i'm told that to be human i must stand still
you can try your hardest, but i never will
Time works on them all, an inescapable, merciless march that pulls them apart and drags them back together on reckless whims. She had known better than to believe everything would be as she had left it, but some foolishly naive piece of her still had.
And perhaps that is what fuels the anger inside her as she reveals his story in stilted verses. She knows, without asking, that he had not told her everything. And that is why she knows there is so much more to this monster than he reveals. That is why, as he speaks so emotionlessly, a snarl rises in her throat.
She knows, deep down, it’s her fault as much as this nameless monster’s. But that does not translate well in the more primitive recesses of her brain. And so that ferocity rises, undeniable as she stands abruptly, gaze casting briefly past him. As though this beast might lie in wait just behind him, rather than in the recesses of his past.
I will kill it. The thought whispers untempered in her thoughts. Not now, perhaps. But one day, it’s throat would know her teeth.
Raw instinct tells her to hunt the man who had botched her brother’s healing so badly too, but sense prevails before the desire is fully realized. Firen is alive, after all. Perhaps she would never thank him, but she would stay her baser instincts in payment for that service.
But she understands better now why he feels so different.
It takes considerable effort not to turn north. To seek out the isle and dig into its secrets until they all lay bare before her. But the weight of Firen before her holds her in check. She would not abandon him again. Not now.
There would be time enough for revenge later.
"Where is home?" she finally whispers as the echoes of her own growls fade.
ferran