Aurelia
Aurelia had come to the festival in tow with Melita. She felt maladapted to this, to her surroundings, to the strangers that filled the Citadel. It wasn't just because she was suddenly in Halo, either. Like a seal on a beach, she felt clumsy and slow and easily distracted, hesitating beside Melita as she took it all in.
The shield-shaped lantern she'd crafted hung down from one of her hands, her father's insignia carved onto each side to let light out in the shape of a flame. It was a simpler lantern, no fancy bells and whistles about it. The paper glowed with warm, orange light. In terms of the 'contest' she'd been told about, Aurelia was not interested in winning. Even at the prospect of seeing her sisters or her parents. She only had an interest in participating, in paying homage to their memory, and - ultimately - in showing that she cared to belong. Symbolically, this was her seceding from her old life. A formal goodbye, of sorts.
She glanced towards the red hair and honey-colored gaze of Melita, down to her lantern - a beautifully hand-crafted item. Following other people's lead, Aurelia found a place to hang her lantern. Her brows furrowed for a moment, gaze swimming, as she stared up at it suspended there among the other bright and shining lanterns, where it would stay.
Goodbye...
The shield-shaped lantern she'd crafted hung down from one of her hands, her father's insignia carved onto each side to let light out in the shape of a flame. It was a simpler lantern, no fancy bells and whistles about it. The paper glowed with warm, orange light. In terms of the 'contest' she'd been told about, Aurelia was not interested in winning. Even at the prospect of seeing her sisters or her parents. She only had an interest in participating, in paying homage to their memory, and - ultimately - in showing that she cared to belong. Symbolically, this was her seceding from her old life. A formal goodbye, of sorts.
She glanced towards the red hair and honey-colored gaze of Melita, down to her lantern - a beautifully hand-crafted item. Following other people's lead, Aurelia found a place to hang her lantern. Her brows furrowed for a moment, gaze swimming, as she stared up at it suspended there among the other bright and shining lanterns, where it would stay.
Goodbye...
standing in the ashes of who I used to be
