[P] one rich man in ten has a satisfied mind;

[Sarkan]

Sarkan The moral of the tale is this: whoever allows himself to be whipped, deserves to be whipped.   Something wild lived in her gaze. It was not like the others he had met, the sailors and the citizens of Delumine, with their sturdy houses and scholar’s way of looking at the world. When she stepped forward, just a little nearer, and the last bit of sunset caught the green of her irises, Sarkan thought he could see leaves shifting there. And, beyond them, a leaping doe, a laughing fox. He almost asked her about it. Almost stepped forward to see what else lived there, where nothing should be but herself looking back at him, when a coyote wailed and she closed her eyes and that little-world was gone. The sound died away, a shiver on the wind unfollowed by another - just a lone hunter. But Sarkan felt like he was still waiting for some answer beyond the one she gave. “Good.” He said the word like a smooth round stone, unworried with how it disturbed the evening. At her command to follow, he said nothing, only waited to obey. When she turned toward the house Sarkan’s eyes lingered on her for a moment longer, all those red spots like fallen autumn leaves. He wondered if she was alone. And then, before he could direct his thoughts elsewhere, he wondered if it would be the same, killing her, as it had been with the unicorn. Would it be as easy to walk away? It was only a thought, rootless, the idle kind of thinking that happened when you were using a knife, or walking along a ledge - what if, what if? Then he did feel guilty, enough to shift his gaze away, and maybe that was answer enough. Far away at the base of the cliffs the waves went shush, shush against the shore and Sarkan, road-weary, watched the landscape idly as they walked down to lamplit rooms. And then he watched less idly, when he noticed the leaves uncurling like hands, opening palm-up as they passed by. Curious. The grey lengthened his stride until he walked beside her, one ear turned toward her and one to the sea. “It must be lonely out here,” he said. “And I’ve heard stories of kelpies in these waters, along these coasts. Have you ever seen one?” @Red