Tears burned in their sorrow, their fury, their heartache. They burned as they pushed themselves free from the clutches of her golden pools, to stain the pale sheen of her cheek dark and angry and ugly. Tears fled the confines of the dragongirl's countenance, as if fleeing from the darkness, the dread, the misery and the depression that lurked within - as it their vacation would relieve these feelings, fix them, mend them… Only they could never be fixed, never mended, because everything inside the dragongirl was shattered, ruined, lost into the abyss…

Amaris sniffed back the sobs, she attempted to deny their purchase upon her golden form as she shuddered and shivered against her cousin. Her cousin, Tandavi, who had always been there. Her cousin, who had lived through so much loss before Amaris had even come to realise who she was. Tandavi, who was the Fire Dancer, the strong, the reliable, the steadfast. Tandavi, who had lost her entire family to the wraiths, only to have her, Amaris, the unworthy, the weak and sad and desperate, return from the doom and gloom preaching about mistakes and apologies, only to leave again, always to leave..

"I'm sorry," she said, she cried, her words mumbled and jumbled, broken and hitched. "I'm so sorry, Tandavi," she was pleaded, crying, hoping, praying - she was sorry, sorry for her absence, her nonattendance, her inadequate support and presence. She was sorry for the times when she had even been there but not been enough. She was sorry because it was what her mother had said - "I'm sorry," the DragonHeart said as death took her through the chest, "Tell them I'm sorry," she cried as her knees gave way and her dragon dived once last time.

"I'm sorry," Amaris said once again, as if twice was not enough - thrice would not be either, she knew. Death hung heavy in the air and atmosphere, untouchable and yet forever present - death is what destroyed them, the Fire Dancer and the Dragongirl; death is what would rise them up above all others.

"I love you," she cried again, though the sobs were subsiding to silent tears, the shivers and shudders stilling as her nares breathed in her and Natraj's scent. Amaris clung to it, to its familiarity, its security, its support. She did not deserve this - she deserved nothing more than to be abandoned - abandoned like Tandavi had been time and time again - but instead, here was her cousin, her confidant, her family, by her side, loving her and supporting her and soaking up her tears as they fell upon her sunkissed hide. Amaris had lost her mother, her father and sister were unlikely to return, her uncles and aunt perished long ago - but Tandavi had lost them all, for they had run, they had fled the realm and they didn't take her with them.

The dragongirl was too swept away with her own misery, her own grief, to recognise how deep Tandavi's went, though perhaps she would, one day. Amaris cried, for it was all her body knew how to do right now, it was she could do, until she woke up from this bad dream to live in the nightmare of reality once more.

"I will follow you, anywhere. Everywhere." Minutes had rolled into hours, and the tears upon her face were damp still, but she spoke with a steady, quiet yet strong voice. She spoke without tremor or hitch, but with confidence and assurance. A promise; a vow. Amaris had sought her solitude for reasons unexplained - to find herself? To grow, learn, discover? The dragongirl had learned plenty - she had learned that she wasn't enough of anything yet - she wasn't strong enough or smart enough to take this world on alone. Amaris needed her guiding flame, her cousin, her Tandavi.

Amaris, she heard the echo again, then, and realised the magic that summoned those from the other realm was still alive within her, still burning and holding fast to the white soul that was Fajira. An ear at first followed the mental sound Amaris felt, before the girl was standing side-by-side with her cousin, unwillingly (unable?) to separate herself from the Fire Dancer just yet. Fajira, Amaris crooned back to the glowing white who hovered still above the pond, a spirit as magnificent as that which existed when the dragon still had living flesh to call her own. "I'm sorry I missed your last day here." she spoke to the dragon, so that her cousin might hear her words.

The emotions flooded in return from the dragon, like a faucet suddenly turned on full power - but Amaris was ready, or at least more ready, for it this time. Though burnt out and exhausted from the turmoil her own soul was generating within, the grief, regret and then the peace, the overwhelming, soothing sense of peace came rushing in from Fajira. Tandavi, can you feel it? Amaris asked, unknowing that she only spoke with her mind, that the words did not pass her lips. The peace, the sheer magnitude of it, almost filled the dragongirl to bursting - she had to stem the flow, the pseudobond was too great. Amaris concentrated to keep Fajira here but to lower the intensity of the bond they shared - the white dragon flickered in and out for moment before Amaris stabilised it again.

"Peace be with you," she said, though she didn't know who she was speaking to anymore.


@Tandavi
Permission granted for Tandavi to hijack Amaris' magic and feel all the feels Fajira is sending.

Amaris