[private] you called me rude and I take that as a compliment

[Mazikeen]

Fuck. This one, screeching word was all Maze could form in her mind as she stumbled down the slopes of the mountain with a hollow feeling in her chest. It made sense that she was going to be tested but this - this was beyond what she had imagined. Her head was filled with the same white noise, the same chaos that she had felt when she attacked Firion. There wasn’t room for any rational thought. Her fire aura flicked around her but it was inconsistent - providing light for flashes at a time as her rage boiled and caused her grip on it to slip frequently. In a way, this rage helped, because now she is standing by the river at the base of the mountain and she cannot remember much of the trek it took to get here. She releases whatever tenuous hold she has on the halo of flames and they wink out, leaving her in the darkness. Mazikeen blinks furiously as she tries to focus on the vague shapes of the landscape around her. They are blurrier than she expects and it takes several moments for her to realize this is because she is crying. The tears are hot and angry and they are not coming gently. Her breathing grows ragged as she tries to stop herself from crying, livid at the idea of doing something so embarrassing out in the open where anyone could see (even if it is dark) and at herself for crying at all. Naturally, trying to stem the flow only makes things worse. She’s only ever cried once - the night in the forest when she had been torn to pieces, when she lay there waiting for death to come all because she had not been able to defend herself. It is a different pain that rattles in her now but it’s all focused around the same fear. If she had not been strong enough then, how was she going to be strong enough now with her shapeshifting torn from her? She wanted a way to protect her friends and her home and now she is not even sure she’ll be allowed to go back home at all.

@[Sabal]