Ashamin & Zandora



In passing, our moments
dissolved into an emptiness I considered
suitable. What made sense for me
surely was come from you, birthed between
your mind and heart.

I was come from a hollow between
your childhood nights and your womanly days
I was made out of clay like a figurine
puddy in your hands.




"My Haruspex... alright..." were the last fragments of speech Ashamin heard before the world was taken completely up in blackness. Above him, with slow pocking noises, a new sky emerged and filled itself with stars. They were constellations of a heartsick dream, but they were constellations nonetheless.

His subconscious heard Zandora's continuing words enough to take them in, but his active mind was otherwise occupied. In a dreamland, a dizzying state of uncertainty, he wandered in space searching for something. Something, but... but what? A deeper meaning, maybe? But no--a deeper meaning to what?

Questions formed like nebulae, surrounding him in awkward mists. He felt unable to see, it was difficult even to hear. He thought maybe, for a half formed moment, he wasn't going to wake up.

It was Lena's song that pulled him out from that netherworld. He felt himself waking the way one feels themselves shedding a heavy coat, and he knew he was stronger even before the healer let her last note fade into silence. He didn't know all the kindness Zandora had spoken--maybe it wasn't time for it, yet.

"Lena..." he murmured awkwardly as he struggled to stand. He knew, just by the patient and even rhythm of his own heart, that she had patched him up with skill. He stood on shaky legs, meeting Lochan's concerned gaze, and let his long tail unfurl to keep him balanced. When Zandora thanked Lena, so did he:

"Yes, Lena, thank you," he added. The words felt numb--everything did. He became very aware of the snow under his feet and the aching of his body, wanting him home. "I think I should go, I should rest," he went on, feeling suddenly anxious at the thought of how far he was from his cave. He couldn't face Zandora, even if she was healed. He trained his dark eyes on the ground and started to turn away.

"I'd like to see you again, soon," he said. Lochan fell in step with the haruspex, and the two very slowly took their first steps. Ashamin would let the pair decide who he had been speaking to, and he would let them come to him again.

As far as he was concerned, he couldn't see either of them again for quite some time. It had just been a formal lie, really. The only thing he could imagine was hiding forever in the shadows of his cave, grappling with the shame of a wintery glade soaked in blood.

[[Sorry for the wait and the cutting this short, both are a result of my obscene business. Would like to thread Z and Ashamin again next time I have more time.]]

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