Essetia & Romul

Like the ocean meets the rain, we've been one, the same

The caves had become a place of comfort, a home to her heart, and the earthen manifestation of her soul. At its core there was fire that breathed life into the crystallized caverns of her doubt. Just beyond, there was a room for her past and her memories. There was a room for her tears and her release as well, and another for her thoughts when she was quiet, thoughtful. Finally, there was a room for her aspirations and while they were sometimes dangerous, they were beautiful concepts nonetheless. Perhaps it was not so strange that she’d returned, an image far too faint for reality, to the caves in the Heart of Helovia.

Essetia traced a familiar path, her eyes somehow unseeing, toward the falls where she’d first met the warrior. She couldn’t yet recall how she’d ended up there, searching, but it was a pull that even her young mind could not ignore. Yet, there was something different in the flickering of white she’d first sought… Instead, it was interrupted by darkness and hints of deep bronze. She remembered them well, but could not bring his name to her lips because it was so distant and unclear. What was she after? Did she even know?

The strings of her heart began to pulse as she neared the narrow passage that would soon bring her to the threshold of the waterfall and the majestic pool that glittered at its base. Anticipation welled unkempt in her stomach and before she could pass beyond the vaulted ceiling and immerse herself in the roar of the falls, she paused. She was alone. She was panicked.

But why?

The bay thought of Romul as she waited at the precipice, still unable to move beyond it with any certainty about what she’d find. Her skin felt hot, but not so much that she feared that warmth, but only how she would receive what lingered just around the corner. Would she again lay eyes on a warrior painted in the softest shades of grey with eyes the color of the oceans blue? Or would she find herself alone, again? There was another option, she knew… Of course she knew and of course it made her heart flutter with untold possibilities. Romul? she tried silently, looking for the support of the wolf and his steely determination. Though his answer was faint and more of an echo in her mind than anything else, his presence was enough to soothe her roiling emotions.

Into the cavern she went with little other than ideas of who waited for her arrival and, at first, she thought she’d uncovered a stranger, soaked by the waterfall’s spray. She watched him for a time, her eyes roaming sharp curves and subtle dips now familiar to her, and sighed. Essetia remembered, not for the first time, eyes of bronze flecked by the forest’s green. She remembered his unruly forelock and how, at times, it fell over those very same eyes. She remembered the hard line of his neck and how it dipped into his broad back where she’d once admired the fine muscles there. She remembered the exotic lilt of his voice and how much it excited her to hear it. She remembered everything so well and so precisely that it almost pained her to find him so changed.

Back then, he had been mysterious and so much a masculine force that he’d frightened and fascinated her simultaneously. But it had been so long ago, or so it seemed, since they’d parted ways. Perhaps they were both just as changed by time and by the lives they led that she’d actually forgotten the very magnetism that charged her attraction for him. Or perhaps she simply hadn’t known until now.

However, as she watched him, she noticed there was a power she hadn't seen before and something else... something else she couldn't quite name. She'd missed his mystery, she thought, and though there were many miles between who they'd been and who they were now, it suddenly didn't matter. Questions of how she’d come to find him and how he’d managed to find his way to that very spot were lost to her. The waterfall was no longer a secret she kept between her lips because he was there and Ulrik changed everything.

Without any words that could fill the rift between them, Essetia moved forward no longer afraid of herself without Romul. The child she’d been was left behind her, staring uselessly at the water’s edge and contemplating what to say while the sleuth, a mare now, and the very image of her own and willful soul, pressed easily into the shallows intent on finding her way to his side. The long strands of both her mane and tail trailed along behind her like a threatening, black veil and as the water began to climb the curves of her body, her coat began to darken as well. Amidst all the darkness, her pale eyes shone bright and unwavering. “What’s the Engineer doing so far from the Basin?” she questioned amusedly upon approach. There was a trace of a smile beginning at the corners of her lips, but it faded quickly when she was close enough to inhale the unicorn’s musky, northern scent. Her good sense was soon lost after that.

As if it were a habit between them, Essetia reached out toward the small at the base of his neck, somehow certain that if she could feel him, then he was undoubtedly real... and she had to make certain he wasn’t some mirage or a trick of the mind and that she hadn’t been fooled by her own desires. Yet, there was a small part of the sleuth that knew that once she began, she would never be able to stop and instead she recoiled, regretting the action as much as she regretted not following through.