you wouldn't be the first renegade to need somebody
Flora’s hand slips easily into Kaisel ’s as the Wildwood shifts damply beneath her boots, the yellow of her raincoat almost obnoxiously bright as Kai's, especially against the deep greens and shadow-slick bark around them, and even with her jellyfish umbrella hovering obediently above, her curls have already surrendered to the weather, haloing out in a riot of gold that clings to the humidity and turns every movement into something a little softer, a little wilder. When he says jump, her grin comes fast and unfiltered, sharp with delight as she leans into the invitation instead of skirting it, her weight pitching forward with no hesitation at all as she lunges straight into the puddle between them, her green boots hitting with a wet, satisfying squelch that sends a fan of muddy water arcing up around her calves and spotting the hem of her coat without apology.
She doesn’t even pretend to regret it, laughter already spilling out of her as she steadies herself against the slight drag of soaked earth, her fingers tightening briefly in his before she shifts closer, the lanterns she’s made knocking softly together where they hang from her other hand, their warm glows flickering against the strange, lengthening shadows cast by the Mathair’s skeletal branches. For a moment, her gaze drifts over them, quick but deliberate, counting without quite meaning to, and the absence where Enzo’s should be doesn’t hollow her out the way it has in years past; instead it lifts something bright and almost startling through her chest, a sharp, golden thread of relief that feels a little like stepping out of deep water and realising she can still breathe.
She bumps her shoulder into Kaisel’s, her smile tilting as she tips her chin toward the thicker boughs where the rain struggles to break through. "Come on," she says, already tugging him along rather than waiting for agreement. "Let’s put these somewhere they won’t get too wet before they drown completely and haunt us about it."
Flora has lanterns for Seren, Aoife, Vai, andNeron.
She doesn’t even pretend to regret it, laughter already spilling out of her as she steadies herself against the slight drag of soaked earth, her fingers tightening briefly in his before she shifts closer, the lanterns she’s made knocking softly together where they hang from her other hand, their warm glows flickering against the strange, lengthening shadows cast by the Mathair’s skeletal branches. For a moment, her gaze drifts over them, quick but deliberate, counting without quite meaning to, and the absence where Enzo’s should be doesn’t hollow her out the way it has in years past; instead it lifts something bright and almost startling through her chest, a sharp, golden thread of relief that feels a little like stepping out of deep water and realising she can still breathe.
She bumps her shoulder into Kaisel’s, her smile tilting as she tips her chin toward the thicker boughs where the rain struggles to break through. "Come on," she says, already tugging him along rather than waiting for agreement. "Let’s put these somewhere they won’t get too wet before they drown completely and haunt us about it."
Flora has lanterns for Seren, Aoife, Vai, and
