Lisbeth sat down at the table, pacing the shimmering tree branch and the wrapped bundle of ash side by side. Collecting the required ingredients hadn't been easy, but she supposed that was the point. It it were easy, it wouldn't be a quest.
She carefully unwrapped the handkerchief, revealing the handful of ash inside. She didn't know how she was supposed to coat the branch with it, other than just rubbing the ash onto the wood and hoping that worked. Frey hadn't exactly been that specific.
She pulled out another handkerchief and wrapped it around her fingers. She didn't want the ash to stain her skin, and she figured the handkerchief would work better for spreading the ash. She dipped her wrapped fingers into the ash, then began rubbing it onto the wood. The ash left dark streaks on the wood, but even after a few strokes, the area she was working on didn't seem very well coated. She would have to try to cover every inch of the wood, and hope that she didn't miss a spot. She didn't know if Frey would deny Lisbeth her reward if the coating wasn't completely perfect.
"You know what this reminds me of?" Morana said, taking some of the ash and rubbing it along the length of the wood. "Rueben Miller."
When her sister looked confused, Morana continued. "Rubbing the wood. He was the first boy I did that with."
She laughed at the disgusted look her sister gave her. She'd always shared such stories with her sister--not that she had done much to share. Lisbeth had always been grossed out when Morana talked about boys that way. For awhile she'd just thought that her sister was still in the "eww boys" phase of growing up. Until she'd figured out that it simply wasn't boys that Lisbeth liked.
"So, you been with any cute girls since I left? Maybe you can go ask Frey to find you some hottie. I'm sure she could give you a quest for that."
"You're gross," Lisbeth said. Now she couldn't rub the ash on the branch without getting sick images in her head. It would figure that her sister of all people would find a way to make a divine quest into something dirty.
"No. I haven't been dating anyone. Training has me too busy." Not that she wasn't interested in finding a girl. It just hadn't been a high priority, what with a war brewing and all.
"Make sure you don't miss any spots," she told her sister. She pointed to part of the wood Morana had been working on where there was a clean spot. She rubbed some ash into that spot to make sure the coating was complete.
She continued working from one end of the branch, trying to ignore the way her sister rubbed the ash all over without any sign of a pattern. She kept on having to go fix up areas that her sister had missed. She almost wanted to tell Morana to stop so Lisbeth could do it herself, but she appreciated the help. Working with her sister during this quest had been a great way for them to reconnect.
"All I'm saying is, maybe you should try to get laid before you have to go start killing people."
She hadn't had any experiences of her own in the last few years, but she wasn't going to go into her own lack of a love life. It was more fun to make fun of Lisbeth.
"So it's about to start, eh? Any day now?"
She ignored Lisbeth's constant protests about the way she was working on the wood. She doubted Frey cared if they started from one end or the other, as long as the job got done. Still, she did try to be thorough. She didn't want Lisbeth's quest to fail because Morana had been fucking around too much.
"That's why we need to finish this now," Lisbeth said. "I'm going to need this bow once the fighting starts."
Her stomach churned a bit at the thought. Despite all of her training, she had never actually killed before. Oh, she had hunted deer and the like, but that was nothing like killing a person. Despite what she had said to Sah, she didn't know if she had the stomach for killing. But it had to be done. The Ascended weren't going to give them any choice.
"Have you decided what you're going to do? I know you said you don't want to enlist, but there are plenty of people who are helping out even if they're not in the army. We need all the help we can get. Plus someone who can turn into a giant snake might be pretty useful."
She didn't want her sister to fight. She couldn't stand the idea of Morana dying. But at the same time, she knew Morana was a capable fighter. If she did decide to fight, Lisbeth just hoped they could fight side by side. That way, they could protect each other.
Morana grabbed a big handful of ash and started rubbing it down a long bare section of the wood. It was going to take forever if they carefully covered each and every inch. Better to get the bulk of it done, then work on the finer points after that. Like painting a wall in broad strokes, but doing detail work around the edges.
"I don't know," she told her sister. "I mean, I'm all about defending the city. But the army is so not for me. No way I'm standing there letting some drill sergeant yell orders at me."
"Maybe I can get them to pay me. I've done some mercenary work. Could make a little money off it."
She didn't know what kind of offer the army would make to hire a mercenary, but she had to imagine it would be good. They had to be desperate for every soldier they could get their hands on.
"I think if they hire you, they'll still expect you to follow orders. Otherwise you won't get paid."
Lisbeth frowned at the way her sister was rubbing ash all over without care. She huffed, then started looking for all the little spots Morana had missed. She took great care filling in each bare spot of the wood. She didn't know if Frey expected it to be perfect, but she intended to do the best job she could.
"Have you ever been in a real fight? Like, against people? We do a lot of training, but we haven't seen any real combat yet. I don't know if my unit will be sent into battle, but if we are, it will be the first time any of us get into a real fight."
She pictured what it would be like. Firing an arrow not into a target, but into a person's heart.
Though if it were an Ascended...they weren't people. They were monstrosities, crafted by the Voice. Destroying one of them wouldn't be killing a person. It would be destroying a blasphemous thing.
She tightened her grip around the branch. Destroying those things, she could do.
"Not to the death or anything, if that's what you mean. I bit a guy's arm one time when he was messing with me. He kept bleeding for a long time."
She snickered at her sister's shocked look.
"I wasn't even in snake form. We were in a bar. He was being...impolite. Pretty sure I left a nice scar on him, too."
She hadn't liked the taste of the man's blood. When she was in serpent form, she craved the blood of prey. But that desire didn't carry over when she shifted back to her normal form. She had never really bitten someone in snake form. Not enough to kill or maim. She wondered how her snake form would react to the taste of human blood...
She shook off the thought. She looked down at the branch. It was pretty thoroughly blackened from one end to the other. "What do you think? Looks pretty good to me."
Lisbeth picked up the long branch, looking at it from end to end. She picked up the last handful of ash in her handkerchief-protected hand. She rubbed a bit more here, a bit more there, wherever there was a spot that didn't look to be coated properly.
"I think it's ready," she said, giving a nod of approval.
She carefully carried the branch over to the door and leaned it against the wall. She would take it to Frey right away.
"I should visit Frey alone."
She rolled her eyes at her sister's disappointed look.
"I don't know if she would want someone else there with me for this part. Plus, you'd make an ass out of yourself, and you damn well know it."
She gave her sister a big hug and kissed her cheek. "I shouldn't be gone long. And when I get back, if Frey is satisfied, I'll have something to show off to you."
She took up the branch--soon to be a bow--and headed out the door. The hard work was done. Now she just had to hope that Frey was satisfied with her work.
{end}
|
