My chin was being lifted seconds later, the potion being poured down my throat. Eyes of silver and green bore into mine. Gentle calloused thumbs caressed soothing circles over my cheeks as my mind grew hazy, the pain drifting away like a cloud across the wind.
"Goddess, I'm sorry,I'm so sorry."
My head turned, eyes falling upon a prince crying golden tears, his head crowned in a wreath of flame. I reached out, a shaky hand brushing against his cheek, as his golden tears pooled against my skin and travelled up my arm in arcing patterns that left me memorized.
"Why do you cry?"
My voice was distant to my own ears, body light and high above on the cloud of euphoria I rode. How odd it was to cry tears of gold, surely it wasn't possible. I reached towards the fiery crown, was it real? Was any of this?
"I hurt you." He responded back.
I dropped my hand of dripping gold, eyes closing as I drifted. Where to? I did not know.
"Did you mean to?"
"No."
I fought to open my eyes once more. Gone were his golden tears, replaced by waterfalls that flooded the ground I lay upon. Giggling, I floated atop the water, but it did not wet my skin. It embraced me. Traveled over my body as though it wished to claim me, to steal me away from whatever had troubled me before. Had I been afraid? Sad? In pain?
I did not remember.
I was free, like a bird soaring through the wind, the spray of salt water between my feathered wings.
"Then do not cry, Prince of Flame with tears of gold."
"Why is she like this?" A man with eyes of dark, glittering stars. Galaxies swimming in their depths.
"It's the potion." That voice was comforting,familiar. "Ma always says that the elixir affects everyone differently."
Mother.
I hummed lightly, eyes closing once more. Where had I heard this song before? It floated around me, wrapping around my very soul. The notes were an eerie tune of a memory I could not place.
l felt those hands cup my face again, lifting my head gently as my eyes drifted open. The touch so soft, so comforting. A warmth spread to the tips of my toes as my lips curved, my cheek pressing into the palm that held me. A contented sigh escaped, I could fall asleep forever in these hands, an eternal dream with no end, no beginning.
"How do you know that song, Syra?"
Silver and green.
A cool mist. The scent of cedar and rain.
I reached a hand to his face, still humming lightly.
A flash of blue, the swish of silver hair. Long, elegant fingers brushing through my hair as a sweet, high voice sang to me upon a splintering floor.
"My home," I whispered so softly, so quietly before my head dropped and the elixir carried me to a sweet, dreamless sleep. The song following me into a world of quiet and peace.
Darkness encased me when I woke next, mind heavy and eyes crusted as I tried to shake the fog that clung to my thoughts. I turned, groaning as my back ached with the movement.
"Sy?"
Suddenly Bran was there, his hands gentle as he helped me sit up, his voice low with concern. "Be careful, Rena healed you, but she said the skin on your back will still be raw and tender. You'll probably have scars."
“Add it to the list.” I rasped, my voice ravaged as I squinted through the darkness. "Where is everyone?"
Bran handed me a canteen, face hesitant. “You were talking nonsense after they gave you the elixir. As soon as Rena was finished, I kicked them all out in case you woke once more and said something that could get us both into trouble."
I took small, careful sips of the water. “Is Roan okay?”
