in tenebris est veritas.
A secret smile pricks at the corners of her mouth, seen only by eyes that might have spied her in profile; such an apology is charmingly absurd to one who has only ever heard of unicorns in myth, much less in imagining one’s hooves gracing the likes of this dark and bloody place. The amusement is only a temporary distraction from the torment of her wound, which pulls a hissing protest out from behind her teeth as she touches testingly at the fresh bandage.
Her mind wanders to thoughts of infection, of healing herbs that can only be found in far away places and of stifled envy for Deimos’s powers of creation. She wonders how she had never heard of such power as his, and then of what other ignorances she contains. But then he speaks of his own ignorance and she pauses, the long antlers of her mask emphasizing the perplexed angle of her tilted head. “It was my mentor who tied her magic to darkness. With the manifestation of shadow, the gathering and scattering is summoned. It is just so with words said in ritual, or water supped in communion. The intention is harnessed by the symbol, which guides the affected reality.”
Chaele speaks over his work as he ties the remaining carcasses together, only then realizing that she had done little to help in the aftermath of her injury. Shaking her head in refutation of his final question, she bends to lift her prize by its talons with her good arm. “I did not know it could be done without,” she adds, hauling it over her shoulder with a grunt. She wavers in asking him more, infinitely curious but already aware of how weakly she had presented herself. “Did you have a mentor?”
Her mind wanders to thoughts of infection, of healing herbs that can only be found in far away places and of stifled envy for Deimos’s powers of creation. She wonders how she had never heard of such power as his, and then of what other ignorances she contains. But then he speaks of his own ignorance and she pauses, the long antlers of her mask emphasizing the perplexed angle of her tilted head. “It was my mentor who tied her magic to darkness. With the manifestation of shadow, the gathering and scattering is summoned. It is just so with words said in ritual, or water supped in communion. The intention is harnessed by the symbol, which guides the affected reality.”
Chaele speaks over his work as he ties the remaining carcasses together, only then realizing that she had done little to help in the aftermath of her injury. Shaking her head in refutation of his final question, she bends to lift her prize by its talons with her good arm. “I did not know it could be done without,” she adds, hauling it over her shoulder with a grunt. She wavers in asking him more, infinitely curious but already aware of how weakly she had presented herself. “Did you have a mentor?”
