jane
The world sang, raged around them, and Jane moved to shield the stranger from it. Protection and recognition pulsed in her chest, so powerful it could upend her. The undulation of fear in the other’s celestial face; the swirling calm that could only come from terror. Jane stepped closer to the mare, as though her height could block the world out from the other. But behind the terror lay something else, that Jane couldn’t truly recognise.
Gratitude.
Jane had lost herself on this beach before. The waves represented many things to her now; not just the ending of life but beginning. She remembered tales from her education, how a deity of love had sprung from the sea foam. It was used as a lesson, she remembered. How the sea could be so inviting but so, so deadly.
The unending sound died around her, as though warped by the other’s presence. The wind had started to pick up; and it threw itself against her body. Sand, salt, and other things threatened to hurt her. As she had expected, the tide was coming in. Slowly, it would inch up over her knees, to her haunches, and eventually it would consume her. Would she even die? Or would this figure change that too, drawn into perpetual orbit.
As she turned, it was clear that the other was nervous. Jane understood that. There were those in this land that could not be trusted, as in any land. But a silent vow sang in her heart, that this figure was someone important. If asked, she couldn’t say if it was important for the world, or important to her, but it was an importance that underlay everything. Jane smiled as the other finally accepted her invitation. Jane noted the dust that flew over the sand, the colours different from the sand.
This was bitter terrain. Jane knew that well; and the stress of the environment kept the grass sweet. Jane led the way up to the ledges that she had stood on before, and cast a final glance to the ocean behind them- the moon like a cup spilling milk over the waves that were growing more violent even from here.
Jane managed to find an outcrop that was sheltered from the wind and paused. Autumn was in full swing, and those that were seasonal were now brown. Amid the green grass shivered bushes that were bone-dry, as white as the seashells on the shore. She tried to twist toward a patch of grass that the other might find some interest in. She dipped her head to a patch and slid her glance up. “Grass,” she said, as though it might help the other to know the term. A thought flashed through her mind- the other hadn’t spoken, hadn’t registered even her name. Jane twisted her neck a little, so her muzzle bumped her own side. “Jane.” She wondered if it would affect anything, or if her name mattered at all.
@[Veil Nebula] / speaks / i LOVE THIS THREAD
