In the shallows, a jade-eyed kelpie plays among the forest. She darts to and fro between the curtains of green, chasing after harbor seals and rockfish for no reason other than the sheer fun of it.
There was nothing like this where she was from. There was almost nothing at all but open space in every direction. It was the opposite of claustrophobia, but no less maddening for the uninitiated– and then you had the immense, bone-crunching pressure on the body and a blue so dark it almost seemed red. (or was that just the hunger coloring one’s vision? It was hard to tell, down there where Hunger was a religion.)
This was an entirely different world. One could get a true sense of their speed, when there were landmarks by which to measure distance traveled. So Anandi speeds along with powerful undulations of her long tail, front hooves tucked delicately to her chest (they were always in her way, but not as practical to remove as her mane) and among the kelp forest she learns how fast she can be, how agile. With only herself to race, she is always the winner. She laughs, so many bubbles, and fish dart away in fear at the sound. It makes her laugh even more.
It was usually easy to forget that beneath all that responsibility and maturity and hunger was just a girl. But not today. Today she is a child. Today she is–
Anandi sees the man with eyes like ice just in time to avoid colliding with him. She pulls up and rolls to the side, and though she should run run run while she has surprise on her side, she stops and turns to look at him. The child in her is gone the instant she sees the magnificent horn that spirals from his forehead (overcompensating much?) ending in a sharpened point. In the course of a split second, everything about her is different. Her face grows guarded and her lips tighten. Tension fills her body as she debates whether it is better to stand her ground or run, to charm or antagonize, seduce or repulse.
Her white forelock floats weightlessly around her like a halo. (The rest of her mane is cropped or tied particularly for this reason; she could never stand hair in her face, despite how wonderfully dramatic it could look. It was one of the few cases in which she chose practicality over vanity.) She must duck down to clear the hair from her vision, and once more their eyes lock. He looks positively villainous. She thinks she might be scared.
But she's never seen anything like him and she isn't ready to look away.
The girl stares at the menacing stranger with huge expressive eyes, ears and frond tilted back uncertainly. You wouldn’t eat me– would you? And then there is another change in her. Perhaps she is remembering that she is a princess, and she has sharp things too. She smiles, or more accurately she bares her teeth. You wouldn't dare try.
(right?)
Like a deep woman, the sea hid a good deal; it had many faces, many delicate, terrible veils. It spoke of miracles and distances; if it could court, it could also kill.
@Amaroq <3
some say the loving and the devouring are all the same thing
☾
