❝ no one really needs me .❞
She had been humming softly, a LULLABY from a world that wouldn’t come to be until long after this one. One that had not been written quite yet, but still, it seemed to bring her COMFORT NOW now than it had when she was but a kitten on her mother’s lap. Slender, scarred fingers work their way through the young girl’s hair with ease and she is careful not to pull or yank at the knots that had woven their way into the strands.
❝ no one really needs me .❞
She hears the child speak and the MELODY STOPS as the new lyrics rise into the mystel’s ears. Cracked lips frown for no longer than a few seconds and her hands stop in their tracks momentarily. Suddenly she is no longer here, she finds herself a million miles away in the grove of her CHILDHOOD home, the same words spilling like poison. Self-hatred of a girl misunderstood dripped LIKE VENOM on the young one’s lips.
Oh how Kolete wished she could go back to that time and tell herself just how wrong she was. Just as Minfilia was wrong now.
A smile etches over cobwebbed summer lips and the woman shifts enough to lean forward, arms coiling around the girl from behind with no hesitation. Kolete draws her into her chest and hugs her tight, summoning every ounce of love and protection she had come to feel for this girl these past few months. Every bit of love she wishes she had given herself back then.
❝ Oh come on! Who else would give me company with Mr. Cranky Coeurl doesn’t want to play? ❞ Who else would provide her with even a little purpose in a home that is not her own? Who else would give her a reason to keep opening her eyes each and every godforsaken morning? ❝ Come, now. Best make camp and get some rest. ❞