[private] will never be pretty

[Straia]

sometimes we want what we want --
    -- even if we know it’s going to kill us.

Most of them are children to her. So young, in the grand scheme of things. There were others, of course, who had lived far longer and knew more, yet still she wondered if they were children too, in some ways. Ever since she became whatever exactly she is now, she feels ancient. Decades and centuries older than she actually is. She is still herself, and yet she is so very different from the mare she once used to be. Funny how you can change entirely and not at all.

The girl is clearly pleased with her job well done, but Straia’s hope for her is so different. It is not to follow commands but to learn to make them, to question them, to decide her own path. Everyone deserves such a choice. They deserve to choose who they follow. She does not demand unquestioning loyalty from her subjects, and she knows there is much to be earned still, but she would earn it. And for those she could not, she would let them go without hard feelings.

It is the next part of the conversation that is important, and Straia waits as Greta weighs her options. Straia chuckles slightly at her words, her smile turning sly and mischievous. ”Your father is powerful, but I am moreso,” she says. It’s probably true, anyway. It certainly feels true, with this strange entity magic she now wields. Though in reality, truth does not always matter so long as you pretend it is true. If you are confident enough, most will believe you and that, really, is what matters.

She calls on that magic now, twisting and shaping something unseen around Greta until she will be rendered nearly invisible from Eight. Ah, how he would not like that. If he figures out it is her magic that shields the girl though, she is sure she can handle him. ”There. You are invisible to your father’s magic, though not his literal sight.” To make the girl literally invisible to one horse was another matter, but she could shield her from his magical senses. ”Have you ever dreamed of what you might do with freedom?”

-- straia

the raven queen

@[greta]