i am a leaf on the wind

Lyanna spent far too much time wandering around, talking to random strangers here and there in conversations that don’t really lead anywhere. But of course, when you refuse to talk of your past and you have very little in the present to speak of, there’s not much left to talk about. And what good is the conversation about the weather? She needed to learn more of healing, probably. Needed to give herself more to do. But in truth, she didn’t know where to begin. Though somehow, that didn’t seem to matter much, as she’d managed a promotion anyway (a thought that both baffled and pleased her at once). At least her efforts meant something. 
 
“I wouldn’t have known,” she offers, when the mare admits it was a bit out of her comfort zone. Lyanna couldn’t have told you, from that painting lesson alone, that the Glazier was only recently promoted to that title. The conversation moves on to flight, and mention of a sister. She thinks, though she isn’t entirely sure, that Glasgow’s smile falters for a moment here. Because she can’t fly? Or because of something else entirely? Or maybe, Lyanna’s simply making things up.
 
She smiles easily instead,  “I can't say it isn't wonderful gift.” She would be lost without the ability to fly now. With the wind taken from her, it was the closest she ever felt to herself now. At least in the sky the wind held her up, brushed against her sky and she moved through the air. At least up there, she could pretend the currents holding her up were of her own making. She was almost whole, when she flew.
 
Almost.
 
“Both of my siblings had wings, white and teal tipped like mine.” Like Glasgow, she has no idea why she’s offering this information. Maybe because of that faltering smile and the one ear that flicks back on the pale mare. Offering a tidbit of her own information that might make it better somehow? If there was even anything that needed to be made better. She has no idea. Maybe, in truth, she just wants to admit that she had a family and that they are gone. Maybe she just wants to say it aloud so the weight of it all doesn’t pull her into the ground anymore. Yes, she’d told Auriel, but without any personal feeling attached to it. She’d told it like fact, and nothing more, and somehow that wasn’t the same.
 
But she isn’t about to simply start gushing her life story to some mare. So instead, she simply offers a piece of information in exchange for a piece freely given. That’s how conversations worked, anyway, so it only seemed fair.   “We were different in our powers. My brother controlled fire, and I controlled the wind.” And Adalene? Well, honestly, they weren’t sure what elemental affinity the girl had, but it didn’t matter now anyway. Adalene’s powers were gone, and so was Adalene.
 
The conversation shifts, and Lyanna’s smile grows a little brighter, a little less strained than it often is when she thinks of home. “I would love that, if you don’t mind.” 

watch how i soar.

lyanna