Maea
Stars, hide your fires
The braid of grass became a bracelet, tied together with clever knots and plopped unceremoniously onto the top of Jata's head. Or perhaps diadem was a better word for it; he was a king, after all, if very different from the bejeweled men that used to headline the stories she grew up with. Thus crowned he looked more like the rogues along the way, or perhaps a dark knight that tired of doing the evil magicians bidding and struck out on his own. Her brother had loved those spinoff stories - she wondered what he would have made of Sunjata, of the kind of nightmarish tale she had wandered into.
Bereft of the distraction, Maea sat up and wrspped her arms around the knees, so she had something to rest her chin against. The frown tugging on her brow threatened to leave permanent wrinkles if time ever decided to catch up with her, and for a while she was quiet. Processing.
"I think I've been underestimating them," she eventually admitted, quietly rueful. "I mean, I knew they were strong and dangerous, but I didn't quite realise it went beyond raw strength and having nasty pets." Like being faced with a big monster - a hydra perhaps - whose many heads and poisonous teeth posed a serious problem but could be defeated if you just knew how. This, though... that a simple kiss could take you over and remove even the desire to escape, was insidious in a way she didn't know how to fight. Or, she knew how - they were all doing it already - but would conquering the island really be enough..?
"Do you... know anything about the gardening project, that Hadama's been involved with?" Asking carefully, she glanced down at the Flood. "How it's going, if it's working... I keep wondering if there's more that could be done. You know... by the rest of us." Beyond searching for flowers, to prepare for the eventuality that something went wrong and the regions became isolated islands in an ocean of Void.
Bereft of the distraction, Maea sat up and wrspped her arms around the knees, so she had something to rest her chin against. The frown tugging on her brow threatened to leave permanent wrinkles if time ever decided to catch up with her, and for a while she was quiet. Processing.
"I think I've been underestimating them," she eventually admitted, quietly rueful. "I mean, I knew they were strong and dangerous, but I didn't quite realise it went beyond raw strength and having nasty pets." Like being faced with a big monster - a hydra perhaps - whose many heads and poisonous teeth posed a serious problem but could be defeated if you just knew how. This, though... that a simple kiss could take you over and remove even the desire to escape, was insidious in a way she didn't know how to fight. Or, she knew how - they were all doing it already - but would conquering the island really be enough..?
"Do you... know anything about the gardening project, that Hadama's been involved with?" Asking carefully, she glanced down at the Flood. "How it's going, if it's working... I keep wondering if there's more that could be done. You know... by the rest of us." Beyond searching for flowers, to prepare for the eventuality that something went wrong and the regions became isolated islands in an ocean of Void.
Let not light see my black and deep desires
