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 Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 10:05 pm
No, she was awake because something within in her had stirred before their landing. It had grown, nastier, almost scaring her. It took her a while to realize she was catching bits and pieces of Sereva's emotion. It took much less time for her to realize why.
Taking a deep breath she nearly ran away from the seemingly benevolant group resting amongst the trees of Yisi. Where Mordre was, she didn't know, but he was none of her concern. Perhaps he was somewhere safer - smarter than the typical armyhead sent out. Not that the Katilenuck didn't have brains, but they were out of their league and they hadn't seen a battle in too long for her comfort. Most did not even have scars.
Her pace quickly slowed, and she spent most of her time rounding trees. She made her excuse the fact she wasn't sure where Sereva was, but it was no use lying to herself. If she searched all night she would liably find her.
Her feet stopped their movement. She'd been using Sereva again this whole time. Snorting at herself, she began her worrysome walk once more. She let out a heavy sigh and gritted her teeth together. This had to be done.
But her head was positioning her here. She was going forwads in some twisted way for the black mare, but she couldn't go forwards without knowing, and she couldn't ask for fear of. . . what? Who did she fear, ever? Storm did exactly as Storm pleased, and no one shaped that.
Until now.
Damn it. Damn. ******** Mel.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:34 pm
But the temper?
Was that worth putting up with?
Melantho took a deep breath and slowly let it out, closing her eyes. She didn't fear to be attacked. That, at least, she was sure that Storm would never do.
"I can taste you on the air, Lux Aeterna," she said softly. "Come closer. I've no malice in my heart; not for you." Never for you, she almost added, but caught herself. It was a hasty thought, one that surprised her, but upon closer examination it was true. She'd been angry with Storm, yes. Exasperated with her, yes. Upset by her, hurt by her, yes. But in all that time, she had never - not once - hated her.
At least that, she decided, was a good sign.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:48 pm
The small call wound it's way around her head and she caught her breath. It would be so easy to turn and run, pretend this had never happened. She could travel among the desperate shores of Quirne, far away from Mel and the Katilenuck. It would be so easy just to forget.
Taking in a hiss for breath, she bit the corner of her tongue and broke stillness with two solid hoofbeats. The air around her was still save for that sweet scent. It was a terrifying smell, for it ripped away her control and set it ablaze around her. Melantho was the rose with bloody thorns.
She battled with the hesitaion in her head all the way there, knowing that when she arrived Melantho would be watching her. Each passing tree mocked her, their arduous claws reaching out to drag her still. The wind cackled in her wake. 'You drekked up, oh little Lux Aeterna,' it chortled, whipping her hair into her eyes so that when she at last was within sight her view of Melantho was horribly skewed.
There was an urge to stay silent and watch, calmly just pretend that she cold simply melt into the night and stay only a shadow at Melantho's side. Ghosts could do no wrong.
"Sereva, we need to speak." And she was beautiful, wasn't she? Almost invisible in the night save for her shining golden eyes. Her youth was apparent, even if it was slightly hardened. How wold she turn?
Taking a slow deep breath she closed off her mind. She didn't want to know, she wanted to hear. Even if Melantho did not know it, not diving into her thoughts was the greatest form of trust that Storm could offer.
Might as well be blunt about it. It hadn't failed her before. "Are you in love with Clytaemnestra?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:01 pm
Melantho blinked. She hadn't expected that to be the first thing out of Storm's mouth. Yes, they needed to talk, but...why this? Why Clytaemnestra? Still, she'd better answer. Shaking off her confusion, she tightened her lips together for a moment and then spoke.
"...No. I...crushed on her as a filly. Shreds of that still remain - who knows, if my father hadn't been such a drekhallah that I had to leave the herd I might even have pursued her. But no. I respect her strength, her courage, the control she has over herself...but I'm not in love with her. I could have been. But I'm not. ...I think...someone else holds that place in my heart now."
"Think" was perhaps the operative word. But it made sense, didn't it? Anyone else who frightened her so she would doubtless have fled from, just as she was fleeing from Clytaemnestra rather than attempting - as she knew she probably could - to reason with her.
"Why ask me of her now, though? Eden forbid she has feelings of the kind for me - though I can't see it, honestly. She probably still sees me as a child, at least in part."
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:12 pm
Storm noticeably winced at the words 'drekhallah'. She hadn't expected them out of Mel's mouth for one, and for another she'd just finished using those words to describe hers situation.
Still, Melantho was surprisingly forwards. In all honesty, Storm hadn't expected an answer as such. Perhaps she had spent all her time misleading others she only understood half truths. It seemed easy, too easy to get information out of the girl. It made Storm sick to see how easily Melantho was coping with all of it.
"No," Storm confirmed, looking to the thin outlines of branches instead of a more painful subject. "Nothing of that sort." She paused, considering the best way to continue.
