7/19/2026, 4:28 AM
her gaze turns toward him, pale and cold where his are dark. were her and her brother so similar? she did not think so, but she supposes the assumption was close enough.
the path dips ahead toward a narrow run of water, its banks churned soft by the traffic of spring. fa’liya continues toward it, but there is a new stiffness in the line of her back. the girl omits the fact that they inherited that blue from the same sire.
she glances sidelong at nen’tah, taking in the roundness youth has not yet pared away, the clean promise of a body made correctly. there is no fault in him for possessing what she has spent her life wanting, and yet the resentment builds roots indiscriminately.
at the water’s edge, she gestures toward the shallows with her muzzle before dipping her head to drink upstream from the boy.
yes.she nods.
he is my brother.
the path dips ahead toward a narrow run of water, its banks churned soft by the traffic of spring. fa’liya continues toward it, but there is a new stiffness in the line of her back. the girl omits the fact that they inherited that blue from the same sire.
she glances sidelong at nen’tah, taking in the roundness youth has not yet pared away, the clean promise of a body made correctly. there is no fault in him for possessing what she has spent her life wanting, and yet the resentment builds roots indiscriminately.
at the water’s edge, she gestures toward the shallows with her muzzle before dipping her head to drink upstream from the boy.