you can sink to the bottom of the sea,
just don't go without me
Sabal was restless.
On a normal day, that wouldn’t be saying much considering over the past few months the entire world had been turned upside down, right side up, and sideways and she’d been doing her best to adapt as best she could. As if adjusting to motherhood wasn’t enough of a task. Thankfully, kelpies tended to raise themselves more than their equine counterparts and in this regard her son seemed to take after his mother and grandfather. Though Sabal did assume that maybe one day she should try to introduce Chasm to his father. Maybe. That was a whole different anxiety inducing scenario she’d like to leave off of her plate for the time being.
Her anxieties of late had been focused around things happening in Hyaline. She’d been worried for Mazikeen, and not just in the physical sense. She was worried that Mazikeen was setting herself up to be hurt in a way that went beyond skin deep. Falling in love with someone who was being consumed with something far beyond Sabal’s ability to comprehend was…dangerous. Sabal wasn’t worried about Maze’s ability to hold her own in a fight, but she was worried that this wasn’t going to be a fair fight. And there were children involved in this scenario too.
This is seriously like reality tv mixed with some murdery shit. Great for TV, bad for blood pressure.
The fact that she hadn’t seen Mazikeen in some time was…concerning. Especially since in that time Sabal had given birth and she assumed that her even pregnant-er friend had too. Something wasn’t right. Her squid senses were tingling. So with Chasm safe and tucked away in a bed of seaweed in the bottom of the lake, Sabal started for the surface.
It's near the surface of the water that Sabal can smell the blood in the water. And that’s when her squid senses escalate into a persistent sense of panic. She uses her fin wings to propel her towards the beach, cresting the surface like a magnificent Sea World performer. But there’s no applause at her spectacular showing because the only thing on the beach is Mazikeen’s crumpled form. And Sabal lets out a strangled sound as she clumsily shifts and makes her way towards her friend – her gravely injured and clearly not pregnant friend.
God, Sabal has so many questions, but she’s absolutely speechless at the brutal condition of her friend. She slides to her knees next to her friend, lowering herself to the ground as gently as possible. “Maze, it’s me. It’s Sabal. You’re safe,” the kelpie murmurs, doing everything she can to keep her voice steady. Sabal gently lowers her head to her friend’s chest, ensuring that she can hear breath sounds coming from her chest. When she’s satisfied that she is breathing, the panic again rears its head. Sabal has no healing ability – she has no way to make this better or to take her friend’s pain away. But Maze can’t die. She just can’t. Because Sabal no longer knows how to live in a world without her. Mazikeen is too stubborn to die, and Sabal is too stubborn to let her.
She doesn’t have to ask who did this, though. She knows, in her bones, what happened. And though she hates herself for having to ask, for potentially bringing her broken friend more pain, she has to. ”Maze...are your babies safe?” she murmurs against her friend's bloodied skin, because if the answer is no, Sabal will swim through hell itself to try to keep them safe. She owes Mazikeen that much for not being here to help in this fight.
Sabal finds herself paralyzed, curled up in the grass with the broken body of Mazikeen. Should she stay here and do what she can, or try to find someone who can help. 'I wish you could yell at me and tell me what to do!' she screams in her mind, as the tears finally begin to fall.
sabal. |
