Amalia
the shield of safrin
She listens silently to Maea's explanation, her expression inscrutable as the other woman speaks. The answer is a non-answer, but it's clear in Amalia's dark eyes that she doesn't judge the pale girl for this: the truth is she doesn't know, either. They are from a world impossibly different from that which Roana was born into, that of three hundred years before. Genocide, murder, war... they are far removed from the Shield's understanding of the balance of life and death.But it's an understanding that's been challenged of late.
Maea's question is a teasing one, but Amalia's expression remains serious, her eyes drifting once again to the milling crowd. What does it mean to be Shield of Safrin? "I'm still not sure." Jyoti trills and rises from her lap, moving to settle on the girl's shoulders while Amalia runs the tines of the comb under her fingers again. "When Vi- when He gave me the stars to leave for Safrin, when people first started calling me that... He asked if I could walk the line of mortal folly without falling over it. If I could do the work of Life without... without resorting to death. So I guess it's that. Trying to value all of life, even the parts that hurt."
Amalia shrugs, but there is a faint smile on her face, a glow about her at the memory of that long-ago, incredible night. She'd thought the world was falling apart around her, that she was at the epicenter of their greatest yet disaster. Instead she had been lifted, given purpose and reaffirmed.
How could she not love her gods after that?
Her wistful happiness fades beneath Maea's immediate, earnest and feral response to the joke Amalia had made. She hadn't expected such aggressive enthusiasm, and it takes her aback a little, sets the Shield on edge. "Ah... I'm not much of a fighter, honestly." Rubbing her neck, she looks away again, a little bit bemused. "And I wouldn't want to hurt you," she adds, wincing, remembering the frailty of Maea when they were growing up.
someday we'll find what we're looking for
or maybe not
maybe we'll find something much greater
