the night has not finished burning . smoke still clings to the air , silvered by a dying moonlight , and the ground hums faintly beneath her feet⸺as if the land itself is trying to remember what shape it used to be . in limveld , no songs of victory rise when the wounded murmur & the dead are being counted . sellen is almost startled by the wylder's next pressing question .
wylder : would you care for a dance ?
a dance⸺now ? they may now rest in the sanctuary that became of the roundtable hold , but the rest of the country is still deciding whether to collapse or continue ... sellen turns slowly , eyes catching the drifting ash that can be glimpsed from the training grounds .
against the motions , she glimpses the stars glaring down in their indifferent constellations . their twinkling never called her to arms , only beckoning for her to just ... be .
❛ will you be surprised , ❜ she says at last , voice low , ❛ if i say i've never learned to dance ? ❜
her fingers curl at her side as though she might grasp the threads of this moment & pull them apart to see how it was made⸺attempting to unearth a personal history long lost to the weather of time & darkness . a breath passes with her idly wondering if the wylder has ever been taught to dance . then another , wondering if he was any good .
a smile ghosts the corners of her mouth as she offers her hand . ❛ if the night insists on pretending it has ended ... ❜ the statement almost dies on her tongue when wylder takes it . ❛ i suppose we should pretend that we've time , hmm ? ❜
for a few stolen moments , amid ruin & stars , she hears music .
... random question from @hauntics !