and when i breathed
my breath was lightning
They would never be sisters in the traditional sense. Not the kind that played together, that told each other of boys and giggled into the night. No, Rhy has never told Kora of Kratos. She would, of course, if it ever came up in conversation. But it has been Lagertha that had teased her about Kratos, about a horde of electric babies in the future. It would be Lagertha or Scorch that Rhy will run to if or when that ever happens. Not Kora. She’d find Kora, of course. But never first.
They don’t even bicker like sisters. They don’t claw and scream. They don’t make up and then start fighting all over again. No. They simply never had a relationship at all. Just snippets of one fragmented with fear and running and emptiness. Rhy couldn’t be herself, and Kora couldn’t look at her. The ice that covers her sister’s skin and runs in her veins may be the only reason they have formed any sort of bond at all. And despite the cold that follows her sister like a plague, Rhy has come to love it.
This time though, when Kora finds her, the flurries die and its just Kora (and her ice armor, but Rhy wouldn’t expect that to be gone). She grins slightly, though the grin is pained, because nothing about this conversation is going to fun. One day they will have a conversation where they embrace and talk about love and life and their grown up children and how far they have come. One day.
Today is not that day, but the promise of it keeps Rhy from dissolving into tears right then and there. Kora is quick to notice the lack of tattoo’s on Rhy’s skin and is already asking what happened. Oh. So much Kora. Rhy’s smile fades, and she shakes her head slightly. “You really have been living in a snow mound, haven’t you?”
She tries to chuckle, tries to lighten the mood. But it’s impossible. “Beqanna has changed, Kora. The magic was stripped from the kingdoms and spread out equally. There are no more divisions. Not because mythics and non-mythics. Not because dark and light. Our tattoos were stripped, but will return in time as the magic settles and grows. In our case, the spirit of the Amazon roams the Jungle as a jaguar cub.” At this, she does smile a bit, thinking of the time she spends playing with the cub. Being a lion gives her a different approach to the cub than most of the other sisters.
But her smile is shortlived as she looks at her sister. So bright and hopeful and untouched. Maybe her life of solitude is perfect for her. Maybe it’s best not to know. But Rhy has to tell her. She can’t keep this secret. Her sister deserves the truth, no matter how painful. “The tattoos are the least of it, though.” She disappears from view then, in the blink of an eye. She doesn’t stay gone long, but when she comes back her coat is speckled gray and she’s not entirely corporeal. “Carnage called us to the end of the world. We had to bring Gail back from the end, and we did. But Beqanna wouldn’t return her.”
She takes a breath, the sound of the langoliers in her ears. They will always be there, in the back of her mind. “We were sent to Beqanna’s afterlife. I saw so many of the dead there.” She pauses again, because she doesn’t know how to say it. Doesn’t want to say it. Telling Lagertha and Kratos and Scorch made it feel real, but only somewhat. Telling Kora makes it impossible to take back. So she just takes a breath and starts. It comes out as a waterfall, because if she stops, she may never start again.
“Our parents were there, Kora, with the dead. Happy and together. But we won’t see them again. Well, not here, anyway. I can get back there, Kora. I can take you. And they told me we have a brother. His name is Leander, and he’s gold and white too. They said we should find him.” And then she falls silent finally. It’s too much all at once, she knows, so she lets the silence spread as long as Kora needs.
rhy
the electric lioness of riagan and rayelle
@[Kora] - think I took longer than you to reply. Sorry lady :/