"He's dead."
She hadn't needed to look at the crumpled Chiet for long; the man was face down in a pool of his own blood. Had a majority of his life force spilling out onto the roughened stone not killed him, he surely would have drowned by the time Addy had untangled herself from wing and feather to reach him. What a horrible way to go.
Never the less, the little healer had stooped and turned the man over. Thankfully, it was hard to make out his features beneath the dark, congealed blood that smeared his face, because Addy didn't think she could deal with looking into the poor mans vacant eyes and seeing a life she helped snuff short. The knife, though it had been an accident, sliced deep and cleanly through the throat, leaving a mawing gash that set Addy awash with the prickly feeling of shame, regret, and embarrassment.
Sira had held the knife but were they all not guilty? Could the three of them, Endals all, not control themselves or each other to an extent where they didn't kill the very people they swore to protect? Though she was newly Risen to Endal, Addy had adapted to her Caste well enough to know the codes of conduct that they not only followed but enforced. Lead by example, right? But Sira was grief stricken with the loss of her mother, so where did that put them? Excused? Still held accountable?
When Addy had returned to the women to share her findings, her bryda were stained with blood below the knee, her hands a dark crimson and there was a drying smear on her left cheek. She had lost herself in contemplation by the Chiet's body, forgetting that the others had been waiting for her.
"He's very dead." The blood on her person would have been testimony enough but Addy was still not completely there, half her mind gone to pondering what would become of them as she repeated her findings again. She was numb, little emotion showing in her usually very expressive face, her green eyes dull with their lack of sparkle.
"We have to go to the Valintar.... but what do we do with the body?" Though she should have provided her lover with comfort, her mind was not in that place. Like Sai, Addy had little room to spare for emotion... She had, by extension, just killed. For the first time.
"Oh gods." And her hands began to shake a little. "What did we do?"
She hadn't needed to look at the crumpled Chiet for long; the man was face down in a pool of his own blood. Had a majority of his life force spilling out onto the roughened stone not killed him, he surely would have drowned by the time Addy had untangled herself from wing and feather to reach him. What a horrible way to go.
Never the less, the little healer had stooped and turned the man over. Thankfully, it was hard to make out his features beneath the dark, congealed blood that smeared his face, because Addy didn't think she could deal with looking into the poor mans vacant eyes and seeing a life she helped snuff short. The knife, though it had been an accident, sliced deep and cleanly through the throat, leaving a mawing gash that set Addy awash with the prickly feeling of shame, regret, and embarrassment.
Sira had held the knife but were they all not guilty? Could the three of them, Endals all, not control themselves or each other to an extent where they didn't kill the very people they swore to protect? Though she was newly Risen to Endal, Addy had adapted to her Caste well enough to know the codes of conduct that they not only followed but enforced. Lead by example, right? But Sira was grief stricken with the loss of her mother, so where did that put them? Excused? Still held accountable?
When Addy had returned to the women to share her findings, her bryda were stained with blood below the knee, her hands a dark crimson and there was a drying smear on her left cheek. She had lost herself in contemplation by the Chiet's body, forgetting that the others had been waiting for her.
"He's very dead." The blood on her person would have been testimony enough but Addy was still not completely there, half her mind gone to pondering what would become of them as she repeated her findings again. She was numb, little emotion showing in her usually very expressive face, her green eyes dull with their lack of sparkle.
"We have to go to the Valintar.... but what do we do with the body?" Though she should have provided her lover with comfort, her mind was not in that place. Like Sai, Addy had little room to spare for emotion... She had, by extension, just killed. For the first time.
"Oh gods." And her hands began to shake a little. "What did we do?"