"They want you dead. Your father, Clytaemnestra. How long, Sere? How long would it have been until you woke up dead, or gone? Back to hiding, fearful of dragging me into this mess?" She was losing herself now, but she couldn't bring herself to take the breath that would ground her once more. "I'm afraid. I've never been afraid. Not like this."
She gritted her teeth. "Yet, you wouldn't want her dead, would you?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:27 pm
And yet it wasn't Clytaemnestra's name that Melantho latched on to. She had more immediate things to address. She couldn't carry on talking about the future with this mare if she wasn't sure where they stood any more. "You're scared?" She closed her eyes. "...Well, I'm scared too, Storm. Scared...to see you turn into my father."
There. She'd said it. That was the hard part. Now to explain.
"...He used to blow up at me like you did, you know. If we'd fallen out any other way, I'd've been after you like a shot and trying to make it up. As it was I felt I didn't know you any more. I've been so frightened, wondering where you were and what you were doing and...what you thought of me. I hate the thought of losing you. Believe me, I hate it so much it makes me sick. But if you hurt me like that, I...I've already lost you before we begin. I can't deal with that, Storm. Can't. It's exactly what I left behind, and now I feel like it's following me. Only it's worse, because I can't hate you. I can't shut it out. ...No, I don't want Clytaemnestra dead. No, I don't want to go back to the herd - not while my father's there. But the truth is I don't know who I'm more afraid of: Nestra...or you. Nestra I can almost certainly talk out of killing me. You...I don't know if you even realise how you're killing me right now."
Oh, to be a Seer and show her. To be a Seer and know where it all came from, justify it to herself.
...To have been a Seer and have seen it all coming.
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Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:36 pm
Her. . . father?
She had a temper, what was she to do? Was she to change everything she was just for this, this dark-skinned child? What did she know?
She took a deep breath. Hush Storm.
"No, I don't," she said it straight forth. "I can't even begin to fathom how it affects you, and the fact that it does only enrages me further. Perhaps it's best then, if I let you go before it worsens." She tossed her mane from where it stuck to her face, letting out one quick breath.
"But, ironic, isn't it. That's why I'm here?" she chuckled, and was surprised that anything remotely cheerful could crack through her hardened throat. "You best go warn her, then. I'm afraid I've sealed the fate of at least a few of your hunters."
She waited for a moment, unsure if there was anything else to say. There wasn't, really. Or there wasn't if Sereva had been anyone else.
"I'm never angry with you, Sereva." Her voice was soft, and the next words she uttered surprised her. "Or your brother."
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Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 8:19 pm
That last sentiment surprised Melantho as well, but she couldn't dwell too much upon it. Not with everything else she had to think about. Her head spun. "...Where do I start?" she asked, though it was clearly a rhetorical question. She couldn't even think about all this at once, let alone respond to it... Best start with the most vital thing, the most immediate thing. "...Don't go, Storm. Don't. I..." She sighed. "I want to try. I'm scared, but I want to try and make this work. This...whatever it is between us. And it...well, it does help to know that you're not angry with me. Father usually was, at least in part. I can work with that. I can...try not to let it get through to me. ...But look, what's this about hunters and Nestra? What have you done?"
What could Storm possibly have done that would put Clytaemnestra, of all Nequus, in mortal danger? Unless... She remembered Jacques' advice to her, about avoiding the brindled ones at all costs. Storm hadn't...had she?
"...Has it got anything to do with those Jala on the red mountain?"
If it had, they would be in for a shock when they saw the detachment of the Air Force under Clytaemnestra's command. There were Reya, yes, but most of the soldiers following her were Jala. The thought of what that might do to a Katilenuck mind would have made Melantho laugh, had the situation not been so severe.
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Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:53 pm
Storm hated phrases like that. 'Where do I start?' They pinched her nerves and drove her mad. If you didn't know where to start it meant there was too much to talk about. That almost certainly led to in depth choices. Those choices could be wrong.
It wasn't the least bit funny, but Storm smiled. She avidly grinned at the fact that anything could get through to the black mare. Her impression of the youth was probably similar to the youth's impression of her. "I'm not perfect, Eva. I'm sorry for misleading you." It seemed unfitting to use the full name, but it made far less sense to use any form of Melantho. She'd cast that name to the wind now. It was the name of Melantho's past, and if Storm could at least refrain from that name then perhaps her temper would stay down as well. Melantho had a history, and Sereva's history started when they met. It seemed strange to Storm to built something on a lie, even if it was to herself, but for the moment it was all she could think to do.
She took a deep breath and let herself sigh. "A whole army of them," she answered after a while. This was. . . Well, it wasn't easier than she'd expected, but Sereva had not yet been sent into a rage. It was best to keep it that way.
Her eyes flicked to the foliage. "I was angry, too." She tried to bite her tongue, but the next part came out anyway. "It was all I could think to do to stop it. I never stopped to remind myself that there is no such thing as good and evil."
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