but I have seen what the darkness does

[Seraphina]

(Blind faith, Seraphina, She whispers, laughing, as she leads her daughter up through clumps of trees and ferns on the dense mountainside, the silver-blonde of her tail lashing like rays of sunlight in her face. sometimes you just have to have blind faith. And I have faith that we’re going to find some of those rare mushrooms they pay so much for at the market if we juuuuust keep following this path for a while. I don’t think it’s a path if you’re simply wandering through the woods, mother. Don’t be silly, darling. Everything is a path. Angelie’s voice is a warm, musical cadence, almost childlike, fluttering – she had nicknames for her daughter, but Seraphina can’t remember them, so she replaces the words with terms that she thinks are meant to display affection. Her eyes are brilliant blue, like the sky, and she has an easy, forgetful smile. She can’t remember the color of her coat. She can’t remember what she looks like. She can’t remember –

She remembers the clink of jars, like ringing bells. She kept the herbs around her neck. These are puffball mushrooms, see? Don’t mistake them for Amanitas. Make sure that they- Don’t have gills. I know, mother. See, you’re starting to pick up on things, now. We’ll make a herbalist of you yet, sweetheart. I don’t want to be a herbalist, Mother. Collecting mushrooms all day is boring. It’s not just mushrooms. It’s also- Lavender, chamomile, marigold, and sage. That’s what you have in your vials right now. Such a smart, smart girl. You’ve always had a good memory, honey. Not like your Mum. You’re going to be a smart, smart girl. You’re- She is sure that she wouldn’t remember those plants if she saw them now.)

The chubby, tan creature’s sudden appearance from the brush sends Seraphina skidding back a few feet, hooves skidding dangerously close to the drop-off to the bank below; dirt kicks off the edge, landing with a dull thud in the sloshing mud. It meets her gaze almost immediately, almond-brown eyes wide and inquisitive and far more intelligent than she’d like to admit, and she realizes that it is a prairie dog, and chides herself inwardly for being so startled by. It lean up on its hindquarters and eyes her for a long moment, then darts forward, wet, black nose wriggling as if it is smelling her. She’d a bit startled to see it here, after her run-in with The Monster. Seraphina wonders if it was left here when the maze appeared. It was part of the Eluetheria Plains before, wasn’t it? She is fairly certain that she has seen the little creatures darting to and fro among the tall, needling brown grass, though they often ran off before she could get a good look at them. This little one doesn’t seem especially scared of her. A bit bitterly, she considers her waterlogged, quaking appearance, mane and tail tangled with clots of mud and branches, and she imagines that she wouldn’t be especially scared of herself either.

It goes darting off into the maze, then, but pauses before it is out of sight, unlike the Shaman. Standing back up on its hindquarters, it extends one fuzzy little paw, as though it is asking her to follow it. Seraphina finds herself faced with a decision – she can remain standing in the cold or the dark, perhaps try to find her way back to the entrance if she’s willing to chance The Monster, or she can follow the tiny rodent further into the maze. She imagines that she has already made her choice, but it feels different to stake her fate on a prairie dog. At least the Shaman, enigmatic as he was, could actually speak.

Blind faith, Seraphina.

She swallows her misgivings and follows the tiny rodent further into the maze, gaze rarely leaving its sides.



@Random Events - <3