S E R A P H I N A
in the absence of everything
ABSTAIN FROM FEAR--
in the absence of everything
ABSTAIN FROM FEAR--
Seraphina pretends not to notice the lackadaisical disbelief in his posture, the faint curve of his lips. It matters little to her anyways if he believes her or not, and even less if he trusts her. For all the concern she has for Solterra’s relationship with Denocte, it fails to truly extend to compassion for his circumstances, genuine understanding of his outrage, or any true comprehension of why he might be amused by the prospect of her efforts. If she were locked up by another nation, how would she react? (Coldly, apathetically, absently, methodically, mechanically – Seraphina, after all, does not value her freedom in the same way that it seems many of her fellows do. She is a creature of constraint, and the concept of living free of such bindings, much less being obligated freedom, seems quite ridiculous to her. Another potent thing so easily taken for granted, too easily believed that it was owed.) She nevertheless listens to his words with an attentive silence, ears twitched forward to catch his words. If she wants to present a convincing case to her notoriously stubborn sovereign, she has to take whatever information he can offer. He tells her that he left immediately after the first meeting with Maxene, after seeing the rest of the herd. That aligns with what she knows of his disappearance, and she nods, but offers no further affirmation or observation.
Her next words find their way free of her lips with the same dry, clinical intonation that seems to color her speech most of the time. “And why Denocte? How did you find yourself among Caligo’s children?” He’s a foreigner – she knows that much. Perhaps he is unaware of the years of war that preluded their current relationship, all the tension and violence and bad blood. Perhaps he doesn’t understand why Solterra would feel so threatened by Caligo’s children. (In truth, she does not completely understand Maxence’s own worry, save the justifiable threat of a spy among them. He was not of Novus’s blood, after all; the ties did not run so deep in him. However, if there were a spy in their midst, then it would mean that Denocte had regarded them with mistrust even before they captured Rostislav…and mistrust would always be met with its ilk.) She regards him quietly, then, waiting for whatever answer he had to offer – how had the darkness seduced him away from the light, stolen him away to the land of stars, and all those who hid under their cover?
She would never understand the appeal, she imagines, but Seraphina is a blunt woman; better to leave everything in the light, knowing that it would be met with cruel judgement, than to attempt to obscure it beneath the shadows.
@Rostislav - sera'll probably be out in the next post! <3 sorry for the wait, again.
I'M IN A ROOM MADE OUT OF MIRRORSand there's no way to escape the violence of a girl against herself.☼please tag Sera! contact is encouraged, short of violence
