to stubborn to see i've been mentally unable to find,
serenity, i'm living in this faded reality
serenity, i'm living in this faded reality
It was nearing late summer and the lake was a haven for flies, mosquitos, and other pests, but Kassandra hated the heat more than she feared their incessant buzzing. The soaking, sucking mud swallowing up against her hocks was so soothing she considered flopping on her side and coating herself in the stuff. She felt much like the lilies, floating on top of the water, their pads great and green, seven inches around or larger, but they themselves darkening and wilting with the looming, heavy temperatures. The bulrushes were thick and devoid of their spring fuzzies; the bullfrogs and dryophytes long gone silent with the heat of the afternoon.
Kassandra dipped her lips to the water, disturbing the mirror-like, blue surface, and caught her reflection in the eye. She looked haggard, and old, but it was the heat, mostly. She had not been sleeping well ever since Caligo appeared in the capital and left her bed of dreams empty; Kas spent long nights wandering star-dusted expanses in search of her goddess, in search of Her word, and woke restless and sore, as though she had walked the same distance in the physical realm, as well. Add onto her exhaustion the ever-present heat and Kass was in a constant state of praying for fall.
A few feet off the shore, Oculos cut a streamlined shape through the water. He was far enough out that the lily stems and choking duckweed didn’t catch or entangle his feet, but close enough for Kas to keep an eye on. She envied him his freedom and, mostly, his compact form-- she would do nothing but splash gracelessly into the muck and mire should she attempt to go for a swim. Still, she was heavily considering it-- until she saw something that made her freeze.
A strange, white form was sluicing through the water; it was serpentine, but not, and also piscine, but not. Kas opened her mouth to call a warning to Oculos but he was already at her side, their bond tighter than ever through this stressful time. A silent nod passed between them as Kas picked her way through the rush fronds and buckthorn tangles, coming along the shore towards the strange creature in the water.
Kas couldn’t really tell if it was horse or fish or snake. She oogled, curious and with such force that it was probably rude.
“Pardon me,” she said, sounding childlike and full of wonder, and only a little bit insensitive, “but what are you?”
