[KQ] Raise You Like a Phoenix

a m a l i a In the darkness, a light falls. They go, because what else can they do? It's their perch after all, their year, and though it is foolish to go out at night they are young and brash and full of a prideful sense of duty. They are not wholly unprepared: although Amalia sorely misses her staff, a new, inferior one is strapped to her pony's side. Also tied to the patient beast are the red luxere antlers, their soft glow illuminating even this endless dark. It is a long ride to the Settlement, longer than they should have reasonably made. The dark is oppressive, suffocating, and periodically the girl looks over at Rory, a shiver of fear running constant beneath her warm full cloaks. As they reach the square the girl gasps, anger and sadness burning hot in her chest. "What could of done this?" she murmurs, dropping down from the pony's back to closer inspect the damage. Carefully she removes one antler from its place: the crown is heavy, a little unwieldly, but holding it makes her feel comforted somehow, and they still provide a steady source of light. She hopes some of the nearby luxere will see it and come, or that Safrin's fish may have followed. She would hate to be stranded in the Long Night