(504)
The knotted and knobby thing was faintly cool to the touch. The coal-hued woman did not fool herself into thinking this relic was more sacred than the Eternian knife she carried, but she could hardly deny its power. The shadow himself had touched this one in more ways than one -- he had given life to this bone, and he had taken it in the end, too. It was, in truth, all she had of him. It was not him, however -- only a small piece of the dead shadow.
Salvia took the pale thing carefully. The woman who had given her life for this tool had been older than Salvia was now. Eris did not remember her so well -- pale fur and light eyes, she thought. It was Haku she remembered, the liver-brown man with his eyes of the bluest skies. There had been no summer day joy in that gaze, though. Only deep shadows lurked there, promising to turn each day to ash and ruin as it arrived.
The sable woman watched mutely as the earthen-toned canine took the rabbit, care evaporating from Salvia's motions she arced the jagged bone toward the living flesh. The death-shriek seemed to resonate between the decayed walls of her home, but Eris did not so much as flinch; her yellow-green eyes burned feverish hope toward the younger woman and the rest of her remained still and silent as the stone surrounding them.
There was no disappointment in Eris to accompany Salvia's. The hybrid concealed a faint smile, dipping her head forward slowly. The skull slid forward, stopping with a jerk as it came to the end of the straps holding it secure. She reached past the altar and the dead rabbit, her fingers seeking a particular cubbyhole in the rock. She drew two tiny buttons from the dark hole, both long withered and dried.
Don't fret, the woman crooned softly, pressing one of the feather-light mushrooms into Salvia's palm. They were darkened and nearly black with age, but a thick blue sheen was still apparent on them, evidence of the magic lurking within this plant-flesh. Sometimes we all need help to awaken our souls, she added, knowing even she was not above these plant magics. She licked her own into her mouth as the younger woman swallowed her own seed of knowledge. For Eris, this would lend just an edge of the other realm's shade to this one -- her tolerance was higher.
The rabbit would not go to waste, either -- she stuck her fingers in the still-warm flesh and pulled them away bloody red. These fingers she put to Salvia's shoulder, smearing a long red stripe in her fur. This the hybrid did again and again, her movements slow and purposeful, until she was aware that the fire was moving beyond the perimeter of its pit, dancing on long and spindly legs of brilliant flame. She breathed in sharply, her chartreuse gaze shifting to Salvia.
#simple-text {
font-family:georgia; serif;
font-size:12px;
width:95%;
margin:0px auto;
line-height:16px; }
#simple-text p {
text-indent:50px; }
#simple-text b {
letter-spacing:.5px; }
#simple-text b:before {
content: open-quote; }
#simple-text b:after {
content: close-quote; }
#simple-text b.npc {
letter-spacing:.5px;
font-style:italic; }
#simple-text hr {
width:85%;
margin: 10px auto; }
</style>
[/html]