Lena admired the child, for her ability to wander from a familiar world to the unknown vestiges of enigmas, quandaries and distortions, looping, travailing, and wavering until she found a kingdom to settle upon. Young and tender, but drawn to the stars and the clouds, the heady haze of showers, the simple conjectures of ethereal essences, the otherworldly expanse of another sovereignty, this Tiamat blossomed in the eaves of a rain’s gentle, trilling prose. What would become of her now, in the shelter new storms, new salvations, new graces, new hopes, new dreams fluttering in the aspiring winds? Would she thrive? Would she bloom? Would she find what she longed, yearned, burned for, amongst the bestial zephyrs, the dampening streams, the perilous heights? Would she prevail, would she conquer, would she triumph over the whims of darker, archaic designs? The nymph desired the watery scion’s success, found herself bound to compassions, wishes, and expectations for a fellow reverie to gain confidence, conviction and assurance. So her smile grew, a luminescent grin that lingered in rhapsody and song, promised warbles and hymns, bubbled and brewed with mellifluous, melodious, and seraphic glee. An aria left her mouth, acknowledged the precious compliments she’d given her stalwart follower. “Thank you. She is.” Her eyes turned downward towards Imogen, who twittered in delight, fluffed her ivory fur with pride, distinction and regality, swiftly, quickly, bestowing a light tap of her maw upon Tiamat’s nose; her shared delight and euphoria.

Then the belle answered her question, and Lena listened, allowed the information to flow over her mind like the benevolent gestures of the drizzle that still cascaded over their matching hearts. One must leave their family at some point. It was a relief to find the filly had not been washed away from her portals of sanctuary and refuge, that her haven had not been lost to traumatic, horrifying events, that the earth had not stopped turning in her loss of love and life. She’d struck out on her own, adventured and gallivanted across plains in something for herself – the honeyed, ambrosial femme relayed the notions, continued to smile at the sentiments. While she had not been permitted to cherish her childhood, to be bestowed with kindness, understanding, comfort or happiness, it was reassuring that so many others were still gifted and bestowed with the generosities of their loving families. As Lena sauntered in the dim world of shadow and silence, this scion grew, nourished, flourished, already radiant, already shining. Her smile never faltered even as her eyes sought the sky again, felt the listless lull of droplets ghosting down her features. The world was still well, for even if she’d been brought up in shambles, in chaos, in desolation, this youth prospered, well, whole. In the bridge of quiet, she thanked the heavens and the soil, the water and the rain, for those moments of clarity, hope and devotion. Her words, a wholesome, winsome whisper, were strung together towards the empyrean, filtering amongst the boughs, eaves and halls. “How lovely – to always have them watching over you.”

She shifted her head back towards the child, tilted it in a regal, curious manner, sparked a spectacular notion that crossed over her features in a gleaming, glowing, ablaze splendor, varnished in the stream of benevolence and benediction. Her voice, sprung from her obliging soul, helped to proffer another armament of guardianship, of shelter and security. “Perhaps, if you’d be interested, you may come to my home? The Basin houses plentiful amounts of water, earth and sky.” Lena paused, smiled more, granted muted promises of companionship for eternity. Her friendship was an everlasting canvas, an immortal, infinite, boundless rendering. “You would never be lonely.”