Amalia
THE SHIELD OF SAFRIN
I THINK IT'S BEAUTIFUL HOW A STAR'S LIGHT
When Amalia was a little girl who asked about her father, her mother never said a word to alleviate her curiosity, satisfy her ache. Rishima held her secrets jealously, guarded like their heart. There was a distance that the black eyed girl could never cross, no matter how much she tried.travels the universe long after it dies
So Amalia had turned to the closest family she had, the one who never lied: her grandmother. She'd curled up in the woman's arms one night, out below the stars. She'd asked the question that devoured her, hopeful that the answer would fill the missing place she felt within her heart.
Instead her grandmother had simply smiled, stroking the girl's hair. "Your father is the same as everyone else's, beti," she'd murmured in a rich, deep voice, full of the conviction that comes with faith and age. "He who gave the gift of life. The father of all that lives, from woman to creature to plant. Vi, whose strength is greater than any mortal, whose wisdom is wider than any field. Whose love reaches us even here, inside the barrier. He is always with you, Lia, so long as you have faith."
It is this memory that fills her mind as she kneels before the shrine. A familiar stance, in a familiar place, yet everything is changed. In the time since he made her anew she has failed and fought, been lost and found. She has discovered in her weakest moments that she still has strength, that there is a fire in her breast that will never be extinguished.
A fire that burns for him.
Her hair is braided and flush with flowers, marigolds and edelweiss blooming like the sun. She wears her shield on her back, with Nova in her hand. Head bowed, kneeling, Amalia places the tip of the sword upon the summer earth, her eyes falling closed as her heart fills with faith, warmth and resolution as bright as the crimson hilt of her blade.
"Father, I have walked the line, and though I have stumbled I still stand tall. I am ready to serve in your name and your image. Please guide me on my quest."
that's what I want to be in this world —
SOMEONE WHOSE LIGHT LINGERS AFTER I'M GONE
