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Freedom is a taste that remains stagnant in the mouth until ripped away, where the captive longs for it once more. Hotaru does not let it escape her notice so soon after being returned to her home and family, reveling in the breeze that happens to smell just a little sweeter than normal. Her three days captive in the Throat had not been horrible at all, really. Then again, reflecting on her redeemed status with Gaucho, it wasn't as if anyone really had a reason to hate her when she'd won over the quiet brute. They only knew her as the pink spy, and she had been careful to keep her coat dusted, becoming a sightly full palomino even if it made her stomach flip to look into the stillness of the Oasis and see so much of her mother looking back.

There are no real reasons to be on the beach that day, how she arrives at all is a mystery to her. Yet when she sees a winged boy crossing the sands, she feels her hooves moving to a quicker pace, subconsciously following him. Whether she wanted to chat with the youngling or merely discover what it was that seemed to draw him, too, to the Blue wouldn't be answered. All thoughts had been swept away on a tide of music and laughter, soft and feminine. Delighted in the most innocent, naive way. The way Ru, and Arya, and even Rae used to laugh. It warms her like hot cider straight to her belly, blooming like an opening rose and tickling her insides with the soft curled ends of each petal.

It's beautiful.

Young pegasus forgotten, she is drawn towards the source as it sings like a siren, but there is only gentleness and love to crash herself upon. All of which she is more than willing to do. It is beautiful, and she feels her world fade away. Should she be incapable of securing it (as surely she is a greedy creature, just as greedy as she is lonely) it is merely enough to hear the beautiful singing, to feel alive again. Her eyes are moist but for once she cannot bring herself to care, too wrapped up in the feelings that the egg sings into her heart. Singing back is no challenge.

"Tears not wasted on lonely days,
We both, one pair, two souls made quiet
They never knew how much we meant
Because nobody ever stays

But deep in hearts of gold are fissures made of black
Dear darling, dearest darling,
Let me help you take them back

Stasis in darkness,
We've come so far
Let me take those burdens from your shoulders
We can share them together, convergent
Our souls as one, fluoresce

Sweet darling, baby dearest
I'll stand by while you sleep
And guard forever, woes and wishes
Till darkest dusk does creep

We're lost treasures sweetling,
It's okay to want to cry
But know for now, my precious
I'll be with you till we die"

It is perhaps as precious to her own heart as Rhoa's, though her subtleties and gilded tongue help conceal what his youth cannot. Whatever story he tells it is not one she listens to, if only out of respect. Her words, similarly, are only for the happy child with the desperate, longing mental fingers clutched within the egg.

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Denials: X :: X