Maea
And I hope that you don't suffer
But take the pain
But take the pain
Placing a hand over her heart, Maea grimaced in a slightly exaggerated way to convey her condolences. It brought her no pleasure to know that Flora was fighting demons too in that regard, despite the sneaky, not so pretty relief to have company in her misery. "You do a wonderful job of compensating for whatever those insecurities are," she remarked, with a wry smile. "That's probably the last word I'd ever use to describe you. Teach me the trick?" She longed to be Flora's brand of unapologetically herself, the kind of confident that didn't let action stop at pretty words and good intentions. Whatever she was compensating for had resulted in an image of resolute competence that Maea only dreamed of attaining - even though she was vaguely aware of how it had cost the young queen.
Reaching up to pull out the hair pin, Maea redid the updo as they walked and tried to put words on what she meant. "It's fireproof, right? And heat proof, and can resist the crush of lava," she explained. "Between tolerating heat or cold, this is far better - if nothing else the instances where one interacts with heat are far more common." Cooking, bathing, working outside in the summer, touching heated surfaces et cetera were all hard to avoid, whereas cold... well, you just had to heat it up. Or put on some more clothes. Or not go outside in cold climates.
Thus she could appreciate Flora's reasons for remaining Accepted. Being able to call on Rae was absolutely something to be proud of, and Maea was suitably impressed to hear of the feat. "True enough. Mh, but... I do hope you don't feel forced to remain Accepted for the sake of power alone, and that you can choose what fulfills you more. On a personal level." Twisting the stick into the milky hair, she patted the bun to ensure it would hold, and waved off a wisp that came drifting to whisper tempting nonsense in her ear. "Sometimes the shift is more than merely another shape to assume. When I learned to fly... it healed something within me, that I don't think could have mended on its own. I've never felt trapped or tied down in the same way as I used to before." Certainly the gore crow wasn't the most powerful shift, nor anywhere near as useful as summoning a god. But Maea knew that she would never trade it away for anything, now that she knew the peace it brought to her mind.
Reaching up to pull out the hair pin, Maea redid the updo as they walked and tried to put words on what she meant. "It's fireproof, right? And heat proof, and can resist the crush of lava," she explained. "Between tolerating heat or cold, this is far better - if nothing else the instances where one interacts with heat are far more common." Cooking, bathing, working outside in the summer, touching heated surfaces et cetera were all hard to avoid, whereas cold... well, you just had to heat it up. Or put on some more clothes. Or not go outside in cold climates.
Thus she could appreciate Flora's reasons for remaining Accepted. Being able to call on Rae was absolutely something to be proud of, and Maea was suitably impressed to hear of the feat. "True enough. Mh, but... I do hope you don't feel forced to remain Accepted for the sake of power alone, and that you can choose what fulfills you more. On a personal level." Twisting the stick into the milky hair, she patted the bun to ensure it would hold, and waved off a wisp that came drifting to whisper tempting nonsense in her ear. "Sometimes the shift is more than merely another shape to assume. When I learned to fly... it healed something within me, that I don't think could have mended on its own. I've never felt trapped or tied down in the same way as I used to before." Certainly the gore crow wasn't the most powerful shift, nor anywhere near as useful as summoning a god. But Maea knew that she would never trade it away for anything, now that she knew the peace it brought to her mind.
Hope if everybody runs
You choose to stay
You choose to stay
