The bubbling tears slowed at Noah's smile, and the spirit in the water watched the demigod with eyes that first widened and then eased. A hint of fingers and what might have been a delicate hand formed at the edge of the Cataract, as if pressing against the side of the stream and then the flower was being offered and she pulled back in surprise.
Hesitant, as if she couldn't quite believe what was happening, she reached for the blossom as it passed into the crimson stream and was swiftly dyed red. The flower floated beneath the waving waterweeds that marked her hair, cradled into a chest that was no more solid than a dream, but that still resisted the current.
But she was growing more solid, the evening light seeming to fall within her and sharpen her edges into something almost real. A young woman but not a child, wrapped in a flowing dress, curled happily around the bloom she had been given.
"Perhaps," Hadama murmured to Noah's suggestion, but his eyes were soft as he watched what was occurring. "But I do not think it will be necessary..."
And indeed, as they looked on the light within her brightened further. She flashed the Forsaken a smile as bright as the noon sun and slipped from the water at last, still floating as she drifted over to the demigod to press cool lips to his cheek. Again there was that sensation of chill, but this time it was followed by warmth--
And then silence as the light faded. There was no sign of woman or scarlet flower, only the lingering heat against Noah's skin.
Hesitant, as if she couldn't quite believe what was happening, she reached for the blossom as it passed into the crimson stream and was swiftly dyed red. The flower floated beneath the waving waterweeds that marked her hair, cradled into a chest that was no more solid than a dream, but that still resisted the current.
But she was growing more solid, the evening light seeming to fall within her and sharpen her edges into something almost real. A young woman but not a child, wrapped in a flowing dress, curled happily around the bloom she had been given.
"Perhaps," Hadama murmured to Noah's suggestion, but his eyes were soft as he watched what was occurring. "But I do not think it will be necessary..."
And indeed, as they looked on the light within her brightened further. She flashed the Forsaken a smile as bright as the noon sun and slipped from the water at last, still floating as she drifted over to the demigod to press cool lips to his cheek. Again there was that sensation of chill, but this time it was followed by warmth--
And then silence as the light faded. There was no sign of woman or scarlet flower, only the lingering heat against Noah's skin.
