Later that evening as Theadosia dozed by the fire, her blanket pooled around her as her breaths puffed in and out sofly, Lucias was preparing the vegetables for the soup he was stirring over the bright embers in their fireplace. His brow was knit and his mouth in a hard line. He could only suspect what his daughter had been upset about but deep down he knew. The absence of a mother in her life was like missing something vital to her and he hated that she had borne that pain without telling him. Not that anything he could say would bring her any piece. He let out a big sigh as he dumped the diced vegetables into the pot. He didn’t even know where to begin explaining the truth to her. Especially since he himself didn’t know either, much of his own past was still shadowed by dense fog. His chest ached as his eyes centered on her sleeping form, bundled by the flames. How could he tell her he couldn’t even remember her birth and at first he had not believed her to be his own. They had been found together in an alley in the market district, cold and damp from laying there through the morning fog. When he had come to, he'd been told that she’d been found with him, cradled to him as she whimpered, still not even able to stand. He wanted to leave then but the elderly shop keeper that had nursed them back to health insisted she was his. He’d looked at her hard then, he thought it impossible, he’d always been alone, had never loved or been in love. The only thing he could think of would have been a fling with a mare in his hometown but that was just fun curiosity. He’d never been with anyone like that, not like a partner willing to share a life and a foal. But one sniff was all it took, and the glint off her green eyes, his eyes. He’d thanked the lady and taken Theadosia away on the spot. All of his clothes and money he’d been carrying before had been taken care of by the shop keeper so he had enough to buy them this small cabin. He did what he could in the months where the snow didn’t make traveling into town treacherous. Helped rebuild homes and barns. Helped the elderly in their daily tasks they couldn’t manage alone. He didn’t always like taking the money to help people but it kept her alive. She had become his whole world in the last year and a half. Everyday she amazed him with how beautiful she was inside and out. His breath shuddered at the thought. He hoped that beautiful light in her never burnt out. He hated the feeling his decision gave him in his chest but it was high time she learned the truth, or at least the truth as he knew it. Keeping what little he knew from her would only make whatever confusion and pain she was feeling worse. She deserved to know even if it posed more questions down the line, at least this way she wouldn’t be asking these questions alone. ~ It was some time later after the soup had had time to come together and the smells enveloped the cabin that Theadosia stirred awake, groaning softly as she stretched her limbs. Raising her head from where it had rested on her forelegs she scanned the room looking for her father. He was looking out the window, the light from the moon coming through the curtains to cast a blue hue across his body where the light caressed his chestnut coat. “Whatever you got brewin’ in that pot smells real good pa.” she saws, a yawn distorting the last few words as her jaw and throat muscles flexed. Lucias turns to her, a tired look playing at his features, there was still somehow a smile in his eyes, as if her awakening had brought him out of a bad dream. She stood then and crossed the room, the chill of not having her blanket making her shiver and yawn again. “It should be ready now if you’re hungry kiddo.” he says as he closes the distance and embraces her neck with his. Theadosia leans into the hug and lets loose a content sigh as her cheek is cradled against him. “How did you sleep?” He asks, raising his head to look at her slightly mussed mane. “Pretty good not gonna lie. Excited to wake up to more food for sure. It smells amazing.” She walks over to the steaming pot and inhales deeply. Lucias was already on his way with bowls before she lifted her head from the savory aroma wafting from it. They ate and to Lucias’s surprise Thea ate three bowls. “Playing in the snow must have built you up a good appetite huh?” he says with a chuckle as he takes her finished bowl to their wash basin. “It was so good, I couldn't help myself pa.” Thea says as she extends herself by the fire. Lucias hums a sound of approval. “I’m glad you enjoyed it dear.” he says, rinsing the dinner dishes. Thea notices that same haunted look again and asks. “Is there something wrong da?” He pauses for a brief moment before continuing, “There’s something that’s been on my mind lately and I suspect yours as well. Thea locks up. “What do you mean, what’s wrong?” He finishes his dishes and sets them on a rack to dry before he comes up to her and sits down on the floor so that they are looking at each other eye to eye. “Nothing is wrong, but I know you have questions.” Thea’s face screws into one of uncertainty and apprehension. “I know you see the absence your mother left and I know that it hurts you, or I at least suspect. Am I wrong in this assumption?” he asks as gently as he can manage. Thea breaks eye contact to look at the floor as she slowly shakes her head, her eyes closing, as if she were afraid somehow. “I thought so.” He sighs and looks out the window before looking back at his daughter, the pain in her features and expression enough to break his heart. He gathered her close, a small whimper coming from Thea, her throat fighting to close on itself as the tears welled. So with care and as much bluntness as he thought Theadosia could take, he told her the story, their story. ~ About an hour later Thea wiped the tears that had been streaming down her face the entire time. “So you really don’t remember either? That’s so strange.” She said aloud. His sigh of resignation was enough to let her know he felt the same. Her head was cradled on his shoulder when she noticed it. A bolt of colored light waving across the sky light a banner of beauty. “Pa, look.” She says, righting herself to stand and trot over to the window. Thea gasps. The whole sky was lit up by banners of light, their varying hues a war of color in the night. “It’s so beautiful!” she exclaims as Lucias comes over to her, wrapping her neck in her scarf that had dried over the fireplace while she’d slept. Thea bolted out the door, a fire in her eyes that ate up the beauty of the world with erratic wonder. Lucias admired the works of light from the porch as Thea pranced and jumped, in awe over the beams that reflected across the snow. In that moment their shared pain seemed so small as the incandescent beauty of the winter sky and the aurora washed away the weight that had held them in that place of darkness and lifted them into the beauty of the light, to be shared with each other, always.