we're climbing until we transcend
higher, higher to where the skies end
When the woman calls out her poor sportsmanship, Morrighan gives her an unamused look. So what if she's happy to have won? Is it suddenly a crime to enjoy a victory? She ignores this and brushes off the remark. Antiope had her win last time, now it's Morr's turn.
Her ears perk when she then mentions never getting old. The grullo has been mortal for nearly a year now, somehow she's almost forgotten what it felt like to be anything but. It makes her think back to Ourania and how much more on top of the world she felt when she knew she had no limits. There was a greater confidence then that she lacks now. Her immortality had been stripped as soon as she was dropped into the land of Novus. She knew there were some that had it or had gained it, but she never thought to ask how she might get hers back.
"You're immortal," she comments, not in any sort of especially shocked way, just as a simple observation. Then she grows more curious and her head tilts ever so slightly. "How?" Could there be a way to ask Caligo to be blessed with the gift once again? Would the deity even answer? Given how Caligo has been so far, it's very unclear.
In all honesty, Morrighan would take the chance to become immortal again. The idea of being more alone never bothered her and, even still, the few who were important to her were immortal already. She would be free from the imminent end that is death and not have to deal with what comes after (if there is anything).
Of course, it would be more time stuck with her thoughts. Perhaps after enough years, she'd forget about them anyway.
She doesn’t respond, at first, to the other woman’s observation but it is easy to see Morrighan’s curiosity in her immortality, the moment her attention shifts when it is mentioned, even vaguely. Antiope in turn is curious why. Does the idea of immortality only interest her, or are her intentions deeper than that?
Many of the equines from her homeland considered her immortality as goddess-like. It is part of why many worshipped her, revered her, feared her. And although her immortality had once saved her life, she had never been purposely reckless with it on the battlefield. If she would have gotten careless, she would have been taken down, even if it wouldn’t have killed her.
“I have always been this way,” she says, after a moment of observing the Warden’s expression. What is it, shifting behind that inquiring tilt of her head? Longing, perhaps? Antiope is familiar with longing, for things lost especially, and it makes her wonder if perhaps Morrighan had once been immortal and for some reason no longer is. “Ever since my birth.”
She doesn’t elaborate, mostly because she doesn’t feel a need to. If it is not obvious by now that her magic comes from some godly place then why would her immortality also not have? Antiope does not mention the circumstances of her birth, as she prefers to call it—so much better than creation, so much more real—because it doesn’t seem important to the topic at hand.
What does it matter, that she was not born a child of a womb, but carved from marbled and breathed to life with magic?
we're climbing until we transcend
higher, higher to where the skies end
It's clear the idea of immortality means different things to both women. For Morrighan, it's the last piece of her that she misses. For Antiope, it's something she talks about nonchalantly, like she doesn't care about it or want it. Morr is disappointed too that it doesn't appear to have been gained here in Novus. She's back to square one.
"I used to be," she confesses, her voice low. "Before I came here." Some back home hated it, maybe it even led to their downfall, but for her, there had been power in it. Combined with her fire that could burn down forests in minutes, she was untouchable. Here she is mortal and much weaker. It's like a bitter taste on her tongue.
Maybe some day.
It begins to snow again and as Bram joins her by her side, she can feel her stomach growling. "Care to join me on a trip to the markets? I'm starving," she offers, already picking up her feet to head in that direction before Antiope answers. The race had been fun and a temporary escape, but now it's back to the real world. At least she doesn't have to be entirely alone in it all. At least not everyone is an idiot.
@Antiope figured this would be a good place to close this!
Antiope wonders, idly, how one can used to be immortal, and glances at the Warden with sharp and keen eyes. But when she considers how, strangely, inexplicably, coming to this land had nearly stripped her completely of her magic’s strength, then perhaps it does make sense. Perhaps, she thinks, Morrighan was just not as lucky. Or, maybe it is just that Antiope had been the lucky one.
She doesn’t press the subject, because it seems a more tender one to broach for the other woman. If Antiope had the answers that Morrighan sought, she would offer them up, but she does not. There is no response she can give to satisfy the want the Warden carries, but if there is a way to gain magic and creatures with magical bonds to you then surely there must be a way to gain immortality as well.
The snow begins to drift down from the sky again. Whether because the effects of Antiope’s magic are finally fading away or because another storm has simply begun it’s difficult to say. The sky is still thick and full of clouds. Morrighan’s offer surprises her, and for a moment she simply watches the other woman walk toward the court.
Whatever the Regent had expected to come of these silly, childish races, it was certainly not an olive branch, nor something faintly resembling a friendship. “My treat,” she says at last, catching up to the mare’s side, “loser buys, right?” Antiope flashes a sharp smile, as their steps lead them further and further into the distance.
credits
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