AmaLiA
the shield of safrin
Eyes closed, Amalia attempts to fall into herself, looking for the place from whence she draws her animal shifts and finding only darkness behind her eyes. Except, there- a light, and a sound (a feeling?). She can almost see it: an infinite sea of glittering stars, warm and welcoming as it spreads through her grandmother's garden. A place of safety, and comfort, and strength, where the best parts of her live in the memory of the best women she's known.
The leopard is the easiest one to access, leaping immediately to the girl. Amalia feels the fur try to rise up on her neck; with great restraint she resists the shift, instead turning her attention to the next. The owl, more careful, watches from a branch; the otter, least familiar, swims among the stars.
But there is something else, something strangely familiar, larger and more than all the others. It smells of lilac and petrichor, tastes like a pre-dawn sky in winter, feels like goodness, magic and strength. What is that? Amalia wonders, her mental voice filling the infinite space as she takes a careful step toward the something. Is that... me?
The leopard is the easiest one to access, leaping immediately to the girl. Amalia feels the fur try to rise up on her neck; with great restraint she resists the shift, instead turning her attention to the next. The owl, more careful, watches from a branch; the otter, least familiar, swims among the stars.
But there is something else, something strangely familiar, larger and more than all the others. It smells of lilac and petrichor, tastes like a pre-dawn sky in winter, feels like goodness, magic and strength. What is that? Amalia wonders, her mental voice filling the infinite space as she takes a careful step toward the something. Is that... me?
you're breaking your own heart
