AT NIGHT, IN BED, MY LIES EMERGE AS PEARLS
The first, in midwinter, Tahitian gray and silver, cold against my throat, was born a foreign object, perilous inside my chest. I slept all night to ease the pain, and while I did, I made it round, lustrous.
Cold water drips trails down the graceful curve of the silver woman’s neck, dangling in small rivers from the white waves of her mane; they stick flat to her skin, for once, pulled down and tamed by liquid weight. It was cooler than she anticipated. The seasons are different – far more mild - on the sea, though it is early spring in Novus, and the water is almost always warm…but the chill is almost refreshing, and, even if it weren’t, any break from salt-thick sea is one that she will take happily.
She hums, under her breath. Some shanty that her father taught her. Never mind that – she doesn’t remember the words, just the tune.
The silence – interrupted only by wind and water – of the pristine scene in front of her is broken by a voice. Locust turns, and her gaze falls upon a strange mare, with a patchwork of tan and white and dark striping adorning her frame and mismatched, striking eyes. She proceeds to caution Locust, a warning she takes with amusement. (She wonders if she noticed the dagger strapped to her foreleg.)
There is a gleam in her eyes that suggests the woman is pulling her leg, but Locust decides to take advantage of the situation and probe for more information. “I’ve heard a few rumors…” She admits, her voice something grasping - of freshwater kelpies, primarily, that would settle in the center of the lake, where the water was deepest, and snatch children from the shore. She inclines her head at the other mare, her teal stare inquisitive. “What’s so dangerous about the lake? It seems so lovely and placid, compared to the ocean.”
(Playing dumb for a moment might do her a few favors, much as it leaves a sour taste in her mouth…she hadn’t been to Denocte in a while, and she was rather out of touch with the news.)
The woman introduces herself as Morrighan, and, from her next question, Locust suspects that she is a Denoctian, not some traveler from another court or land. “Call me Locust. I’m the captain of a ship, but I’ve settled in Denocte a few times over the years. I never stay in one place for too long.” That would be too much trouble – for her business, and for her personal relationships. She’d never been very good at getting attached. “What do you do around here, Morrighan?” From her bearing, musculature, and scars, she suspects that she is some sort of…guard or soldier, but it’s impossible to know without asking.
(Besides. If she’s a guard, she might have to watch her tongue around her. Denoctians were usually pretty tolerant of the Night Kingdom’s criminal underbelly, but she preferred not to get herself into unnecessary trouble or take unnecessary risks. Best to feel her out first.)
@Morrighan || that's good with me! || "mother-of-pearl," callie siskel
"Speech!" ||
