//------------------------------//
// 390. Hike by Knight of Lycaeus 
// Story: The Sun and the Stars: A Twilestia Prompt Collab 
// by Fuzzyfurvert 
//------------------------------//


by Knight of Lycaeus


***



A slightly tense muscle here, a too sudden blink there, little signs. I could tell the mare in front me was wary. Wary of my claims, my identity, and yet other subtle tells betrayed her keen interest.

Twilight, a pleasant name I couldn't help, but feel it roll smoothly off my tongue.

I smirked inside with each call of my name. My current name, one in the many guises I adopted over the years. But the subtle pauses and how she lingered on every pronunciation as though it was savoured like a wondrous meal. I knew why she did and yet....

Only a few minutes with Twilight and my mind was already elsewhere as distracting thoughts tumbled within me, but I forced myself to feign attention. I knew what I desired would always be lesser.

Outmatched by the need for her to find it. Centuries of attempts all dashed by failure. Everything hinged on success as it always did. Friends, family, atonement, but it was as well the end of the long road with its promised rest.

So as quick as mirth came, it fled again as elusive as ever.

No, it did not flee so much it was banished.

Banished by my ever present friends, the weariness, regrets and melancholy I carried in my heart. How long has it been? The last to act as Twilight did, to make me feel this way....

Too long, it has been far too long. But this needed my attention.

Loneliness, another constant companion on this long road. Only rarely did it leave me and then only fleetingly that made the next even more bitter.

These were the results of the choices I had made. I had chosen and left along with many others, left the lands of my birth to find new lands for our own, lands that became this nation. I had chosen and left those I loved with the knowledge that our parting would be long if not eternal.

An affirmation from Twilight returns me to the now. I return her affirmation with a smile, a smile of hope. A cautious hope, but hope all the same. The hope that soon I would be able to return home to those I had left behind.