sunbeams are never made like me

A soulmate. Nirvana wouldn't say it aloud, but she was disappointed that she hadn't met him in her travels. There was a growing theory, one that she was too afraid to share, that he wasn't out there. After all, the girl felt she'd cheated death by surviving the sickness. What if her soulmate had succumbed? What if it had taken him from this planet, leaving Nirvana cursed to be alone. A knot formed in her stomach every single time she thought of it. What if he'd met the same fate she was supposed to? What if she was cheating by being alive at all? She'd push the thought from her head, at least for now.

The grin they share is tender, soft. Nirvana wears her family name with pride, and there's something to be said for that. Manea's tale of the last year had her eyes wide, gaze dancing softly. The hard work, it had really and truly paid off. There was something beautiful-- more than beautiful about that. She's breathless from it, and it's absolutely wonderful. More of their family was here too... damn. She really had missed a lot. Her uncle, her cousin, they'd caught the illness too. Nirvana's gaze grew a bit more serious, nodding once. To have lost either of them to it... she couldn't imagine. "I'm glad they made it through okay," she murmured. There was no telling what the lasting effects of it all would be. Time. Only time would tell.

And there was the question of her plans. Nirvana settled back on her haunches, thinking for a long moment. A slow, deep breath, in... and then out. "I didn't even think that far ahead." The words were a quiet admission. "We talked about me coming back for my second birthday, and I guess I just... didn't picture it being like this." There was a bitter tone that colored her chuckle. She didn't picture coming back to her aunt alone and empty handed, in all of the exploring she'd done. Sure, she'd learned about the land and those that lived here. She'd learned all about them. She'd learned, and here she was... but she's still alone.

"I want to be here, with you, with our family... but I want to do something big." Nirvana's gaze returned to meet Manea's. There was something coursing in her system, terrible and brilliant. Nirvana, in fact, is both terrible and brilliant. Young, high strung, and deathly ambitious. That ambition is a fire in her chest that can't be put out. She burns for it, and she aches to do and be everything she can be, and more. Far, far more. "I don't wanna just be like everyone else, Manea." Though she'd try to keep her voice from cracking, maybe she'd failed. Nirvana was at a crossroads... she'd be two. Coming of age was such a weird concept. She needed to be someone. The girl was for an identity of her own, however she'd define it.

"Nirvana"