time is so vicious

Alaine Winters · 05-10-2011, 11:17 PM

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Water beaded on the woman's red leather cloak, dripping morosely from the hood that covered her face in shadow. She rode with ease, swaying rhythmically on the broad-backed mare that plodded in docile grace beneath her. In spite of the onslaught of rain, both creatures seemed efficiently at ease in each other's company, slipping like wraiths amongst the scattering of trees.

They were nearing the ocean, and beneath the heavy scent of fresh rain Alaine could detect the salty tang of freedom that called to her so mercilessly. She was a creature drawn constantly to the ocean - Reassured by its might and its omnipotent, everlasting power. Her people had come from the ocean, and the spiritual paganistic soul within her found the essence of her homelands and her deities within the constant breaching and ebbing of the tide.

Dry beneath her oiled dull-red cloak, the woman remained unchilled by the gently moaning ocean wind. The rain was mild in temperature, but the ocean would be a frigid mistress, stubbornly clinging to the bite of a winter now passed. The cold months had provided for the Winters woman, her blood named for its frozen tongue. Dea had given her the warmth of a man, and three children. But they were fleeting and they were wrong, chemically unbalanced in a way not even the Apothecary's skilled fingers could heal. She loved them dearly, but was wounded by the failure of her fertility, and the monstrosity it could have created.

Pines thinned, and her beloved ocean came to view. Pulling the snorting mare to a halt, the woman's sharp emerald eyes found instantly the blemish on the smooth, unbroken beach - A figure donned in drenched white, sitting listless in the shallows. Her heart clutched painfully, and with a sharp jab of her heels into round haunches, she spurred the mare forward. The horse shied at the sensation of wet sand beneath her massive hooves, and pranced sideways uneasily. Without waiting for the beast to come to a complete stop, the woman slid from her saddle and stumbled as she landed, gaining her feet to run the last few steps toward the man she was now sure she knew.

The rain was loud, but her voice sounded above it, ringing with a mixture of shock and concern. "Jefferson!" He must be delusional, wounded, perhaps even hypothermic to remain sitting out here in the cold wind and rain and water. The hood fell back from the woman's head, releasing her unruly tangle of auburn curls, which were quick to become drenched. Beads of water clung to her eyelashes, temporarily obscuring emerald eyes. "What on earth are you doing? Come with me, now... Come, get out of the water-" She reached for him, but hesitated, hand hovering gingerly. Perhaps he had gone mad.

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