning to even out, as if used to the idea that yelling wasn’t quite the answer. “He’s probably worried sick.” She catches a sharpness when the stag looks to the girl, and though the starlit has no idea that the girl has slipped his watchful eye, she could at least tell that they were familiar with each other. 

“Can you bring us back to Rikyn?” she asks the buck, smile upon her lips again. Sure, the fun solitary exploration that the girl had been participating in was being dragged to a screeching halt, and if she had known the girl had slipped her father and his bonded purposefully, Ki’irha would have wondered when she had become such a boring old woman that she needed to be the buzzkill. But beyond that, she would have had a stern conversation with the girl about the risks of running off in these woods when none had really figured out what lurked in there. 

For all they know, there could be beasties running amok.

- when a shooting star streaks through the blackness - - turning night into day- - make a wish and think of me -

image || table