it felt so good
to run so red.
Anandi doesn’t know much about leadership- except for numerous examples over the years from her father and eldest sister of what not to do. But she knows how to get what she wants, and that often involves ensuring others get what they want. No one could say that Anandi was not a team player... as long as she was on a winning team, and one edging ever closer toward her personal goals- no matter how circuitously.
So. Did she have a issue taking Israfel? The two women did not rub each other the right way, so to speak. One was too loud, coarse, and stubborn; the other too sly and strategic. But Anandi was feeling magnanimous. “Of course not,” she smiles. Anyway it would be good to work her way closer to the regent. The benefits of friends in high places and whatnot.
(They would end up walking the long road to Denocte, and all that you need to know about it is that when it was time to return to Terrastella, Anandi swam and Israfel flew. Later, only later, they would grudgingly grow close)
“I’ll let her know.” The window is opened and a wind sharp enough to cut blows through. It seems their conversation has concluded for now. Even if it hasn’t, Anandi’s thoughts are miles and miles below the sea, where her sisters remain in the dark. She had to share the good news. “Goodnight, Marisol,” she says finally, lips cradling the words like crushed velvet.
Anandi’s long tail drags on the floor like a bridal veil as she turns and leaves. She likes to imagine the room grows a little colder, a little less bright. For someone so measured and calculated, the emissary had a fanciful streak. But being in Novus was practically walking through a storybook world for her, something of bedtime stories and fairytales. It’s only natural her imagination would get carried away from time to time, when surrounded by so much magic.
As she walks down the quiet hallway, steps echoing softly on the cold stone, Anouk quivers with excitement and peels away from her belly, bobbing near her head in excitement. “That went well, Anandi,” he says. After a moment of hesitation, he adds: “I like her, you know.” Anandi just smiles, and makes her way to the sea, but unspoken between them is a lukewarm sense of agreement.
I think I like her too.
@
some say the loving and the devouring are all the same thing
☾
