FFXIV Write 2024 || 2. Horizon

Shh-shh…Shhh…  The soft rush of the sea lapped around the xbr’aal’s feet as she stood in the ever-changing sand beneath her feet. With each rush of the tide, she drew in a deep breath as she stretched her arms overhead. Warm Turali air was scented with the salty brine of the ocean and the redolent bouquet of a thousand different kinds of local flora; from strings of brightly-colored heliconia, to soft, white dipladenia, and many, many others. The wind carried with it the dry, dusty remnants of none-too-distant Xak Tural though she herself had never been to see it. 

Turning her back to the sea, the tigrine woman tilted her chin up to look at the sun-dappled heights of the city that was her home: Tuliyollal. Everything that ever was and could be considered “home” to her was here, as mired in her being as her feet were within the sand. Yet, she knew in her heart of hearts that everything, in fact, was not here. One very key thing was missing: her sister.  Like the sand beneath her feet, Oxomoco had been washed away from her life, carried into parts unknown. While they had written to one another frequently it was not the same as having her sister by her side.

Xochitl turned her head, looking back over her shoulder at the broad expanse of the horizon in the distance. If there was one thing that her life had taught her thus far it was that the things in life worth having are worth pursuing. If Oxomoco was the missing element of her life, she would simply have to go find Oxomoco.

“Are you ready to go, Xochi?” The tall shetona that was her patron asked from a few feet away, seemingly loathe to intrude upon the xbr’aal’s reveries. “Shall we get some tacos before we go?”

She smiled. “Tacos would be great.” A last taste of home before she went into the Wide Unknown.