[12:24 PM] LadyDeme: The evening sun struck the waters of The Sacred Lake and turned them gold; in the shadows of the trees, the clear water was a perfect mirror of the treeline. When Delphine leaned down to look over the pebbled beach, she could see little green plants with frilly leaves poking their way through the mud and rocks at the bottom. Little fish were a dancing flash of silver, gone as she approached.
She sat on a larger stone, the sun having warmed it into an excellent basking rock, and turned her attention momentarily to her notes. Trying to filter out what had happened over the last few days, beyond the chaos of the moment. The page was a blur of black script, getting replaced and re-written as she wrestled with it. With a despair of it that had gone disjointed -- and now was... Not exactly overturned, but some of it was just gone, and the thoughts and feelings she'd pooled into her concerns were not quite as true. So it was. She balanced the open notebook on her leg and sighed. She bent down to look at the rocky shoreline around her.
She scooped up a stone and weighed it in her hand; it was flat and smooth, and felt like an ideal wedge. The young woman wound up her arm and let it fly, bouncing across the surface of the water, towards the horizon -- perhaps, for a moment, she might have imagined it reaching the other shore of the lake. But of course it didn't, and she smiled as it sank. She picked up another stone and skipped it, its path running parallell to the vague shapes of Sacred Lake dolphins, leaping up and down through the water -- just glimmers, disrupting the sparkling surface. She waved a hand in their direction -- and recalled a stance she'd heard before, of some theological debate: that the dolphins were carriers of souls.(edited)
[11:32 AM] LadyDeme: The last day overtook her, and the girl began to laugh. How strange it must have been for them, to have something taken from them like that! Of course, Zyenarists saw them as joyous songsters, chirping up the waters -- perhaps they didn't mind the sudden interruption.
"One less load on your backs feels good, right?!" She shouted at them. She laughed, giddy with the sheer success of what she'd done. Of having been able to change fate.
"One less for you today! Today, just once! ...Just. Today."
Delphine's laughter slowed, just a little -- as she turned her gaze to that long, thin stretch of horizon. Where she hadn't been able to do anything of the sort. She shook her head, and looked back down at the half-formed piece of history on her lap, there for her to make She picked up another stone, and sent it flying across the water in silence.
[9:19 AM] Kwakado: Persephone rode in silence along the lakeside, the gait of her brother's horse having slowed to a walk early into this outing. She had told herself, at the start of it, that this was all training to sharpen Yuridia's discipline, as well as her own.
And yet she was simply too grateful to still have this priceless memento, after their separation in the battle, to do anything but sit on the saddle, looking in awe at the Sacred Lake's beauty.
The idle sounds of birds and things around her were suddenly interrupted by a woman's shouting - Delphine, Amarana's heir, standing alone and throwing something. With a quizzical brow, the girl rode closer, waiting to wave or worry until she got close enough to speak.
"Amarana? Who are you talking to?"
[1:26 PM] LadyDeme: The stone had skipped a few times, and her gaze at first followed it -- and then, someone had adressed her, and was pulled back -- and she might have been relieved. Delphine looked up at the sound of someone else's voice, tearing her eyes away from the horizon. She smiled Persephone's way, holding her book on her lap so it wouldn't fall over as she turned in her perch on the rocks. The best she could offer was a shrug -- it was kind of silly shouting, but there was no sense being embaressed about it.
"Well, nominally, the dolphins out there. Philsophically, the grand and spiraling expanse of all creation." She counted them off on her fingers. It wasn't as if she'd been expecting a reply, or even having a conversation, though, so the gesture became increasingly casual. It would probably only amuse her, true as it was. "But I guess you could say, practically, I was only airing my thoughts for myself. You were eavesdropping on a lady's private conversation, but I'll forgive you. What brings you out here?"(edited)
[12:02 PM] Kwakado: The lady's shrug brought a bit of tension to Persephone's lips, and she took every word of the meandering explanation with earnest anxiety. Yet by the end of it, amused, bashful smirk crossed her face. She wasn't mad...Just Delphine.
The young noble slipped smoothly out from her saddle's edge, letting Junith's weight pull her to the ground. "Simply a sacred stroll with Yuridia. I've never seen so much water in one place...It feels like we've reached the end of the earth." Her tone drifted into a romantic, lamenting sigh, and her head flipped to the side to gaze at it once more. Were it not for the demure glimmer in her eyes, the girl's reaction might have been mistaken entirely for pretension.
