[P] invite the wild in

[Antiope]

drinking deeply of moonlight magic
and the rich golden hum,

Antiope considers Boudika carefully, and in a strange way. She knows Boudika, yes, but something seems undeniable different about the woman. Perhaps it is just that the sovereign has not seen her in so long, that she seems changed. So she looks at her both with eyes old and new, both as a stranger and someone familiar.

The red and black woman does not speak for a long moment, as they look at each other. Her reply is vague and curious, and Antiope doesn’t immediately reply, giving Boudika the time she needs to find the words for what she wants, or needs, to say.

“When I came to Novus, I left many behind,” Antiope says, taking a step closer, turning to glance up at the arch. At the gold plated ironwork that sprawls over its stone surface. “I did not speak to them, even see them before I left, so I am not sure what I would say to them if they ever ended up here.” In a way, the Denoctian sovereign thinks that she understands Boudika, even if their situations are not exactly the same. What would her sisters think of what she had done, if they were here? She does not know.

When the woman speaks again Antiope turns back toward her, eyes like sapphires. Eyes like seas. “You owe me no apology, Boudika. Perhaps, it is not all on your shoulders. Have you thought that it is your community that has also failed you?” She does not say it, but maybe her eyes ask it, keen in the dark. Has anyone checked on you, kept up with you, been your friend?

“What would you like to do, Boudika?” And it is there. An out, perhaps. But of what? Her perceived failure as a Champion, or the court? Antiope glances toward the pass, which stretches into the dark to her left. To her right, beyond the arch, are bonfires and lights, guiding and protecting all weary travelers and adventurous locals alike.

"Speaking."

∞ | @Boudika