05-18-2020, 02:42 PM
l e p i s
the next step was a question of how
never thought it a question of weth-er
never thought it a question of weth-er
Four years have passed since Lepis had last carried a child. Perhaps time has softened the memories, but the dun mare is certain that her previous pregnancies had not been this difficult. The child within her had been conceived late in the season and though she is not as near birth as many of the other women, the weight of the child within her is already enough to keep her grounded. She worries it will be too large, resembling the baroque disguise worn during the assault. She worries that it will be monstrous, like the creature that wore the disguise. She worries often.
In her worry she had sought out help, petitioning the genie, but the aid given by her ancestress was nothing more than the healing of her freshest wounds.
As a result, there is no outward indication of the violence of her child’s conception. She had refused to explain this to Pteron, who in his role as Champion of Loess came to visit now and again. He had left, clearly agitated, but she would rather have him angry at her than risk endangering him. She does not speak of it to anyone. Isntead ,she spends most of her time in the late winter and early spring alone, patrolling the edges of her home on foot. It is while doing that she finds one of the last creatures she’d expected to.
“I’d usually ask what you were doing in my home” Lepis says from beneath a downward curving saguaro’s arm, having ducked under it to find the mare in her secluded place off the beaten path.
“But the answer to that seems clear enough.” Her voice is wry, and she remains at a distance that forces her to raise it just a little to be heard. She might have said more, but she can now see the mess that has become of Neverwhere’s dappled skin. The colt that nurses is winged and dappled gold, and Lepis has raised enough of Wolfbane’s children to recognize the stamp of them even this young. Lepis is not sure why Neverwhere has birthed it here, but she means to nip in the bud anything that might affect her plans.
“I do hope you don’t mean to leave that here,” she tells the bald-faced queen. Her tone is flat and emotionless when she speaks. “Or to stay long if you’re keeping it. I’ve done well enough keeping him out of Loess, and I won’t have you luring him back here before I’m ready.” It is unkind, perhaps, to rush a mare who has just given birth. But just as with Pteron, Lepis must prioritize survival over diplomacy and hurt feelings.
@[Neverwhere]
In her worry she had sought out help, petitioning the genie, but the aid given by her ancestress was nothing more than the healing of her freshest wounds.
As a result, there is no outward indication of the violence of her child’s conception. She had refused to explain this to Pteron, who in his role as Champion of Loess came to visit now and again. He had left, clearly agitated, but she would rather have him angry at her than risk endangering him. She does not speak of it to anyone. Isntead ,she spends most of her time in the late winter and early spring alone, patrolling the edges of her home on foot. It is while doing that she finds one of the last creatures she’d expected to.
“I’d usually ask what you were doing in my home” Lepis says from beneath a downward curving saguaro’s arm, having ducked under it to find the mare in her secluded place off the beaten path.
“But the answer to that seems clear enough.” Her voice is wry, and she remains at a distance that forces her to raise it just a little to be heard. She might have said more, but she can now see the mess that has become of Neverwhere’s dappled skin. The colt that nurses is winged and dappled gold, and Lepis has raised enough of Wolfbane’s children to recognize the stamp of them even this young. Lepis is not sure why Neverwhere has birthed it here, but she means to nip in the bud anything that might affect her plans.
“I do hope you don’t mean to leave that here,” she tells the bald-faced queen. Her tone is flat and emotionless when she speaks. “Or to stay long if you’re keeping it. I’ve done well enough keeping him out of Loess, and I won’t have you luring him back here before I’m ready.” It is unkind, perhaps, to rush a mare who has just given birth. But just as with Pteron, Lepis must prioritize survival over diplomacy and hurt feelings.
