Post by Anari on Aug 9, 2014 4:53:08 GMT -8
Anari strolled along the edge of the lake, admiring how the sunlight sparkled off of the rippling water. She had been here only a short while, and already had seen things that boggled her mind with the faint thought that there was only more to come. The five snakes, three of which draped and curled around her shoulders and neck, one that flew beside, and one that napped in her backpack pocket proved that time and time again. While it was a relief to be away from the dreaded Highlords, knowing that for the first time in her twenty plus years of life she could truly live free, beholden only to herself, was a little overwhelming at times. Almost enough to make her dizzy like when she tries to look directly up into the heart of the sky.
A flash of concern-laced color from Tolkar made her chuckle, and she reached out to stroke a hand over the light undassa. The thought flickered across her mind that perhaps it was a good thing her leg made her limp and walk slowly; if she had moved at the same rapid clip she used to before being wounded, there was slight chance the winged serpent wouldn’t have been able to keep up!
“Quite a wonderous place I’ve stumbled into,” she said to the undassa. Acathala hissed softly at the sound of her voice. Other than the feisty Rynth, they seemed to really like hearing her speak. “No Dragon Highlords, no DHS hunting me, no rebels or soldiers, nothing! All of it gone, in a blink!* She snapped her fingers in demonstration, then stopped to look out across the water. For a moment she was lost in thought, then glanced down and happened to see some stones that were water-smoothed. With a whimsical smile, she bent and picked one up. “My mother used to take me to the lake outside of the town where I grew up. It wasn’t nearly as big as this one – would be like comparing a tankard to gallon bucket – but to a child as I was it might as well have been a sea. We’d go out there together with a picnic, and she’d always have fresh peaches for me to eat, and she’d have apples, and she’d let me try to skip rocks.” With a flick of her wrist and a fling of her arm, the stone bounced twice along the water’s surface before it sank. She hefted another one. “I remember, she once told me that if you could skip a rock three times before it sank, you’d get a wish.” Another throw – skip, skip, plunk! “I don’t know where she heard it from, but I always was so sure I could manage it.” Skip, skip, plunk! “Just the right flicks of the wrist….” The sent another spinning across the placid water. Skip, skip, skip, plunk!
For a moment, she was stunned, then she grinned broadly.
“I did it!” She could only wish that somewhere her mother had witnessed it. Still smiling, she closed her eyes and made her wish. Not for something she missed from home, for truthfully there was little she longed for. No, her heart-felt wish, nearly a prayer, was for some sign, something unmistakable and perhaps even tangible, that she had some purpose in this new world, that it wasn’t just random happenstance that caused her to appear in that cave in the Nexus, but that this is where she was meant to be.
Opening her eyes, she moved away from the water’s edge and, after carefully settling her pack on the ground, stretched out herself with the undassa slipping along her torso until they were on top of her again. She tucked one arm behind her head, and let the other hand lay in the soft grass. Wasn’t a heartbeat later that she felt Ishtan slip beneath her palm, pushing his head under her index fingertip as he settled for a nap. Smiling, she gently stroked his head like she knew he adored, feeling the others settle on or near her.
“You know, all of this is so strange. Not three months ago, I was standing up against the Highlords. Some people called me a bastion of hope, while others denounced me of being nothing more than a troublesome rebel who was going to get them killed. I was watch lieutenant and defender of the town, ward of the state and priestess’ daughter. Now… I’m just Anari. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.” Soothed by the warm sun, she let her eyes closed to take a nap.
But she hadn’t been dozing more than fire minutes when Tolkar suddenly raised himself up on her abdomen, hissing loudly in warning. A second later, Acathala rose her shimmering body up as well, and Anari became aware of approach. Cursing quietly to herself, thinking that her old captain would have docked her pay for a week for such carelessness, she only had time to twist and rise to a knee, her hands carefully catching the undassa so they didn’t fall, before she fell within the shadow of her company.
(word count: 857/500, bastion, peach, gallon)
A flash of concern-laced color from Tolkar made her chuckle, and she reached out to stroke a hand over the light undassa. The thought flickered across her mind that perhaps it was a good thing her leg made her limp and walk slowly; if she had moved at the same rapid clip she used to before being wounded, there was slight chance the winged serpent wouldn’t have been able to keep up!
“Quite a wonderous place I’ve stumbled into,” she said to the undassa. Acathala hissed softly at the sound of her voice. Other than the feisty Rynth, they seemed to really like hearing her speak. “No Dragon Highlords, no DHS hunting me, no rebels or soldiers, nothing! All of it gone, in a blink!* She snapped her fingers in demonstration, then stopped to look out across the water. For a moment she was lost in thought, then glanced down and happened to see some stones that were water-smoothed. With a whimsical smile, she bent and picked one up. “My mother used to take me to the lake outside of the town where I grew up. It wasn’t nearly as big as this one – would be like comparing a tankard to gallon bucket – but to a child as I was it might as well have been a sea. We’d go out there together with a picnic, and she’d always have fresh peaches for me to eat, and she’d have apples, and she’d let me try to skip rocks.” With a flick of her wrist and a fling of her arm, the stone bounced twice along the water’s surface before it sank. She hefted another one. “I remember, she once told me that if you could skip a rock three times before it sank, you’d get a wish.” Another throw – skip, skip, plunk! “I don’t know where she heard it from, but I always was so sure I could manage it.” Skip, skip, plunk! “Just the right flicks of the wrist….” The sent another spinning across the placid water. Skip, skip, skip, plunk!
For a moment, she was stunned, then she grinned broadly.
“I did it!” She could only wish that somewhere her mother had witnessed it. Still smiling, she closed her eyes and made her wish. Not for something she missed from home, for truthfully there was little she longed for. No, her heart-felt wish, nearly a prayer, was for some sign, something unmistakable and perhaps even tangible, that she had some purpose in this new world, that it wasn’t just random happenstance that caused her to appear in that cave in the Nexus, but that this is where she was meant to be.
Opening her eyes, she moved away from the water’s edge and, after carefully settling her pack on the ground, stretched out herself with the undassa slipping along her torso until they were on top of her again. She tucked one arm behind her head, and let the other hand lay in the soft grass. Wasn’t a heartbeat later that she felt Ishtan slip beneath her palm, pushing his head under her index fingertip as he settled for a nap. Smiling, she gently stroked his head like she knew he adored, feeling the others settle on or near her.
“You know, all of this is so strange. Not three months ago, I was standing up against the Highlords. Some people called me a bastion of hope, while others denounced me of being nothing more than a troublesome rebel who was going to get them killed. I was watch lieutenant and defender of the town, ward of the state and priestess’ daughter. Now… I’m just Anari. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.” Soothed by the warm sun, she let her eyes closed to take a nap.
But she hadn’t been dozing more than fire minutes when Tolkar suddenly raised himself up on her abdomen, hissing loudly in warning. A second later, Acathala rose her shimmering body up as well, and Anari became aware of approach. Cursing quietly to herself, thinking that her old captain would have docked her pay for a week for such carelessness, she only had time to twist and rise to a knee, her hands carefully catching the undassa so they didn’t fall, before she fell within the shadow of her company.
(word count: 857/500, bastion, peach, gallon)
