a lion-hearted girl
After sailing there was brief snippets of repose – and she buried her toes in the sand, dress draped around her knees, as she began to summon the strength to adhere towards Leafchange’s traditions. Today she brought out Clementine’s lantern, to sit next to her while she began to whittle another; a series of twigs and sticks lined up in various rows of various lengths, twine nestled by her ankles. One more cycle of the year meant one more lantern to be made – to remember those lost, to remember what felt like eons before, when she’d made her sister’s, her mother’s, for fallen companions adrift amongst and amidst their doomed connections. A finger went idlely to Clem’s, to trace over the dried, pressed flowers, to recall whispers of honeysuckle sonnets and whimsical laughter, to rejoice in the faded remnants of a twin she’d never see again. Of a sister long since gone. Of a soul she couldn’t save.
Her jaw tightened, and Fangorn grumbled down by her feet, vines placed upon the dunes, and she sighed. “Right.” Chin up, in all her defiance and glory, in all her spun determination. Another vicious breath pooled through her, and she began once more, snagging at the carved, blunt edges, and beginning to intertwine a base together.
ready for a fight
MELITA
