got a devil on your back so shake it out

[Straia]

sometimes we want what we want --
    -- even if we know it’s going to kill us.

Straia catches the memory shared with her, and a smile curves onto her lips. She rather likes the image of herself painting in this girl’s memory. It is the image she wanted all to see. So many saw only that she burned Brennen’s barrier, that she allowed destruction (and yet, had she not protected the children? Had she not sent rain to stop the fires?). She was so much more than that, but so few could look past the surface. That was their loss, of course.

Aela was not one of them.

Straia too can hear Aela’s thoughts. She can hear all thoughts, whether they are directed at her or not, if she so chooses. Usually she does little more than take a bit from the surface. She rarely pries when uninvited though, at least not too deeply. But still, it is no matter for her to hear a thought given freely, as Aela’s are. And Straia likes her boldness.

She chuckles slightly, speaking back in her mind simply because it feels correct to do so. I can do more than open the sky, she says with a wry grin. Though in truth, it is not my strongest skill. Long ago, when Beqanna was different, I was granted raven magic. A strange magic back then, for magic was not channelled as it is now. On her back appears a large raven, its beady black eyes looking at Aela intently. The tips of its wings burn with fire. When the faeries brought me back, I was made into something more. My power is...not limitless, but deeply connected to Beqanna, and vastly more than it was. Though she can control the sky, she will always prefer her ravens.

I cannot give you traits, at least not ones that you can keep. For that, you must ask the faeries. But if you gain such a power, I can teach you to use it. It is the best offer she can make, and the raven on her back takes off, winging into the sky before bursting into smoke and disappearing. But you did not come all the way from the North simply to tell me you’d like such a power, did you?

-- straia

the raven queen

@[Aela]