You Know the Truest Me

Amalia There is a level of familiarity between the girls that is nearly foreign to Amalia in these darker days, strains of family played between their spirits that she did not realize she missed as much as she did. Oh, she has a found family now, more wonderful and unexpected than she ever could have hoped, but the loneliness she feels when Deimos and Kiada discuss the past is an insidious and pervasive thing. Or else there is Wessex, their relationship tenuous and insecure, both of them playing roles for gods who will never reconcile. Of late Amalia has begun to flounder, a tree unable to find her roots, unsteady on the crumbling earth and steadily losing her balance. But here, today, in Evie's embrace, the girl at last feels something close to steady. It feels like being home. Their faces pressed in familiarity, Amalia inhales Evie's scent, smiling at the aroma that always seems to follow her friend: clean and sharp, herbs and citrus, an apiothecarist's mild and crisp aroma, the perfume of medicine and half held secrets. She could stay like this forever, safe within these memories of the past, held by her sister and cradled from the world. I've missed you, 'Lia- the only one who still uses that nickname, and Amalia chokes a shuddering laugh. "I've missed you, too," she whispers fiercely, swallowing down a rising sob. Amalia has been holding herself together with questionable success for the past few seasons, but here at last in Evie's arms the girl feels herself giving way. There are tears in her eyes as she tries to pull away, dropping her face to hide the expression, searching for composure in a child's heart. She wants to burst apart at the seams, to let loose the deluge of stressors and fears and triumphs and changes, but anxiety and insecurity hold her back, inky hands upon her lips. Evie isn't here to learn the baker's troubles, to bear the Shield's weight. Schooling her voice into something almost composed (her face another story- she has never had a talent for hiding her feelings) Amalia takes a step back from Evie, her tired eyes still a little downcast. "How have you been? I can make tea- did, did you bring some, or should I pick from my supply?" reach for the stars: but child, first recognize the constellations of light you already carry inside you