[12:22 PM] LadyDeme: Delphine tilted her head curiously, letting the weight of her blue braid shift across her shoulder. It was a sort of sincerity that stirred the romantic corners of Delphine's own heart -- but the realization occured to her with a touch of curiosity... That hadn't they been to two seperate beaches, facing the vast expanse of the sea, beyond which the residents of Junith would be hard-pressed to travel? Oh, sure, long-form voyages away from the coast were often planned... But those came back deprived and broken -- if at all. So the sea might as well have been the end of the world.
"Is that so? You've been cooping yourself up in towns then, I take it. The sea is even vaster... But even though I've seen the lake before, it never gets old."
However, she nodded at the spirit of it, soaking in the vast and glittering surface of the lake. It was easy to understand, just looking on it, why it was holy: had no god ever touched it, its place as a font of fresh water, and thus, perhaps the seat of life in Junith itself, would be sufficient to make it so. In the distance, the row of dolphins turned and bobbed, and Delphine followed them with eyes the same color as the water here. She waxed for a moment, philosophically, a gentle and earnest smile on her face. It might have been, though, just a little bit wistful -- Persephone was, in some ways, right. It was the end of a world -- just not alone.
"To me, it feels less like an absolute end... And more like a heart, perhaps. Or a border -- it's vast, and so can be many things, I suppose. Through its geography, a border between myself and my home; through the repetition of my being at the shore, between the past and the future ; Through the dolphins, between the living and the dead; and through its own waters, a border between the sacred and the profane. Of course, these things don't have real borders, not hard ones, but... Perhaps there's a little of that here, anyway. If it's an end, it's undeniably a beginning."(edited)
[3:37 PM] Kwakado: "W-well, yes, of course I've seen the sea before! But this is pure water."
A sudden sweep of the hand across the horizon underlined her meaning. The Sacred Lake was fresh water, like a massive palatial pond, or a god's goblet. Persephone's gaze lingered on the Lake for a moment, watching the dolphins' carefree dance, before returning to Delphine to see if her feelings got through.
But the Arcian expatriate's sacred-shaded pupils, and the wisdom in her rambling, made it clear to Persephone - There was far more to this place than just what could be seen. Delphine must have understood the girl's own words better than she had herself.
Letting a moment of hesitation pass, Persephone finally speaks up.
"Is it true? That drinking the water grants a neverending afterlife?"
[4:03 PM] LadyDeme: "Ah, I see." Delphine nodded at the distinction -- it wasn't much of one, because she'd said only water, granted...But it was one, and the purity of the water was itself sacrosanct, and undeniable. Perhaps more than not having seen so much water, it was harder to have seen so much purity. Delphine leaned back upon the stone, flipping idly through her notes with a spare hand, like the pages would reveal something.
"Well, I can't speak for it myself. I guess we could ask Theron, but I doubt he was dead long enough to know.... But that's the understanding that's existed for a long, long time, and many great men and women of magic would agree to it, as my studies have shown. The power of the water is undeniable, magically-speaking." She nodded out towards it. "But the world after death is a mysterious thing. I'd say that, while it's a good idea not to get tangled up in someone trying to sell you some or the like... It wouldn't hurt to consider, either; consider it a wager, and it's rather the bet where you gain the most for taking it. Why do you ask?"
[4:49 PM] Kwakado: Giving Yuridia a soothing pat, the young noble came closer, anticipating some profound whisperings or a pretty diagram, like the ones in her brother's old notebooks. Instead, the answer she got was vague and murky, with something about Theron's death that didn't sound quite right....
But beyond a look of bemusement, Persephone didn't question it yet, though, and simply followed along Delphine's well-spoken "maybe" to the question at its end.
"Oh, it's not any sort of wager....there's another story, from Celanthus." Her eyes turned down, weighed by an entire family's vanishing. She shook her head pre-emptively at the absurdity of the rumor...but few others she knew had the right experience sorting knowledge from nonsense.
"If you look into the Lake, in the light of the full moon...you can see the spirits of loved ones, waiting in the Second World." Persephone's legs came close together as she looked back up with an anxious smile.
"It's frivolous, indeed, but...When you said this place was a border of the living and the dead, I couldn't help but wonder."
[5:34 PM] LadyDeme: Delphine spotted the bemusement on Persephone's face and chuckled.
