04-08-2015, 08:41 AM
Her son doesn’t value the heart the beats beneath their feet for the same reason Straia does. But then again, she hasn’t told him her reason yet. Warship had introduced the boy to the heart, and it was the right introduction to it. The heart belongs to the boy’s grandfather through Warship, though not through Straia. Straia’s family history in this land is something she only knows pieces of, something her father more or less stamped out of history when he took the throne. She is the last remaining piece of that once dynasty.
Oh, but the heart. She remembers her panther man. Still just a child herself when she met him – grizzled and ancient and so powerful. He had told her about the heart. How the Chamber had ripped it from his chest, how her chosen home was a cruel mistress. Straia had always known that her life would be dedicated to this kingdom, but it was that day she truly understood that likely, she would be asked to give her life for this kingdom. That was the day she accepted that fate with an easy grace that only the dedicated can truly know. So far the Chamber has taken her sisters from her, and in some ways her father (not that they have ever been close). Eventually it will take everything else.
She’s weaving through the pine trees when she spots him, the stallion from the field. He is different now, in some intangible way that she can’t quite put her finger on. And her son, true to form, is already making his way over to the stranger to greet him. She waits a moment longer before coming out of the pines herself. They were truly starting to regrow now, looking more like their old selves than they had in the years since the disaster. There was much left to regrow, but she found she was less often streaked with ash than in those first few years.
It doesn’t take her long to close the distance two the two stallions. More boys. She was absolutely and endless surrounded by them. There are worse things in life, certainly, but sometimes she thinks she might as well rule the Tundra. Ah well. Men were infinitely more reasonable anyway. “Falx,” she says, recalling their brief meeting in the field. “What a surprise.” She hadn’t necessarily expected to see him, but it’s also not entirely a surprise. “How are you? And may I ask, where is your other half?” She remembers the girl too – Falx had been the more composed and polite half. But still, they had seemed inseparable at the time, despite their obvious differences.
Oh, but the heart. She remembers her panther man. Still just a child herself when she met him – grizzled and ancient and so powerful. He had told her about the heart. How the Chamber had ripped it from his chest, how her chosen home was a cruel mistress. Straia had always known that her life would be dedicated to this kingdom, but it was that day she truly understood that likely, she would be asked to give her life for this kingdom. That was the day she accepted that fate with an easy grace that only the dedicated can truly know. So far the Chamber has taken her sisters from her, and in some ways her father (not that they have ever been close). Eventually it will take everything else.
She’s weaving through the pine trees when she spots him, the stallion from the field. He is different now, in some intangible way that she can’t quite put her finger on. And her son, true to form, is already making his way over to the stranger to greet him. She waits a moment longer before coming out of the pines herself. They were truly starting to regrow now, looking more like their old selves than they had in the years since the disaster. There was much left to regrow, but she found she was less often streaked with ash than in those first few years.
It doesn’t take her long to close the distance two the two stallions. More boys. She was absolutely and endless surrounded by them. There are worse things in life, certainly, but sometimes she thinks she might as well rule the Tundra. Ah well. Men were infinitely more reasonable anyway. “Falx,” she says, recalling their brief meeting in the field. “What a surprise.” She hadn’t necessarily expected to see him, but it’s also not entirely a surprise. “How are you? And may I ask, where is your other half?” She remembers the girl too – Falx had been the more composed and polite half. But still, they had seemed inseparable at the time, despite their obvious differences.
straia
queen of the chamber