It's all too familiar a scene, standing before someone I hadn't seen in forever. It had happened to me a thousand times, over and over again and it was always someone different, someone I had been close to once before but had lost. I could feel the familiar feeling of joy and relief seeping through my seams, hands interwoven with overwhelming happiness and love caressing my heart with gentle satisfaction.

Just a single word falls from her lips and already I'm struck with a desire to reach out and kiss her neck, to touch her body and be able to know it is mine. I smile as look to her milky whites, almost feeling their delicate touch upon my skin. I duck my head and reach to kiss just above her left breast, feeling the heat of her body close to my nose, her scent seeping into my nostrils as I feel her play with the ivory hair that lays over my neck and withers. She smells of Birdsong, fresh and lively, with the faintest traces of familiar pines, a peculiar smell for her to wear. It takes me back to a place I have hoped to forget, my insides cringing as I wonder if it's there that she was taken, or if she had simply brushed past a pine on her way back home. "Thank the Gods, I had thought you had left me," My eyes well with tears as I pull myself from Aurelia's embrace despite my mind begging to remain where I felt safe and at ease.

Upon the mention of my visit with the Earth God, Aurelia turns her head to show me the brown feather within her creamy mane, tucked beneath locks of hair that hung down over her slender, graceful neck, hiding shimmering markings of gold that flower over her throat, crawling over her graceful curvature. "It is, but only if you too want it," I reach out to brush my nose to hers, to exchange a few deep inhales and exhales. Her response is quicker than what I anticipated, a smile playing out upon my lips as she tells me what I had been afraid I would not hear. She wanted a family, she wanted to be by my side to raise a family! My heart swells as I look deep into her eyes, my smile growing as I burn and bubble with excitement. "My quest is to make a friend and share with them my life, and for you and I to speak with a child whose parents are not present in their lives." I felt it was necessary to share with Aurelia what my quest was so she knew what I would be doing in order to give us the family we both desired.
"Talking"