"Sorry, that was kind of a bullshit answer, wasn't it? It's hard to prove with certainty anything about what happens after we die, so I'm inclined not to stand absolutely. I meant drinking it as the wager -- there are two paths you could take, and two real outcomes: but only drinking and being correct gets you anything -- and only not drinking and being wrong loses you everything. That's what I mean by a wager."
She could have made a diagram for this one -- but there hardly seemed to be a point. She'd read a lot of things about the sacred lake, beautiful and scientific and historical and religious -- but at the end of the day, she couldn't back it up herself. She'd had a drink, once -- and she kept it a little secret of her own. Amarana -- home of an undying flower that grew along the southern shore. She reached up and placed a hand on Persephone's shoulder. Ah. Of course; she'd hardly meant it just in a theoretical question.
"Hmmmm..." Delphine wracked her brain, not just for the answer to the question, but for something that could alleviate Persephone's concerns... But then, perhaps they couldn't. "I can't say I've heard of that one, though there are many stories like it... We even have something like that in Amarana. A festival, on a full moon in the fall. We float torches and amaranths out into the lake... To guide the dead, all of them, back to where they should be. People have seen things -- perhaps dolphins, perhaps reflections, perhaps just other, distant lights. That's what you'd say if they weren't yours. They've known them for their own, though; you know those you carry in your heart."(edited)
[5:34 PM] LadyDeme: Delphine said it in a wistful tone. Her smile had an almost palpable lonelines to it. The festival had likely not taken place, last fall. And autumn was coming closer and closer; perhaps it wouldn't occur with them. But she could remember it, from a place where the two waters failed to touch, and where the soil was soft silt beneath the toes. There'd never been anything there to see, for her. But the love that floated out on those boats had meant something to her.
"I think you know them without that sort of thing. But people want to hold onto the things they treasure, and remember them, from time to time. Even, it seems, the dead."
[6:18 PM] Kwakado: With a stifled gasp at the heiress's crude apology, Persephone kept her focus as she listened to what sounded more like the ravings of a traveling gambler than a decent noble. But the very thought of that eternity was more intimidating than the size of its source - She was visibly relieved to hear of it in terms of boats and lanterns... A way to find delight in the terrors of the mystical. The girl's hand brushed fondly across the scabbard of her spooky sword.
"That sounds beautiful...and fun! A shame we'll likely be missing it this fall. I'd have liked to participate."
She owed the foolhardy knight at least that much. Though her name would likely be forgotten, once Junith fell in line, and such a stranger might not even appear on the lakeside for her after all... Persephone still wanted a chance to see the knight. To call her a damned idiot.
"...I didn't know her." But Persephone couldn't share such a shame with someone like Delphine. Status aside, the curate would have just tried to take some of the blame. So she spoke of something that was common knowledge among Floribian gossips.
"...M-my mother, I mean. I've forgotten her face...A full moon's festival can't change that." The girl gave a grimly confident look, presenting some philosophy of her own.
"What's dead is dead, after all. No sense in trying to cheat the laws of nature there, you know?" A nervous chuckle finished her thought, perhaps in anticipation of some metaphysical riposte from the philosopher.(edited)
[6:45 PM] LadyDeme: "...We likely will, won't we?" Delphine said, her voice very small and thin -- but the smile on her face grew a little, stretched out like her voice. She wouldn't be swallowed by the sudden feeling now: the wondering if she would live to see that festival again. Now, when she needed it more than ever -- who could say when she'd see it again? She sighed, and tried to bundle herself up in it, as if it hardly mattered at all. Instead, she could try and help her friend.
"I'm sure there's other things on your mind... But...No, I don't think it'd help with your mother. But you are her daughter -- so she's with you, in her own way. The things we do, and the people we meet -- they're always connected to us, even after we're gone. It's why I'm writing this --" She gestured to the book, still open on her lap. "I want to give them something, to hold onto this world, and the people we meet, and the people we fight, too. It's hardly a promise... But I'd rather linger on in memory than in spirit. It's a far better solution to the thorny question of what truly becomes of souls, in the Second World and beyond."
There were other reasons, of course. But she shut the book for the time being -- she'd hardly get a chance to work on it right now -- and paused, chuckling herself. Of all the times for Persephone to mention that... She could return to that thought she'd been airing at last. Hopefully, without the weight of realizing how late it'd come.
"Well. I wouldn't say that. I've never met a rule I didn't at least want to consider seriously. And this one, I decided ought to be bent, if I could manage it... I won't say that it's totally broken, or breakable, buuuut... I did manage something, gods willing. Just one little something. I...Managed to restore Theron, the reckless, loving fool that he was."
