“That is possible,” the golden haired man chuckled. He was of middling age, but appeared unusually youthful and smooth faced, perhaps with some elven roots in his lineage. “Or it could be for any of the others. Or just for safe keeping. Or some other reason we cannot even fathom. Perhaps he means to destroy it.”
“Why would he-” the woman cut off and she cast her gaze out the office’s window, looking down on the large fountain in the square. She stood and poured herself a cup of tea from the platter on the desk, pacing back to the wide pane of glass. “Khal’jaren will be pleased,” she said, still gazing out the window. People milled past the fountain three stories below, despite the early hour. “He showed he trusts us when he allowed us to handle an artifact of such power.”
“It is a delicate game of chess these Thaynes play, and we are only the pawns.” The man sipped his own tea, nearly down to the dregs. “One wrong move, and we may be sacrificed to further Khal’jaren’s agenda.”
“I am no one’s pawn,” the woman growled.
I had heard enough. I wafted out the window and traveled on the wind back to the forested shoreline of Scara Brae’s western coast. I took human form in a sluicing and re-shaping of steam.
Am’aleh had not misled me. I had caged my goddess for no reason greater than my own anxiety. Beads of sweat formed on the back of my neck as I considered her wrath. In one step I crossed the sea, back to the prison of solid water I had erected for Am’aleh. I found her in the corner, curled in a ball, head bobbing back and forth. Her golden hair swayed like swelling waves, her blue eyes as wide as the ocean.
“I am the ocean,” she whispered as I knelt before her, “I am the sea. Wherever you may flow-”
“Always return to me.” I caressed the sides of the collar, and all three adamantine hoops popped open.
~*~
Out of Character:
Submit Thread for Judgment
