#morena thread.

            ---“I now know the depths I reach are limitless.” Her hands still thick with the feeling of phantom blood long since gone, she doesn’t know how to bring herself to look anyone in the eyes. Jarilo may repeat his crime year after year, unending, but she does the same; he out of a longing for warmth and affection, she out of bitterness and anger. 

             ---“I know I look young, but I wouldn’t worry if I were you. I know how to take care of myself,” Morena says, eyes meeting the skyline as opposed to her company. She’s dressed lightly despite the coldness of winter wrapping its fingers around her skin; she doesn’t shiver. Morena’s face is youthful at this point in the year, though her eyes are old as they survey the newness of this city. “But you look like you can take care of yourself, too.” 

             ---“I’m not a baby,” she says, though the fact that she has to look up at the woman, and the pitch of her voice work against her. She grits her teeth together; venturing out into the human world when she’s like this is more frustrating than anything else. 

            ---“Make it fast, if you would, I don’t have much time.” How close is Autumn? Summer still fills the trees with a lush green, but once those leaves begin to fall, her happiness ends. It’s a story impossible to forget when it’s etched into your bones, built into the foundation of your home. And Morena is so cold without Jarilo around--winter rolls off her skin like mist. “Veles apologizes for his absence, as always, but my uncle has never been a people-person.”