[7:11 PM] Kwakado: And there it was, the beginning of some kind of banter on the justice behind the rules, or--
"..?"
Persephone blinked suddenly, her attempt at listening passively broken by her vague claim. "You...restored him? I heard people saying he had been killed in the castle, but...those, too, were just rumors?" With a furrowed brow, she took a few steps forward, watching for any telltale smirks or twitches.
[6:18 AM] LadyDeme: "No, he was dead. I mean, I was right there -- I'd been trying to defend him the whole time, and..."
And she shook it off; it hadn't any weight anymore, except as a memory. Her hands folded together and stretched the palms apart uneasily, and she tried to explain the last while as best she could.
"The castle had rebirth staves. And I managed to take one with me. It might have been a little beyond that spell, technically-speaking. But... I'd heard what he wanted. What the stave was insufficient for, I added my own magic, and beseeched the gods..."
She thought of what had been there, what she'd used -- of Noelle's earnest prayers and Theron's paternal love. Perhaps, standing so near that border, it'd been an easier reach,too. Perhaps. It was a strange and warm feeling that she remembered; she wondered now how she'd even begin to explain it.
"And Noelle and her father's own hearts. It was all magic -- they were all magic. The waters of the lake, where it's a border between the living and the dead, are a cold thing to reach through.... But, it was all magic enough to let me reach. And to ask the laws of nature turn the other way."
She wondered, faintly, what Theron himself must think of it; she didn't really know. Except that she'd begged him in her heart, and he'd answered. She chuckled at the end, letting the feeling that'd reached her heart before Persephone arise lay quiet, for just the moment.
"So I kind of wanted to shout about it a little, and the dolphins made an obliging audience."(edited)
[8:36 AM] Kwakado: "Rebirth staves...."
The story was direct, and elegant - she knew from the telling alone, that this was no lie. And that realization brought something like a laugh, or a cough, out of her.
"What a strange land this is, where love can take back one's fate..."
The castle had rebirth staves. How many more? They had to have at least one. And if that gate hadn't fallen, if Persephone hadn't fled, and lost her mount....It would have been different. She would not have died.
"But that's certainly something to shout about...H-healing a dead man..." She let out another horse laugh, as tears fell from her eyes and crossed her shivering smile.
"The audacity! Challenging death itself, armed only with a stranger's love.. It's beautiful, Amarana."
Wasn't that the rallying cry of this hopeless resistance? To turn back time, and take back what had been destroyed by an unstoppable foe? Persephone's heart felt embers of envy at that foolishness it could not feel, at the love and loyalty it lacked.
"...I hope the dolphins got to really hear about it."(edited)
[9:09 AM] LadyDeme: Delphine glanced into Persephone's eyes, and the compliment -- the claim of any beauty in it -- felt cold. Of course, her gesture, even her shout, had had that coldness creeping into it, like a fog settling in. She reached for Persephone's hand, to try and calm her, or to drive out briefly that chill.
"...It's OK. In some ways, it's a rather paltry thing -- like trying to empty the lake by taking some little thimble. There's a lot of people who'd have deserved it, and --"
And her own voice gave out, just a little of the way through. They'd sufered other losses -- and it wasn't as if those soldiers Persephone felt such sympathy for deserved to die, nor could she argue the justice of fighting against the people themselves to decide their country, and -- And if I'd been so bold then, maybe I could have been what they needed of me. The words lumped together in her throat, welling up behind her eyes.
"...It's just one. But... you're right, even if you're just trying to make it sound worthwhile. It might be petty, but it feels good to win a challenge for a change! ...And to see that love profit, for all the weight placed into it across a lifetime -- and, I suppose, beyond."
She looked out over the water to steady herself, trying to bask in the afternoon glow. She chuckled at that last wish, nodding. The dolphins had turned, or were no longer playing, and their shapes in the water seemed briefly lost, just another bob in the shifting surface.
"I was loud enough for you to hear, so I'd have to assume they know... And maybe the rest of that, too. Hopefully."
[9:48 AM] Kwakado: In a sort of reversal from their last tearful meeting, Persephone accepted Delphine's outstretched hand, taking a place against the stone aside her. When Delphine's words failed, she brought her other arm around to her shoulder, providing what little support she could. Right now, that was a sober nod, acknowledging what needn't be said aloud.
