They’d all been broken before. It came about as the world turned and the leaves changed, as chaos reigned, as violence plunged, as revolutions took their tolls – and circumstances skewed, altered, and morphed their foundations. She’d been warped and damaged prior to wandering into Helovia’s vast territories, the hustling, blinding light of glory and triumph – and patched herself neatly together with smiles, with passion, with zest for life, clinging to remnants of virtues and intangible strength. The Songbird had once only warbled the softest of notes, praying no one would find her tucked between glens and moss, copses and darkness, whispered fondly to herself of adventures she’d never have, and when she’d finally arrived amongst the threshold and its wide-open gates, she’d never dreamed, never imagined, just how far her fortitude would carry her. It was molded to her now, in each and every movement, a curve, a stroke, a caress, of might and endurance, pieces of perseverance that never scattered, never faltered, never chiseled away; because even when she felt the slightest hint of a crumble, even when the realm grew dark, weary, chaotic and brooding, she hoped, she dared, and she emboldened. It was the sort of audacity she couldn’t have fathomed as a child, staring down at the earthen floor instead of at the bright, brilliant sky – but it bloomed, it blossomed, until she was one of the matching trills, one of the enduring entities still singing into the night.
 
She wished everyone could be the same; varnished and lacquered and coated with persistence and tenacity, the kind that ripened with age and experience, the kind of sagacity that grew towards the heavens instead of rooting itself into the ground, never shifting, never moving. But that wasn’t the way characters and figures worked – everyone had their personalities, their creeds, their oaths, their breaking points – she’d just seen enough in her brief lifetime to respond, to shape, to carve away at the apprehension coiled across her midst. She dreamed in silk and satin, in layers of longings and hopes, and then dove into the void to retrieve them, to watch them grow, to witness them sprout and flourish. Through failed wars and invasion, through strife and sickness, through abandonment and desolation, she’d sculpted a place for her quiet, keen determination and resolution – a trilling force to be reckoned with. Her watch had yet to end – eyes narrowed to stare at the bloodied horizon, recalling the last time she’d ventured into the crimson falls, with its siren beacons and its incredulous grasp. Lena wouldn’t falter here either: not if she had anything to say about it.
 
It’d been a whisper on the wind, a particle of matter, twisting and turning, grieving, mourning, a lost soul staring into the chasm one last time – like a ghost, like a phantom, like a wraith who could only yearn. Imogen had noticed first, keeping her ears attune, swiveling them right and left before chirping into the stillness, speculating with a nod of her head, and the Songbird followed, a combined force of intrigue and dedication.
 
A creature remained on the edge of the watery precipice, intentions clear, and the Mender sucked in a breath, inhaled a vibrant scent, shuffled down the barbs in her throat that told her to drag the figure away, away, away from the fringe, from the verge. But she knew better. In her youth she would have bounced and leaped and tried to halt the process as quickly as possible – but nowadays the earth had everyone into shadows and grief, anguish, melancholy, and defiance, and they would have likely just as quickly rebelled against her well-meaning shouts. Instead, she drew closer, but not without warning, offering a gentle hallelujah from the depths of her raptures, “Hello!,” proceeding with caution and experience, eyes shifting delicately to the surging waves below and the maiden – nearly choking on stars, on familiarity, on the criss cross of heavens and dotted lines (Ki’irha, Imogen chirruped from behind her forelegs, a melding of ivory and waving tails). Compassion and warmth pooled across her features, her vivid smile tucking into the corners of her lips, and while she wondered so many things in one instance, one moment, she only proffered her strong shoulder and rapturous melodies as she sidled closer to the galaxies, together at the limits of the world. “Ki’irha! How have you been?”