between the shadows and the soul

[Straia]

i am the violence in the pouring rain

i am a hurricane

This is perhaps the one part of her tasks that she doesn’t truly want to do. But she has to, and the end goal is everything. She takes to the sky as a plain, black raven, covering the ground from the Chamber to the Jungle quickly. She can’t enter, or send her ravens in after Rhy, but she lands in their usual meeting place, certain that her cousin will find her. She is, after all, vigilant when it comes to monitoring the border. And most others don’t come this way – it’s why they chose to meet here, when they needed to.

It doesn’t take that long for Rhy to find her. “Cousin,” Straia says, with some level of kindness in her voice. Straia has so little family that doesn’t hate her, and Rhy is one of them. They are not close, necessarily, but their relationship has always been mutually beneficial. But one by one, the Chamber has demanded that Straia give up her family for different reasons.

And now, it is time for her to lose Rhy. Her cousin would likely never forgive her, but it was a price she was willing to pay.

“You can help me start this, and therefore end it. Either we sit and wait, while horses are stolen and killed as your leader wastes her time with words. Or we simply make it happen. I need you to meet me at the Deserts, and act like a captive.” She pauses, watching the other mare for a reaction, hoping this will be enough.

But the hesitation in Rhy’s face is clear, made even more obvious by her words. Her cousin would prefer to avoid war all together. But it is inevitable now. Beqanna won’t rest until the Chamber has been put in its place. Or at least, when the rest of them think that was the outcome. Straia, for her part, knows that she’s already won.

“Please don’t make me threaten,” she adds, her voice almost soft. Draconis. Kora. Kratos. Straia knows who to target, and she will, if she has to. But she knows she won’t have to. Rhy will come to save the rest of them.

straia

the raven queen of the chamber