The rebuilding of your life took a toll on your spirit. I had recreated my world once.
In the realm of Eikkahn, there had never been a year of peace in my life. Civil wars painted the land in varying shades of crimson from the moment of my birth until the moment I limped across the borders and away from a madman in a crown. I had been born to loving parents, though the edges of their faces blur in my memories when I try to focus in on those times. All I remember in the sound of their bodies collapsing on the soft earth.
I remember being spared due to my age, left alone in the world with rotting bodies of my guardians. Being young and resilient, it was easy to start new.

Especially after my travels brought me to her. I rebuilt the fragmented pieces of my former self, pasting them together, until every surface reflected her brilliant face and warm presence. My world began to turn around her breathing, the gilmmer in her sightless eyes when she smiled, the beating of my own heart when I stood next to her.
I knew what this girl meant, as she throws demanding questions at my face about happiness. It is not a crime to be happy, but the higher you allow yourself to rise, the harder the fall when it is taken away. I do not say anything, thinking I can hide in my silence long enough that she will stop drawing nearer and nearer to my soul.

"You already have," I say in response to her pleas against change. "Haven't you?" It was useless wishing to remain the same. Time wore you down, life wore you down, and inevitably, you would shift like the seasons. "There is no sense in fighting it."
Nothing can escape the meddlesome hands of time.

I hold her gaze, seeking the tears forming at the edges of her eyes. I allow her to view my blanked expression, to seek out the humanity she needed. I cannot say that I had not sought the same in my past. I searched the eyes of the world to find something to stave the growing despair in my heart, assuaged only in the soft expression of her face.
I no longer seek that comfort, leaving the shards of my life scrambled about my hooves in despair. Still, I cannot find it within my heart to take that away from this girl.
Strange. Very strange.

The tear flies, falling into the darkness of the night and disappearing from my sight. I am left instead with a bewildering vision, someone attempting to right themselves amid an internal storm. Her frail looking form changes to one that is strong. Her statement is cut off at the neck, and I am left to wonder what she means. My mind unfurls into a hundred possibilities, only to find myself at a loss for what it could be.

The smile which greets me on her face catches me off guard, sending a shiver to dance upon my spine. Piercing through the glass, touching me briefly and deeply for a moment. I blink, sending the feeling away, spinning into the distance where it belongs. I am afraid she might see through my nonchalance, the mask I wear to hide myself from the world.
I tear my eyes away from her face, not wishing to feel for a second time in one night.

"I hope you find your way."

""