She is pleased that he follows her; she had not expected him to. Truthfully, there had been a part of her that was hoping that he would resist. She did love a good fight—and it had been a long time since she had been able to do just that—but she could not deny that she is happy that he makes the journey easier by simply following her through the portal. Together, they are spat out deeper into the tangling trees of the meadow, the darkness more complete here with light barely filtering to where they stood.
Here, Anastasia is in her element, her body blending perfectly into the shadows. The only part of her that is visible at all are the round, yellow eyes that peer out at him—even her inky black teeth lost in the shadows that sweep over the both of them. “Good,” she huffs lightly, visibly relaxing in this environment. Taking a step away, she circles around him, measuring him up. “Good.”
She had no real experience controlling shadows—only what she had seen Rhonan perform in their time together. After all, she did not wield any power over the darkness, she simply lived among it as its equal. She was dangerous, but in a completely different way than the shadow manipulators that she was beginning to accumulate. It helped that acid bubbled beneath the surface of her skin.
“Prac-tice,” she demands, motioning toward the darkness that covered the ground. “Ask sha-dow to move there.” It was a start—albeit a small one—but if focused, she was sure that he would be able to accomplish it. “Ask. No tell,” she warns him with a frown, lips pulling back slightly. “Sha-dow no like when you tell. Be nice to sha-dow.”
like the moon, we borrow our light
{I am nothing but a shadow in the night}