Returning Ghosts of the Morning Calm Land

Salvia Eternity · 07-14-2012, 11:19 AM

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When Salvia had first found the Korean, half-drowned and bedraggled on the beach, she had not known what to make of her. The concept of enslavement had come because she had fought—she had been the first to truly challenge her, to make her work for such a thing—and fought well enough to show use. Salvia was not like her mother, and did not value pretty things or trinkets. Even with Axi’s presence there was little for her to do; clean, prepare food, tend to Salvia but only when she asked. The Jindo-wolf had more tasks because she was better fit to them; she could hunt, fight, kill. She did not challenge authority (at least Salvia’s), and this suited her fine.

Green eyes trailed down to the four-legged shape. It always seemed somehow right that the other would walk below her. Salvia was tall for a woman, but compact. This weight was what kept her as TaeKyung’s superior. A part of her wondered what would happen if their roles ever became unbalanced. Would the slave turn on her? Yes, an instinctive part of her mind said.

The brand was as foreign to her as the language, but there was some magic in the shape, some ancient power in the strong lines. One hand lifted and brushed bloodied fingers over the mark; did she imagine the cold touch of the Void or was it truly there? She withdrew quickly, frowning.

“Many here,” she began, speaking openly because she knew Pandemic was not present. “Believe they have ways to the places of the dead. My mother tried to show me once.” Her expression changed. A savage, half-mad smile slipped across her face. There was base aggression there, but above it, something closer to true pleasure. “I tried to kill my traitorous sister. I became…something else. A tiger,” she looked at TaeKyung again, brows furrowed, as if some part of her did not understand this. “I do not believe your ghost has power here,” she concluded, as if this might justify her lengthy words.

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