Aetheria

The waning moon colors the field in silver, the sky deep and endless above Aetherina, wrapped within her golden bindings. Once a symbol of her status, the robes she wears are now all she has to keep her company as she waits. The robes whisper around her legs in the breeze, as if remembering a time when they flowed through the marble halls of Olympus.

She tilts her head toward the moon, the all-too familiar sight leaving her nearly breathless. “It’s your light, father,” she says softly, her voice quiet in the stillness as she finds herself in awe of the reflected light. “I cannot apologize. I will not. But I do miss you. Every day and every night, it's not only the pair to my soul I wish to see.”

The light pools around her feet, touches the ropes across her chest, glints in her eyes. It feels like a hug, the familial touch she's so missed. She speaks again, her voice no louder despite the caress. “I stayed. I accepted the weight. I honored the vow. But I am beginning to forget what it was like… What it means to feel something other than longing.” A single tear falls down her cheek following her eyes falling shut, her heart speeding just a touch from its normal steady rhythm. “I don't ask for flame. I do not wish for my powers returned. I never need set eyes on home again.” She lets out a breath, trembling and weak. “Just… A sign. A breath of warmth. Any reason at all not to lay in this field and let the grass grow over me, pulling me into its depths. Please… Father, to you I beg.”