again you’re gone, off on a different path than mine
i'm left behind wondering if i should follow
There’s no wait at all, and Lepis turns ready to defends herself to Heartfire (who else could have known she was here so quickly but smeone who sees from eyes not her own?). But it is not Heartfire, and she is struck dumb enough and long enough that Neverwhere has time to introduce herself and direct her to the windbreak. Lepis follows, without protest. She keeps the open air above her, even with an overhang to shelter beneath, a creature of the air preferring the safety of the open sky to a snug nest.
The weak winter sunlight illuminates the cracked and bloody mouth of the half-eared mare, but Lepis has seen more blood and worse splits. She looks neither twice nor with interest, though she does briefly think of a plant that grows in the hills of Loess. It would do wonders for the other mare, Lepis thinks. Even if the taste is lacking, the oddly juicy plant with its weak spines that scrape along the tongue does wonders for cuts and scrapes. If they were in Loess, Lepis would offer it, but they are not. This is a cold and barren land that she is not welcome in. She does not have time for pleasantries or kindness. She cuts to the chase, just as Neverwhere has asked.
“I came to see what Heartfire knows of the curse that afflicts my former husband. It’s familial, from what I understand, and she’s dealt with it before.” It is not often that the dun mare is straightforward, that she does not veil what she means behind what she says. “So far the destruction he’s wrought has been…limited.” Her voice catches on the word she uses for her heartbreak, but she does not pause. “But he’ll escalate eventually. The curse will make sure of it. He needs to be stopped, to be contained before someone ends up dead.”
She had let her responsibility to her children, her king, and her territory distract her from her responsibilities to her husband. She’s heard no tales of broken bodies turning up unexpectedly, but she also doesn’t know how the creature inside Wolfbane acts in the later stages of madness. Is it a secretive killer like her father? Or one found of open carnage? These are the questions she means to ask Heartfire. And yet its not Heartfire she speaks to, but to a chapped and bleeding brown mare who’d spoken with such surety of being obeyed that Lepis recognizes someone worth hesitating around, someone that might be a threat.
“I don’t plan on staying here, assuming you’ve not seen him in Nerine of late? I’d have rather not come at all, but some things are worth facing down the threats I received the last time I was here.” Her tone is brisk and her words truthful. Lepis doesn’t name the things that are worth it, but surely at the very least Neverwhere will understand that the dun mare is here to prevent violence. “Where is Heartfire?” She finally adds, certain that the explanation she has given to the dappled mare is enough to merit her directions to the queen. Unless…
Lepis doesn’t know that Neverwhere is the new queen, but she does finally piece together the lack of retribution. Heartfire is gone. The puzzle is complete, especially when she adds it to the reason she came. “Has Wolfbane been here?” She asks, her voice suddenly sharp, her words as pointed as the pewter light in her eyes. “Do you know him? I’d describe him, but the bastard can take any shape he wants, and he's got a serious grudge against his grandmother. ”
LEPIS
i’m the one who sees you home--
but now i’m lost in the woods
and i don’t know what path you are on |
