He leaves. Anandi presents herself to him- a moment of vulnerability, although it’s fair he would think otherwise, seeing a monster- and he leaves. And he takes her meal with him. “You ass!” She exclaims with shock and anger as the ruffian takes off with her kill. Anandi liked that cat. She floats there for a moment dumbfounded, mind quickly turning to soften the blow of not just the rejection but the theft as well.
Why mourn the loss of a half-finished meal? It was the hunt she craved, not the feast, and the hunt would always be there. Really it was her pride which was most injured, but instead of dwelling on it she turns inward to the flame of her being. She turns her attention to her next meal.
Her senses open to the world below, the waters dark and full of opportunity. Schools of fish dart enticingly between the coral, the moonlight flashing off their scales like a bewitching spell. Deeper there will be squid, delicious, hunting in the dark. And all the world- the real world, beneath the sea, not the one Novus knows, sways gently (and, sometimes, not so gently) in the to and fro of the waves. Anandi lets herself feel the soft pull of the low tide, the tug every kelpie knows, the ineffable promise of the nameless thing best described as infinity. It reminds her that there will always be another cat, and another boy; another island, another sea. Nothing is lost that cannot be won again, in one way or another.
Finally, Anandi tips back her head and she begins to laugh.
Her laughter follows Erasmus through the forest, ringing through the night. And long after she slips beneath the dark water, the waves seem to chuckle as they batter the sandy shore.
A N A N D I
@Erasmus hah, that was perfect. I love him <3
some say the loving and the devouring are all the same thing
☾