None of it was enough. They knew that. Swords and staves aside, they were both just girls with a task far beyond their means. And the more it went on, the more Persephone wished she could have been whisked off across the continent like the girl beside her. That Delphine had thrown such an opportunity away spoke volumes.
"I'm sure it's no surprise to the dolphins, either way. They must know that it's the norm, with Arcian blood." Persephone's candid claim was accompanied by a smile of admiration, and frustration in her eyes. "You never run away, even when you must."(edited)
[11:00 AM] LadyDeme: Delphine's posture loosened under Persephone's arm as the water and the moment of silence melded together; they let the unapproachable vastness of what lay around them float there, like a boat of flowers out into the lake. Maybe it'd reach something, but just sending it off felt like a moment of peace, letting the golden sunlight and the feeling of someone's touch drive away some of the chill. She gave Persephone an arm of her own, adding in a small squeeze.
"I'm not sure it's quite normal, even with Arcian blood -- It's likely much the same as any other, as far as fighting death goes," Delphine answered with a slightly more enlivened chuckle, before Persephone's frustrated, admiring words reached her. Delphine froze, her eyes slightly wide; the very implication that she hadn't run away, hadn't always been running since the moment she was born, coming out of someone's mouth... It was a view of things -- of herself -- that sounded almost foreign. She chuckled with an embaressed smile.
"Well; I have to put my natural willfullness to work, on occaison.. But I still had to, whatever I wished of it, so it didn't make much difference. Not yet, anyway."
She paused again, and stopped trying to argue the point down.
"Thank you, though. For thinking it of me."(edited)
[1:11 PM] Kwakado: Persephone managed to find a shred of comfort here with Delphine, in the face of this freshwater ocean, letting her head hang back against the stone like some sort of peasant.
"It's nothing but the honest truth...so cherish that willfulness. It doesn't come so easily to the rest of us."
Her smile, too, faded into something softer, a turbulent fluidity between grief and gratitude. She laid it to rest, like the lakewater, and scooted closer in.(edited)
[2:41 PM] LadyDeme: Delphine liked this sort of peasant-y seating arrangement; the rocks were still a little cool, but had soaked up the sun, such that an idle turtle might ome to the shore and bask, as they were basking. The warm sunlight brought a warm, easy expression to Delphine's eyes as she hugged her old friend.
"I suppose you're right. But, you know, Persephone... You've got things about yourself you should cherish, too. Right, dolphins, and whomever's with you?"
She called out, raising her voice just a little -- not shouting, but throwing it out towards the water. As if in response, a ew of the little lapping waves, the litle breaks in the surface of the clear reflections, broke and leapt up once again. To the two of them, on the shore, the water was a border... But there, in the water, was just a beautiful life. And that was, Delphine reflected, rather sacred on its own.
[4:30 PM] Kwakado: Delphine's encouragement, and her consulting with the lake-dwellers, pulled a perplexed look from Persephone, who had thought they'd passed the point of idle chatter. She opened her mouth with a furrowed brow, unsure as she started whether it was to thank the lady or contradict her praise. But when the dolphins themselves suddenly seemed to reply, her lips started to tremble in surprise...and she broke out into a fit of laughter. After a few moments, she gained just enough composure to retort.
"Oh, heavens! It looks like our postitions still hold up somewhere...hehehehee..."
As if remembering her rank, Persephone sits upright, moving out of the embrace. "Pardon me..hehe..."
[7:49 PM] LadyDeme: Delphine laughed herself, throwing back her head at first, before just curling it down right into the giggle zone; Persephone's laugh was not a common thing, and just enough to push this odd, and wonderful, and sad, and peaceful moment right to a point where Delphine's laugh could run over, like water over rocks.
"Apparently -- apparently they do. I admit, I've never been a fan of 'appeal to the divine' as a form of argument... But I suppose it might well support the both of us, here." Here and there, she was still giggling, her voice stumbling over it until she calmed down. Persephone's sudden retreat made her shake her had -- fondly, and without frustration.
"No, I shan't. I'll thank you, though... And if you're worried about your station, I'll keep it between us."(edited)
[9:54 PM] Kwakado: After briefly turning away, bringing her fingertips to her chin as she pondered, Persephone looked back. Her eyes were still wet with tears, from joy and grief and shame and surprise all rippling either across her face. But something about her oddball peer's promise made it easier to look past it all.
