#gldenbird

‘ um, ’  she cradles her hand closer to her chest, the motion stretching the gauze against her wound tighter. she tries carefully to conceal the wince it elicits, but it probably shows more unnatural than she intends it to. in truth, she doesn’t know how it happened, just that she came to standing ominously in front of her mother’s old vanity with a searing pain across her knuckles and broken glass at her feet. how else can she explain it when she doesn’t know what happened herself ?  ‘ yeah, why else would i put my hand through the mirror ? ’

luna wonders, sometimes, if it were best if she actually took a side like the rest of her siblings have. it gets too exhausting for her to volley back and forth between them all, never being certain about her opinions, always being vague with her promises. such as now, in the face of their oldest sister, luna’s arms come up across her chest as she nods,  ‘ yeah, i figured. ’

she considers her for a moment, the conversation taking a serious turn as laila bears the question. in the years rowan has known her, there wasn’t a time that she hasn’t proven herself to be anything less than competent, even when things were going horribly south. but the question seems to be a culmination of all of the insecurities laila had incurred not only in the last few years but, what rowan has come to find out, also in her entire lifetime dating back to her childhood.  ‘ in my experience, ’  she starts, reaching out with a hand to squeeze her shoulder,  ‘ no, i don’t think so. ’