we write out the ends on our palms, then forget to read
Flora listens, really listens—shoulders angled in, staff still cradled casually beneath one ringed hand—but that ease begins to fade with each passing word. Not enough to snap, not enough to raise her voice or flare with emotion, but the shift is unmistakable in the set of her jaw, the slow stillness behind her eyes, a frost creeping in under the silk. Zavien was her senior to be sure, but not her better when it came to political savvy or understanding quite how far the ripples would extend from the rock he'd tossed into the waters between them.
When Zavien finishes, Flora exhales slowly through her nose, then shrugs with all the effortlessness of someone brushing off a leaf that’s landed on her shoulder. "That," she says, light and lyrical as ever, "is like… the most unlikely scenario ever." Her head tilts, curls swaying as her frown curves in, deliberate. "And honestly, if you have to come up with some wildly unrealistic situation to make yourself sound right..." Wrinkling her nose, the queen shrugs. She can understand Zavien not wanting to be forced to lie to a friend, but if anything the convoluted nature of his response, not just to Kai but now to her, only made Flora feel like maybe he wasn't trustworthy at all. Lying wasn't the same as saying someone needed to hear information right from the horse's mouth, and if that wasn't something Stormbreak's new Commander understood, perhaps Torchline's queen would be stingy with what privileged information she shared with him in the future.
Flora's rings tap lightly against the staff as she glances down for half a breath, then back up again, the weight of her attention locking with his. "Besides," she adds, almost gently, "Kaisel is Koa’s family. And having known Koa since we were kids and having dated him, I’m pretty sure there’s no world where he’d ever fault someone for wanting to let a family issue be handled by family." Family being a cornerstone of Koa's personality if ever there was one. Still, there’s no heat in her tone, just steel beneath the satin.
But as Zavien offers his condescending little commentary on her partner, that sweetness on Flora’s face only intensifies. Her smile widens, radiant as a midsummer bloom. But her eyes? Her eyes are sharp enough to draw blood. Quietly, she says, "Well, while we’re playing a game of absurd hypotheticals—" On the ground, Spice gives Sol a concerned look. "Maybe the newly minted leader of the weakest region," she says in a voice like silk wrapped around a blade, "shouldn’t be turning an argument between friends in a steam room into political discord." She smiles. "Especially not with the ruler of the strongest region." Her voice doesn’t rise, not even a decibel, and yet somehow, it feels colder than the breath Spice had levied against the both of them, and still, her smile remains, effortless and unshaken.
When Zavien finishes, Flora exhales slowly through her nose, then shrugs with all the effortlessness of someone brushing off a leaf that’s landed on her shoulder. "That," she says, light and lyrical as ever, "is like… the most unlikely scenario ever." Her head tilts, curls swaying as her frown curves in, deliberate. "And honestly, if you have to come up with some wildly unrealistic situation to make yourself sound right..." Wrinkling her nose, the queen shrugs. She can understand Zavien not wanting to be forced to lie to a friend, but if anything the convoluted nature of his response, not just to Kai but now to her, only made Flora feel like maybe he wasn't trustworthy at all. Lying wasn't the same as saying someone needed to hear information right from the horse's mouth, and if that wasn't something Stormbreak's new Commander understood, perhaps Torchline's queen would be stingy with what privileged information she shared with him in the future.
Flora's rings tap lightly against the staff as she glances down for half a breath, then back up again, the weight of her attention locking with his. "Besides," she adds, almost gently, "Kaisel is Koa’s family. And having known Koa since we were kids and having dated him, I’m pretty sure there’s no world where he’d ever fault someone for wanting to let a family issue be handled by family." Family being a cornerstone of Koa's personality if ever there was one. Still, there’s no heat in her tone, just steel beneath the satin.
But as Zavien offers his condescending little commentary on her partner, that sweetness on Flora’s face only intensifies. Her smile widens, radiant as a midsummer bloom. But her eyes? Her eyes are sharp enough to draw blood. Quietly, she says, "Well, while we’re playing a game of absurd hypotheticals—" On the ground, Spice gives Sol a concerned look. "Maybe the newly minted leader of the weakest region," she says in a voice like silk wrapped around a blade, "shouldn’t be turning an argument between friends in a steam room into political discord." She smiles. "Especially not with the ruler of the strongest region." Her voice doesn’t rise, not even a decibel, and yet somehow, it feels colder than the breath Spice had levied against the both of them, and still, her smile remains, effortless and unshaken.
