jane
The Terminus Sea raged.
On the slopes above the ocean, Jane found herself changed from the being who had once crossed these same shores. From the rocks she could see the waves crashing against the shore, the foam as white as teeth. It was night time, and the moon swayed with her movements, always watching.
Once upon a time, Jane had been a girl here. She remembered the ache of her muscles, the raw hunger in her gut from months of walking with nothing but brown shrubbery to keep her alive. She had been stubborn here, stupid here. She had met a mare down on those shores, a creature of sea shells and magic. To think that a single meeting on that shore would be the last normal interaction Jane had. Two days later, Hardison would be dead and Jane would be alone with her childhood and innocence bleeding from the bite wounds in her hide. And what of Willoughby, left rifling through the seashells on the shore. Jane had loved to see the ocean. It had been angry then, but it had bewitched her.
Now it didn’t even try. Ducking her head, Jane turned and made her way along the edge of the cliff. Starlight bathed her skin, and unlike in Night she felt truly alone. She did know it was foolish; no political affiliations would save her. Not that she was certain it would save her anyway, now. She and Seb were still close, but she could see the annoyance starting to grow in her aunt’s eyes.
After a while, Jane found a place that sloped to a calmer part of the sea. Before her stretched the sea, as wide as anything she had ever seen. Endless. Sand and salt brushed against the plains of her face and burned at her nostrils. It had been like that before too, but it tasted more bitter now. Jane kicked a little at the sand before a new scent entered her consciousness. Yes, alongside the scent of brine and seaweed, there was the scent of something living. Equine? She couldn’t really place it.
Jane paused, nearly expecting to be pounced. You couldn’t judge first appearances, but you also couldn’t be too careful. There were many creatures that would easily snap up an innocent mare, body filled to the brim with wasted life and love.
The scent lingered, and she located it until she noticed a pair of hoofprints. They started in the dry but quickly filled with water. A flash of panic registered in Jane’s chest but she controlled it, turning to the direction. There, out in the still waters, was the form of another. It certainly looked equine, the moon capturing the creature’s frame. Jane had heard of kelpies from her mother, but this horse was facing away from her rather than toward her. It wasn’t looking at her.
A bit of water brushed over Jane’s hocks and she winced at the icy cold. Despite the fact that Summer made the land bake during the day, at night it was nearly cold enough to kill. In the Autumn, it was like knives in her legs.
“You shouldn’t trust the water,” Jane called out, recovering herself, “It looks still, but it isn’t. It can pull you in. And the creatures here don't kill slowly.” She braced herself for a reaction, for someone to tear her down and bite into her, to end her feeble life. (And what a meaningless life, Jane thought. What an anticlimax, what a nothing she was. Would they even care, back in Angora? Would they even know, with her body drawn into watery depths where no one would ever see her?)
@[Veil Nebula] / speaks / i adore her!
