flora
Hak Etme shimmered below like a copper-gold mirage, heat rising in visible ripples even this high in the sky. La Verbena drifted on a pocket of scorched air, her bright sails snapping lazily while Flora stood at the wheel—bangles clinking, curls braided tight against the wind, face sheened with LongHeat sweat. Mateo lounged beside her, all casual confidence and very little help, except for the new pendant resting against his chest: a star-dark pendant, given by Sunjata (via Hadama/Deimos and via Jack) to ward off void creatures (only on Starfall, the pair would soon learn).
"Jack fucked Safrin for that," Flora called over the wind. "Said it was meant to keep the void creatures away when they went to Starfall."
La Verbena began to tip low enough that sand’s radiant heat licked at their ankles. Flora pointed ahead: three stout dream-cacti bristled emerald among dune ridges, pale mauve blossoms nodding like tiny crowns. "There." She feathered the sails, easing the little schooner to a hover barely twenty feet above the dunes. The heat slapped upward, thick and dry. "I’ll keep her steady. You grab the ladder, bag some tines, and we’re gone before the sun cooks our brains."
"Jack fucked Safrin for that," Flora called over the wind. "Said it was meant to keep the void creatures away when they went to Starfall."
La Verbena began to tip low enough that sand’s radiant heat licked at their ankles. Flora pointed ahead: three stout dream-cacti bristled emerald among dune ridges, pale mauve blossoms nodding like tiny crowns. "There." She feathered the sails, easing the little schooner to a hover barely twenty feet above the dunes. The heat slapped upward, thick and dry. "I’ll keep her steady. You grab the ladder, bag some tines, and we’re gone before the sun cooks our brains."
My house of stone, your ivy grows
And now I'm covered in you
And now I'm covered in you
