Ravenna
magic hidden in the void and —
Hovering half a step from the still form as golden rain showered the grubby loft, Ravenna's heart beat painfully in her chest. Hope and worry warred for dominance, but though her mother did not stir, nothing in her life up until this point had prepared her for the possibility that the center of her world might disappear.
She had seen dead things before. Fish in the nets of fishermen. Washed up Hels on the beach. Bloated and gaping victims of the falling moon, inescapable over the past season. None of them had anything to do with the laughing golden haired beauty who hugged her goodnight and whispered stories under the blanket until she fell asleep. She didn't understand it. Didn't want to believe it.
But when she finally plucked up the courage to reach out to her mother, a single touch changed her life forever.
The woman slumped over on her back. There was no life left that might reflect Vi's grace in the eyes that stared blankly at the ceiling. Red stained lips that had taken on a blue tint in her last struggle for breath, a clear enough indication that she had, at long last, lost the battle with the lung sickness.
Shocked by the clammy cold of the skin and the eerie stillness, Venna cried out and scrabbled back. With no one else to turn to, she reached for Noah; trembling and uncomprehending, unable to look at what could no longer be denied.
Her mother never wanted water from the well. She just didn't want her daughter to be there when she died.
She had seen dead things before. Fish in the nets of fishermen. Washed up Hels on the beach. Bloated and gaping victims of the falling moon, inescapable over the past season. None of them had anything to do with the laughing golden haired beauty who hugged her goodnight and whispered stories under the blanket until she fell asleep. She didn't understand it. Didn't want to believe it.
But when she finally plucked up the courage to reach out to her mother, a single touch changed her life forever.
The woman slumped over on her back. There was no life left that might reflect Vi's grace in the eyes that stared blankly at the ceiling. Red stained lips that had taken on a blue tint in her last struggle for breath, a clear enough indication that she had, at long last, lost the battle with the lung sickness.
Shocked by the clammy cold of the skin and the eerie stillness, Venna cried out and scrabbled back. With no one else to turn to, she reached for Noah; trembling and uncomprehending, unable to look at what could no longer be denied.
Her mother never wanted water from the well. She just didn't want her daughter to be there when she died.
— truths waiting to be spoken
