Sunlight, married to the salt-soaked sweat upon Rhoswen's swallowborne shoulders, cascaded earthward. In the desert, light was the water and the soil and the trees; the angel of life and death - it was everything. And she loved it. For here she could be herself in the most undiluted form. No formalities, or chains, only the great blue tapestry of the sky and gold gold gold beneath her feet. Even today, sent on a task she was dreading, the desert gave her muse and joie de vivre; a skip lilting against her willowy rhythmic canter. For several days she had spent avoiding the back-breaking work of planting the food garden required to sustain so many mouths; labour of the physical kind had never appealed to a girl like she - a girl with hands as small and soft as a lamb. But what with Max and Avdotya's watchful eyes, she could avoid it no longer and so to the river she had run - a light sling across her dainty back and two buckets either side. The well within day court was small and archaic, no doubt it would take hours to tug up enough water; Rhoswen had thoughts of her own.
It seemed, however, she wasn't the only one. Eyes of smoke rested upon a figure she knew all too well, her gaze unusually cold for a girl so filled with fire. So far, Rhos had managed to avoid Raum's company - treating it as though he were the plague; but she should have known that at some point their paths would cross. The girl paused from afar, long legs stilling as she watched his silver frame: he wilted, strong shoulders bowed and his ears drooping. Rhoswen knew the sun was draining him, the heat leeching his blood like a parasite; she hardened. It was his own fault, he should never have come. Slowly and quietly she approached, reluctance burning in every muscle in her body. "Go home, Raum. You'll kill yourself out here in this heat." It was not a protective tone she used, but one cauterized by distant contempt. Since their last meeting, Rhoswen had taken time to cool; her temper tamed, her sadness quelled; all those volcanic emotions buried beneath the sand upon which she stood. Now, she was indurate and stiff. "You don't belong here."
@Raum shoddy post rip
