Torielle
have you any
D R E A M S
you’d like to sell
IF
his intent was to frighten me, then perhaps somewhere there is a person waiting to bestow a ribbon for best performance. I’d had only a moment to register the looming shadow as it passed over me, tickling my spine with an electric chill I didn’t quite understand until the frame of the beast dropped in front of me. Though, perhaps beast was not the proper term. A nightmare. A god. Yes, perhaps that. Though my frame was taller, his was built for war. For hard work, and harsh things. Underneath the black as black coat, underneath the dancing lightning and snow He must be a god, some nightmarish hell deity from beyond pure muscle rippled, coiled and posed to strike like a serpent in the grass. The only thing that perhaps made him seem mortal, something that brought my racing heart down from a terrified flutter to a more rhythmic pattern, was the presence of the spectacles. I’m sure my face contorted freely before him, from fear, to awe, to confusion. And then he spoke. Not to a general presence he felt, not to my direction, not to the idea of me, to me. This, more than his sudden appearance That lightning, so pure and subtle and bright and crackling and is perhaps what startled me the most. No one, short of another Planes-Walker, had ever spoken directly to me before. But no Planes-Walker I had ever seen controlled the elements as he did. We had magic, incantations, potions, spells, but nothing like this. Only the gods could have mastery over elements, only the gods could take the universe into their being and manipulate it at will. Magic in my homeland was akin to a child asking permission to use their parents’ tools to demonstrate a parlor trick. And half the time those parents would chuckle at the attempt and give you a pat for your troubles, now run along and play nice with the others.
But if this being Regal, strong, frightening could see me, could address me, then regardless of my previous astral experiences, I must treat him with the utmost respect. I stepped back, and bowed deeply, the various silver on my body tinkling softly as a small brook in spring. I took a deep breath, bringing the cold air into my lungs, soothing the fiery ache in my chest and the roiling in my gut. I stayed low, grounding myself, finding my center and enveloping my thoughts in a cozy blanket of calm. When my lips moved, I made my words strong, clear and respectful.
”My apologies, Sir. I am a visitor in your realm and had not realized my presence would cause a disturbance.” I took another deep breath and rose again to my height, though I kept my stance perhaps a bit more slight, more delicate. I was not a threat, had never been, regardless of the sharp points on my crown. If he decided I was an enemy target that must be eliminated I stood no more chance than a rabbit did a hungry jackal. ”I have been traveling a long while and was simply looking forward to watching a beautiful sunrise.”
I tried to keep my eye contact brief. There is truth that they are windows to the soul, and the particularly astute can see a lot of things if one knows how to look. I have been told since a child that my tendency to keep eye contact can be very intimidating, and in this instance I feared my old habit may well get me into trouble. Still, it would be rude to avoid them entirely. For the moment that they connected, beyond the spectacles and between the flickers of lightning, the overwhelming sense rage filled me. Not necessarily directed at me, but a rage for existence, perhaps. Rage like that is not something we are often born with. That kind of hatred spawns from other things far deeper embedded to a person than could be uncovered from one glance. Emotion that pure could only be from the source, and the crawling in my spine that told me I may very well be dealing with a powerful entity only cemented.
I hoped that in those few seconds we held each other’s gaze that my dark pools were like an open well. I hoped that they did not hide secrets, and did not give him a reason to think my travel was an attempt to invade or be cross or disrespectful. I hoped that he could sense my genuine surprise, I hoped that he could sense the flutter of my heart in my chest, and I hoped above all else that he could sense I was at my core a gentle soul. I meant him and his lands no harm, and in one last bid to prove it I provided him with an answer to his final question. ”If it pleases you, Sir, you may call me Torielle.”
If my instincts were true, I had given my name, though not quite in the fae sense, but given nonetheless, to a god. Gaia preserve my soul if he chose to harm me with it now.
”SPEAKS” THINKS | @
