05-11-2020, 12:16 PM
The cacophony was like nails against her soul. Nim wrapped her arms around her waist as she walked, lips downturned. Petals from the flowers in her hair drifted shrivelled and grey, their scent like the fade of summer’s death. It smelled strongly of decay here; of the wanton waste from things left behind, not the rot of the living. The people she mostly ignored, their long pale faces and wide mouths, eyes rattling feverish in their skulls to distractions she could not always comprehend. Around her the music looped as if the same moment lived eternal, and yet her mind scrabbled at the melody, disturbed by missing notes; an imperfect circle of sound that made her want to cover her ears again.
Nimeda did not like the feel of the ground beneath her feet, the way it grabbed and tickled, sticky and sharp. There were no green things here at all. The sun did not visit this place, either.
She peered for traces of Mara’s pets, expecting to find them purring fat and contented in the shadows, but when movement finally caught her eye it was the fast-thrumming footsteps of a child, dodging through patches of light and the whirling kaleidoscope of laughter and screaming. Her arms unfurled just in time to catch him. “Well there you are, silly.” The smooth waters of her words were a different cadence to the rest, separate from his dreaming, at least for now. She had no power here, but the force of her nature was no small thing.
Her hand smoothed the back of his head, the warmth of her cradling arms like a mother’s touch. She would not stop him from pulling away, but neither from burying deeper into a comfort given freely; a brief solace from his fears, at least until they needed to move again. His heart was shrilling fast as a bird’s. “Did you get lost again? Come, take my hand and we’ll find our way out.”
Nimeda did not like the feel of the ground beneath her feet, the way it grabbed and tickled, sticky and sharp. There were no green things here at all. The sun did not visit this place, either.
She peered for traces of Mara’s pets, expecting to find them purring fat and contented in the shadows, but when movement finally caught her eye it was the fast-thrumming footsteps of a child, dodging through patches of light and the whirling kaleidoscope of laughter and screaming. Her arms unfurled just in time to catch him. “Well there you are, silly.” The smooth waters of her words were a different cadence to the rest, separate from his dreaming, at least for now. She had no power here, but the force of her nature was no small thing.
Her hand smoothed the back of his head, the warmth of her cradling arms like a mother’s touch. She would not stop him from pulling away, but neither from burying deeper into a comfort given freely; a brief solace from his fears, at least until they needed to move again. His heart was shrilling fast as a bird’s. “Did you get lost again? Come, take my hand and we’ll find our way out.”