This mare could destroy Straia, certainly. Any magician could. Though Straia doesn’t know this, doesn’t know this mare is magic through and through. Not that it would have stopped her from coming. Living in fear is not living at all. She will die one day, perhaps. If the Chamber asks it of her, she will give her life for it. If the Chamber still needs her, either the magic of the land will save it’s faithful Queen, or the generosity of the ravens will keep her alive. She does not need it now, not with the Chamber’s immortality in her veins. But they offer their life for hers, every day. They will die and feed their years into their Queen, even when she is no longer queen of anything else.
She will always be the Raven Queen.
Perhaps Beqanna will remember her as a monster. Something beautiful and laced with feathers, but without a heart. Perhaps they will not remember her at all. It doesn’t matter, in the end. So long as they remember the Chamber, she asks for nothing else. So long as they respect the Chamber, be it through fear or simple caution, they can call her whatever name they want.
Maybe she is a monster. Moreso than anyone but herself knows. With her crown and her kingdom, she has a second gift. One she hasn’t shown anyone, one she is reserving for a moment when she needs to stop an army from coming into her kingdom. She practices on the critters that run through the Chamber, constructs ravens just to kill them and then bring them back to life. She can do both, you see. Though if she leaves them dead too long, she has found it is best to leave them dead.
Real monsters are the ones that have died for too long and come back too many times.
The ravens haven’t told her of the boy, though perhaps not because they don’t know. Straia likes to discover some things for herself, and besides, the ravens are smart enough to know that sometimes, it is better for their Queen not to know certain things. If she knew, would this mare let her live? Or would shame drive the mare to kill again? Again and again, until no one knew, or no one was left to know?
“The ravens are smarter than just the surface. Though it is enough to attract their attention, certainly.” Mostly. They didn’t call out every horse with lightning. Only the ones with a streak of dark in their heart. Only the ones that might, one day, decide to burn the world down. “Can you manipulate the lightning in your skin? Make it real?” She assumes yes, but she’ll ask. See what information this mare might share, or not. Cordis doesn’t seem like a talker.
straia
the raven queen of the chamber
Use of mild power playing is allowed; no injuries without permission