I am the nightmare you've been crawling through
She finds herself back to where it all started. The very shore she first met a woman of gray who turned out to be a kelpie. One who Lu pissed off so much that she was dragged down into the ocean and turned.
It feels like ages ago that she was someone else. A mere mortal with a broken wing who would never fly again. She was still trying to find a purpose in this new land and had just reunited with Abraxia. The dragon nuzzles her side now and she can feel her longing through their bond. She knows Lu is called to the sea now instead of the land or the sky, but unlike Lu, she misses the old days.
Back in their homeland, they would fly together and look down at the world below them. They both felt powerful then. Yes, there are some days Lu misses that too, but things are different now. She loves Abraxia with all her heart, but she's not sure if she would trade this new life for the old. The taste of blood is too sweet for that. She is a predator now who enjoys the thrill of the hunt. Surely the dragon must feel that too and can understand.
It only seems fitting that she finds Anandi here again. Not surprising at least, since they are near the outskirts of her Court. Maybe Lu came here on purpose, maybe it was their bond, maybe she will never know.
She remembers being pulled down into the ocean. She remembers her body being constricted and water filling her lungs.
She remembers being left to die.
As Lucinda approaches along the shoreline, Anandi's head is turned away from her and she notices a mark on the woman's neck. Maybe it had been hidden before by her mane, but her hair has fallen just enough to the side that it's visible. She knows Abraxia had tried to save Lu before and it had not been pretty. There's no doubt in her mind that it's a scar from that encounter. It makes her laugh.
"You will always remember this, won't you?" she asks, her voice sickly sweet. "When you left me in the sea… and now you have a horrid scar on your neck." Her laugh only gets louder at the irony of it all. Next to her, Abraxia watches with untrusting eyes. It's also fitting that Anandi is scarred, just as Lu bears the scars of her own past.
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