Melita
they should have checked the ashes
of the women they burned alive
of the women they burned alive
The emboldened inquiry might’ve been for both of them. While her head ducked down, and her eyes, her hands, studied the beautiful throwing knives, she listened, though the only indication might’ve been the slightest of nods – thoroughly distracted by the idle rays of the sun. Aurelia had gone through a learning curve most Outlanders had faced at one point or another – searing and surging past what they knew, what they understood, and struggling, or striving, to assimilate into this new world. Some chances of change were just that, opportunities, gilded or tainted, and one had to be willing and able to snatch at the pieces. Based on her explanation, it seemed the fellow smuggler was doing just that – though Melita eventually raised her eyes at the Milo indication, a sort of Cheshire grin settling on her mouth. “Sounds like you’re figuring it out.” She made no comment on the subject of life having room for any of those notions. She supposed it happened in shifts and turns, where one learned to have another accompany within. “It takes time. But you find your place here.”
Sometimes it was smuggling. Sometimes it was casting off into adventures. Sometimes it was facing lava octopuses or chasing after ghosts. Sometimes it was harrowing or silly. Sometimes it was brilliant and bright. Sometimes it was outrageously stupid.
And sometimes, one simply wanted more.
Her hands closed neatly over the bundle of knives, due to meet their fellow daggers and armaments, slipping into callouses long since formed. “They’re wonderful. Thank you.” And she meant it – even though there was no way she could’ve been worth a trade of manta crystals. “I will throw them at my enemies.” The sharp smile thereafter, somewhat feral and savage, promised as much.
Then she waited in anticipation over the bow, tilting her cranium a fraction, gilded gaze studying features. She’d thought it would’ve suited the other girl well, considering her regard for the bow and arrows in one of their earlier training sessions. The weapon itself was lightweight, easy to maneuver, the strand taut enough – the honeybee had practiced with it once or twice to ensure it was adequate and functional. “I did. Sorry it's simple.” Though far beyond her rudimentary days; where one concocted and conjured armaments for the sheer sake of survival, where she learned to utilize a staff (a long branch) so they lived for another evening. But it would give Aurelia something else to utilize – a variety of entanglements for this place.
Sometimes it was smuggling. Sometimes it was casting off into adventures. Sometimes it was facing lava octopuses or chasing after ghosts. Sometimes it was harrowing or silly. Sometimes it was brilliant and bright. Sometimes it was outrageously stupid.
And sometimes, one simply wanted more.
Her hands closed neatly over the bundle of knives, due to meet their fellow daggers and armaments, slipping into callouses long since formed. “They’re wonderful. Thank you.” And she meant it – even though there was no way she could’ve been worth a trade of manta crystals. “I will throw them at my enemies.” The sharp smile thereafter, somewhat feral and savage, promised as much.
Then she waited in anticipation over the bow, tilting her cranium a fraction, gilded gaze studying features. She’d thought it would’ve suited the other girl well, considering her regard for the bow and arrows in one of their earlier training sessions. The weapon itself was lightweight, easy to maneuver, the strand taut enough – the honeybee had practiced with it once or twice to ensure it was adequate and functional. “I did. Sorry it's simple.” Though far beyond her rudimentary days; where one concocted and conjured armaments for the sheer sake of survival, where she learned to utilize a staff (a long branch) so they lived for another evening. But it would give Aurelia something else to utilize – a variety of entanglements for this place.
because it takes a single wild ember
to bring a whole wildfire to life
to bring a whole wildfire to life
