Hushed Willows now she's in me and i can't let her go

the days are short and colder and brilliance is tired most of the time. she sleeps a lot, she hides. she does whatever she can to simple get by with her head down. each passing day isn’t any easier than the last. solomon is still gone, queenie is still gone. delight and mali are here, too, but hardly. or maybe she’s hardly here, she doesn’t know.
 
she’s tired.
 
her eyes are more apparent and the muscles upon her little crown are sunken in. she’s hungry, most days, but she ignores it because her stomach hurts too and she cannot find a balance. if she eats, she throws up, and if she doesn’t, she doesn’t feel any better.
 
she is near mali’s hideout when she smells something she doesn’t like but she does not have the energy to fight it, or really react to it other than turn her head and see the woman. brilliance doesn’t go out of her way to stop her or tell her she can’t be here—she knows this is her land more than it is theirs—but she does not shy away. her thin, frail form stands there. if the wind were to blow just a little too hard, she might fall over, but for the moment she holds her ground to see if seabreeze is around for any particular reason.