Stone Circle I just want you to love me like that

her mother's presence always had some element of randomness to it, at least since the fire that had stolen reverie's mind. she never thought it would be dusty that would take her away this time. somehow, this was worse. the complete and total absence read as abandonment. bitterness rooted deep, although she had kept it from reverie in the moment.

they had parted smiling. she kept her tears to herself. they came out at night. they stopped coming out at all.

caretaking was dahlia's job, now. she saw petal's anxious possessiveness, that if dahlia or foxglove slipped out of sight they might too disappear completely. she saw its lesser echoes in fox, how she needed to draw close for comfort.

dahlia would secure their future no matter the cost. thankfully, it seemed like they wouldn't have to fumble their way to a solution this time. there was no trading to be had. they just had to arrive.

so arrive they did. at the borders of kvarsheim, they were greeted before they even had a chance to call. they would be protected here.

hello, she says, breaking forward from the group, the young girl masquerading as some makeshift ambassador. i am dahlia. these are my sisters, foxglove and petal. she glances at them now in reassurance, though the thought they might be turned away sat deep in her stomach.

our mother, reverie ... she told us to come here. she has left to find her husband.