I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, tee-dilee-dee

The Rift.

Lily remembers Melita mentioning a place called Helovia, but she can’t recall her saying anything about a place called The Rift. From the name, she gets the feeling that it isn’t exactly a nice place. Especially if her sister needed to be saved. Lily nods slowly, feeling that it might be better if she doesn’t pry into this now. Maybe later, though their interactions seem to be fewer and farther between, these days.

[say] “Oh.”[/say] It doesn’t feel like there’s much to say to that.[say] “You’ve been so many places - so many worlds for someone so… young?”[/say] Making a face, Lily tries to backtrack because she doesn’t mean it like that. Only…[say] “I mean. You’ve been through a lot.”[/say]

And Lily had known, somewhere in the back of her mind. But she hadn’t known. [say] "I'm sorry she's gone."[/say] And she is, truly. If Lily could remember her siblings well, she might miss them, so perhaps she was a little more fortunate that way. No pain now. But no particularly joyful life, either.

Her hands and mind were distracted, fingers picking through rocks with no clear ambition, placing a few brighter stones into the bag, feeling the weight and shuffle of the rocks already laden within. A couple more found their way in too, and it was a repeated pattern until the sack left heavy, and she dropped it into the dirt, pretending to sift through and pry into the contents while struggling to maintain semblances of composure. [say]“Three,”[/say] she murmured, holding up the indicated fingers, a lopsided grin indicating she was striving to keep it together. [say]“But I still have Sunjata.”[/say] A shrug, as if this was nothing at all, when it was far more than she could hope for nowadays.

While she picked along the pebbles, casting some out when she realized she didn’t like them quite as much as the others, her gilded gaze lifted back up to the singer; a contortion sad, and the other accepting – too late to back now, to change, to alter anything. She’d seen the results of that firsthand. [say]“Me too.” [/say]

Then, because this conversation had been mostly about her, she shook her head, long locks cascading in haphazard ripples, and scratched Fangorn’s head. [say]“What about your family?”[/say] What had Lily left behind, when she was taken from her home?

[say] “You mean Sunjata has you,”[/say] she quickly replies, raising an eyebrow slightly towards her friend.[say] “And is all the luckier for it.”[/say] Which is not to downplay the place that the man has as a relative but she thinks the two of them both know that he’s a mess. Perhaps much better as an uncle or cousin, or whatever he is, than a lover. Idly, her hands scrape along the smooth surfaces of the stones, feeling their cool, damp shapes and the almost massage-like quality in her palms. If only they could pick this piece of the Greatwood up and place it in the Grounds!

[say] “Mine?”[/say] the entertainer asks lightly, as if it had never occurred to her to talk about it. And she doesn’t. Ever.[say] “I left my family when I was a kid. Sold, cause they had too many mouths to feed.”[/say] She shrugs, way past caring about it.[say] “Probably for the best anyway, at least for me. I have no idea where they are, who they are… anything, really. I can sometimes get flashes of my Ma’s face and her singing, but otherwise I just don’t know.”[/say] One of her siblings could have walked up to her in the street and unless they were of the same likeness, she’s probably just take ‘em for another Scot.

[say] “I like the idea that I can choose my family now.”[/say] Casting a glance to Melita, she offers the girl her hand.[say] “I’d choose you for my little sister.”[/say]

There was a point in Lily’s first statement that she wanted to argue, because Melita hadn’t thought she’d done much for him at all. Perhaps she was a steadier point in his life, something far more stalwart, rooted, and fortified than many other counterparts, but he didn’t really need her in his life. What was she, other than a spitfire, and petulant, catty thing at times? So she lowered her gaze for a moment, thinking, mulling it over, furrowing those brows while staring out over the shoreline. [say]“Maybe,”[/say] she laughed, uncertain what fortune she’d brought with her at all.

But then it was Lily’s turn to share, and she riveted her eyes back to the other redhead, intent to listen. She’d never really heard anything about Lily’s portions, pieces, and fragments of home, wincing at the notion that she was sold (as if naught more than property), and the girl was frozen in those perilous ventures. How would that feel, to someone so young? What would she have done, if her mother hadn’t been so kind, so gentle, so loving, so forgiving? [say]“I’m sorry that happened to you,”[/say] was a murmur.

What came afterwards made up for all of it though – extension of hands, where her fingers clasped in return, and her mouth widened into a grin. [say]“Yes, we choose our families here.”[/say] Like a vow, like an assurance, of the bonds between friends and allies, when blood couldn’t be found or wasn’t enough. She’d want Lily for a sibling too – older and wiser and beautiful, conquering and taking – ready to sink her teeth into whatever came next. [say]“So what’s stopping us?”[/say] Melita winked (nothing - nothing ever would). [say]“You’re officially my older sister.”[/say]

It’s a sad beginning with a not-so-sad ending; Lily shrugs easily, hoping to dispel any sadness about her life that might linger in the air.[say] “It only sounds sad. I was fed, clothed, and taught to read and write. Wouldn’t have gotten that otherwise. Might’ve died early or something, starved…  I don’t know. Life in my world was similar to Caido’s in that it wasn’t easy. We didn’t have things like landsharks or LongNight monsters but… there were many illnesses and things like that.”[/say] Waggling her fingertips a little, she smiles wide.[say] “No magical healing.”[/say]

The miracles here… they outweigh the bad things, she thinks.[say] “And I have all the freedom I never had before, so really, it’s a good thing!”[/say] Because if she’d never been sold, she doubts she would have made it here, and then she wouldn’t have found Melita, and then -

Laughing, her head tilts back at the suggestion that nothing is stopping them, because her friend sister is right. What in the world is stopping them? She squeezes her hand enthusiastically.[say] “Watch out world! The redheadeds have united!”[/say] Melita with her charmingly petulant persistence and Lily with her seductive singing. Together they could be unstoppable.

[Fin]