It’s Over, Isn’t It? You’d been half-joking about traveling together when you’d said it, but you have to admit, the notion is a little tempting. It seems particularly poignant right now, as the two of you sit, staring out at the sliver of Satina on the horizon, rehashing cover stories and discussing exactly what kind of information you want to feed to the Inquisitor now that you have his ear about at least one thing.…
Irritants Electricity is thrumming inside your veins. Fire is throbbing just under your skin. It itches at your fingertips. Your mood is, in a word, frightful. It takes you a moment to fully register it; you got your food and skirted off to yourself, under a tree, before the feeling fully registered to you. Part of the problem was that the feeling is vaguely indecipherable. It’s physical. It feels like your blood is on fire,…
You head back before it gets dark, before the sun even settles fully on the horizon, in fact. Days are long here, with no mountains on the horizon to cut off the sun’s light. But you do want to dry off while there’s still sun to dry in, and get back to Dorian and his magic drying powers before the heat escapes straight out of the cloudless desert sky. All three of you are fairly…
DaD Bod As if to emphasize the problem, during the afternoon ride Sera starts inserting herself between you and Alas’len as much as possible. Physically, in some cases, something that’s helped along by that practically-a-pony horse she rides. But you keep Revas a certain distance away from other mounts for a reason, and by the second time you have to muscle him away from clocking her horse in the head, you’re absolutely sick of it.…
Getting to Know You “You have a friend!” From the way Cole’s unbridled enthusiasm explodes out of him the second you crawl into your tent, he must have been waiting to get you alone with even more enthusiasm than you’d had about getting Alas’len alone. He’s practically vibrating. “I have several friends, Cole. Like you, for instance.” “In, out, flowing freely from one into another. A body doesn’t choose to breathe but takes in air—”…
Alas’len You know, objectively, that it hasn’t been that long since you last saw him, but it isn’t often that the two of you had an all out melee to participate in. Had he always been so bloodily efficient? Is that how you look on the battlefield to others, a scythe of efficient magic and daggers through eyes and spines with pinpoint accuracy? You already know that’s not the case; Banal’ras uses his magic in…
The Past Catches Up With You You wake up, slow and groggy, to the sensation of something warm and wet and furry shoving against your face. You grunt and bat vaguely in front of you, coming in contact with what appears to be a large, furry wall. Cracking one eye open, you see nothing more than a giant nose directly in front of you. It exhales hot breath onto your face. You push Bella’s nose…
The Biology and Politics of Sunburn You wake up to the taste of ash in your mouth between gritted teeth. Cole must have woken you, though you don’t see him anywhere. Maybe he’s decided to make himself scarce as you wake so he doesn’t have to deal with your bad mood. And you’re in a frightful one right now. You absolutely ache for someone to take this feeling out on. It crawls under your skin…
Unimportant Complications Your first thought was to tell your master. Years later, you would understand that to the world at large, that would seem absolutely, completely insane. But you’d been his for years at that point; you hated him, but so did everyone he owned. That’s probably the natural state for any chattel under the sun. You believe with all your heart that if chickens and cows can hate, they do so fiercely and without…
Avoiding “No, focus. You seek to control your power, but it is a part of you, like an arm. See it as such, and control becomes not domination, but casual mastery. You do not seek to control your arm, it merely does as you wish.” You are terrified that if you lose your grip, this beautiful wagon will go up in flames. Control of light without heat is difficult for you. How are you meant…