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

[Rhy]

and when i breathed

my breath was lightning

She always knows when Straia comes. The smell of the Chamber is distinct, but more importantly, Straia’s scent comes from the side of the kingdom, where almost none hang out and even less enter. Rhy is tempted not to go, to let Straia stand there on the border until she grows impatient and leaves.

But in the end, it won’t stop the Raven Queen from her plans. And if someone has to be involved, Rhy would prefer it to be her. She can at least control something, that way. And more importantly, she can save everyone else from the wrath of her cousin.

After all, what did Rhy really have to lose? She was already dead.

“Straia,” she says, slipping out of the forest as she nods her head in greeting. “What do you need?” Because Straia never comes just to chat. There’s always a reason.  And Straia doesn’t mince words, either. Her purpose is quick and clear, and though Rhy doesn’t know exactly what her purpose will be at the Deserts, she has a good guess.

“You don’t have to fight, Straia. You can stop this,” she says, but in truth, her words are halfhearted at best. It was too late to stop the inevitable. Fiasko was dead. The Gates wanted revenge, and Lagertha simply wanted war. They would find a reason to fight.

And then Straia says the one thing that they both know, will make Rhy agree. She doesn’t even bother say it aloud. She just nods, “Your daughter resurrects the dead, yes?” and before waiting for an answer, she disappears, taking off to the Deserts shielded in invisibility. She simply wanted to get it all over with.  

Perhaps this would be her end. Perhaps not. But she wasn’t entirely sure she cared.

rhy

the electric lioness of riagan and rayelle