"..that's a wager I'm more than willing to make." She stood up a little too fast, composing herself as best she could for a little bow.
"My deepest thanks, Amarana. ...For all of it."
[7:56 AM] LadyDeme: Don't bow to me, that's -- The sentiment died before she spoke it, caught in the gleam of Persephone's tear-stained eyes. What good was fighting for the inherent dignity of man if mentioning it hurt someone? Delphine accepted the thanks with a gracious nod of her head, recalling in the movement some class on etiquitte that she'd mostly read a book during.
"You're always welcome, so please, don't forget... It does my heart good, as well. Are you heading off already?"(edited)
[9:15 AM] Kwakado: "I'd love to stay for far longer, but..."
Keeping her unrestrained smile, Persephone turned her head to the side to her brother's horse, now wandering along the lakeside. The usual calculated coordination was returning to the girl's limbs already, anticipating her departure from this fantastic little world by the Lake.
"Yuridia's prone to mischief if I leave her to herself for too long...and I mustn't shirk my training, either."(edited)
[1:11 PM] LadyDeme: Delphine gave Yuridia, kindred spirit in getting up to mischief when bored, an amused little nod that the horse likely wouldn't recognize. Delphine had nowhere useful she could be but with the course of history for a while yet -- magically, her whole body felt drained and wobbly still.
"If something happens, I should be here for a little while yet...Though I'm not actually up to using a stave yet, I'd have a few other tricks up my sleeve if you need them. And you're welcome to find me for no reasons sometimes, too."
She added with a nod, hoping that the formal girl might take the opportunity to relax a little more, to have a little less calculation to her, just from time to time. And maybe a little bit less guilt. She waved a hand over the book at her hip, as if to seque to an unrelated book.
"I've found a good romance that I think would suit your fancy; I'll drop it at your tent for you to look over, if you like."
[2:09 PM] Kwakado: Delphine's continued charity shook Persephone's smile, as it dawned on her that she must have intended to spend this time recuperating. The thought of exhausting yet another comrade with her incompetence was flustering indeed - though she appreciated the offer no less.
"I've no need of your tricks now - only that you get some rest. It's no blessing to any of us if you wear yourself out, just--Please, take this time to relax. You've more than earned it."
But as she went on, the girl's eyes never left the book at Delphine's side, imagining what might be in store from this romance recommendation. And Persephone was rarely slow to share her feelings, one way or another.
"...But a book's not much of a trouble, I suppose...After you've rested, by the Lover!" Despite her huff, Persephone's eyes smiled with unmistakable excitement at the idiea.(edited)
[2:39 PM] LadyDeme: Delphine, of course, viewed it all as rather relaxing -- she spoke earnestly for a while, she'd skipped some stones, she could look forward to deciding how to convince the reader that, no, Archduke Theron actually did die on that day, and a complex piece of magic was done -- that this was neither self-inflation (which her rather personal account, with its faithfulness to her own feelings, might be seen to lean towards) nor secondhand myth, nor sensationalism. It'd be a fun afternoon. The order to rest, though, was somewhere between appreciated and smothering -- and so she sighed a little, fondly, and replied,
"Yes, yes... In the meanwhile, it's just going to be myself and trying to put my notes into some sort of order."
Ah, she'd got her. Delphine nodded and smiled a little wider, with the satisfaction of a fishewoman with something on the hook. The book itself was a chivalric sort of romance, and the poetry was, in her opinion, rather good -- and the talent was fairly new, on top of that, so he'd gone onto her list of people to get in touch with when circumstances permitted.
"Understood, then. When I head back, I'll drop it off for you. And not a moment before."(edited)
[3:47 PM] Kwakado: Persephone nodded with relief, more to herself than to Delphine, that she could depart without worrying too much. And though she hadn't lied about her reluctance to part, the same held for her need to keep practicing. It was one thing for subjects and servants to show this much support, but the continued charity from these madwomen frightened her. What had she brought them, but protest and scorn and sudden death? How was it any different from her father's slipshod subversion?
But for now, Delphine was safe. All she had to watch for, was another little story on the way for her to throw herself into. The kind she hadn't read since the fall of Floribar..
"I look forward to it." The girl's face brightened once more. "Til our paths cross again!" And, with a bit of a skip in her step, Persephone hurried after her horse. Perhaps she could meet with the Arcian princess to make amends...(edited)
[4:58 PM] LadyDeme: == RP End ==
No comments:
Post a Comment