The Vantha shrugged. "Does it really matter?" Cara asked. "They mark us because they deem us fit. They curse us because they think us unworthy. They see us as pitiful and weak, just as some of us view each other that way. Just as some of us see them as cowards, for hiding wherever it is they do. Save for our queen, it seems. She makes her presence known. Her location distinct. It was the same with Zintila, she was said to walk among the stars, and her people upon this plane."
Cara paused for a moment, considering her own words. "They may think us puppets. Something they can bend to their will, to carry out plots and wars of old, for them. When they refuse to fight for themselves. But they forget something, we each have our own free will. If not that, then we are slaves to our past, and the people who have helped to mold us into who we are, and what we are." The Vantha ran her hand through her hair, tugging away at some of the knots. "Marks have nothing to do with it. What they want for us, or with us, has nothing to do with it. They simply cannot guide those they don't regularly come to visit, or instruct. They cannot help those they deem their children, or their friends, if they don't do anything to help light the way."
Cara pulled her hand away from her hair, and stared off at her pile of bubbling magma. "These things seem more of a burden than anything else. They pit us against each other. Cause us to feel jealous of those who aren't cursed. Of those who have more marks than us. Marks that could be deemed better than the ones we carry." Cara paused. "Think about it. Everyone knows of Morwen's part in locking Ivak away. Do you believe then, that anyone who is marked by him would like our kind? That we in turn, should like anyone marked by him? Our gods are opposed. Remember that." Cara paused. "They may have given each of us something to help us. But it serves also, to help them. To have us fight their battles for them."
Cara shook her head. "They don't do anything entirely for us. But perhaps, that's only fair." With that, Cara turned back to the Hold, and stopped only when she was about a foot away. Her eyes grazed over the side of the building, taking in the icicles that dripped off the edge of the roof. The blocks of ice that clung to its side. When she found a smaller patch, within her reach she extended her right hand. Curled all of her fingers save for the pointer into her palm, and then, delicately placed her fingertip against the thin wall of ice.
We're not so deep, the ice seemed to sing to her. In a voice not so different than the tone her magic seemed to prefer. You could melt us. You could mold us. Cara smiled weakly, as she concentrated. She thought she could feel a slight heat radiating in her fingers. The snowflake, Morwen's mark, tingling. Growing cool, as she guided her finger around, in a small circle. About two inches high, and another two wide. As she moved it slowly, rhythmically, around and around, tracing her line the ice began to melt. Slowly. She watched as droplets of water slid down the ice wall, only to refreeze before landing in the bed of snow around her feet.
It was but a few seconds before Cara freed the icy circle from the wall. Before it fell to the ground by her feet with a muffled thud. Sending flurries of snow in every which direction. The Vantha merely smiled as she bent to pick it up. As she studied it. We are the circle. The symbol which signifies how everything goes round and round. That nothing truly ends, Cara heard it whisper. Or maybe, it was simply her imagination. She ran her thumb over the circle, allowing it to cool her fingertips as she moved, almost mechanically, to the side of her magma pool.
"It is foolish to forget the past," Cara called. "Foolish to think any of this can so easily be explained. Your questions answered. The sooner, child, you realize that nothing in this world can ever be explained. That nothing makes any sense, when you truly take the time to consider, the better off you will be." With that, Cara extended her hand over the bubbling pool of magma, she could feel it warming her feet. She could feel it warming the underside of her arm, as she whispered, "melt for me," willing her gnosis to melt the contents of her hand. For the water to spill through the spaces between her fingers, and drip into the magma. Causing it to bubble, and send tiny tendrils of smoke into the air.
"This is how it always shall be. No one understanding. No one ever winning. An endless war in which no one ever gains any ground, because no one wants to give any over to those they opposed," Cara growled. "Do you ever wonder my dear, if they still remember what happened? The day it all started? Why they fought? Truly? Why they hold a grudge against one another, and can't simply, make peace? Why our queen will stop at nothing to keep Ivak in his cage?"
Cara's eyes sparkled as she dropped her hand and took a few steps away from the magic she had created. "Have you ever tried to walk into the heat? Do you know of one of Ivak's men, what it must feel like for them to venture into the cold?" The woman shook her head, considering everything. Wondering why everyone and everything always fought. Why everything went about the way it did. A circle spiraling out of control. Yet, oddly enough, seeking balance. Maintaining a strange sort of balance despite the chaos that reigned free.
That was a foolish question. She is obviously too bloody sheltered. She has never left this place, Cara's mind hissed. "When you try it, you will understand just how cruel the world can be. Your innocence will be stripped from your very soul Nan," Cara continued, as her eyes flashed menacingly. "You will come to know that everyone, and everything is still being punished after a time long gone. Known only to those who bother with history. To try and understand it, in the hopes that whatever happened, can never repeat itself."
With that, Cara took another step back, and flicked her wrist, willing the last droplets of water, which clung to her flesh away. She still had yet to find something to do about the magma. Hopefully, something could be done before Morwen came along, and chastised her for using the substance of her enemy. She was sick of being chastised. But then again, was conjuring such an entity truly forbidden? |