Sounsyy instinctively withdrew her hand an ilm away as his moved closer. Her tired eyes stared at the young Miqo'te. Her gaze was one that should have born some fire, but coal to keep that passion stoked had long since been used without replenishment. So her stare was blank. Were there thoughts behind those eyes? Or did she just act from a basic, primal reflex to preserve herself like some lowly beast.
Her hand was held steady in its recoiled position, hovering just an ilm above the wood, a few ilms from Ryanti's own hand. She spoke slowly, carefully sounding out each word, "I dream I am not myself. In a place I've never seen. Dark and weightless, as if suspended beneath the sea. I dream of standing above a world made of cities and towers. I do not understand how I can be so high, and then everything be so dark. It is as if I am falling through the night sky. Then there is a door and lights, bright lights but not suns nor torches. So bright that I come awake and I feel as if my eyes must adjust to the morning light. Is this... familiar? What does it mean?"
She lets the questions hang in the air. A breeze rustles her hair and aerates the skin beneath her injured hand. She looks down, remembering it. She stares at it a while longer, seeing yesterdays bandage discolored from sweat and seaspray. She holds her hand out, palm down, slowly for Ryanti to see better. With her other hand she begins unwrapping the hand. The skin beneath is pale, void of sun and breeze for over a week. Her fingers twitch slightly as she unbinds her hand.
The back of her hand is bruised a deep purple with a sickly yellow border. Her ring finger was severed at the nearest joint below her knuckles. It appeared as if someone had attempted to perform healing magic to close the wound, but had failed and resorted to cauterizing it to staunch the bleeding. From the stiff way she held the finger, it was likely the bone at the base of the severed finger had been completely shattered.
"Were a bullet," she said finally, "Pierced meh shield and took a finger with it."
Her hand was held steady in its recoiled position, hovering just an ilm above the wood, a few ilms from Ryanti's own hand. She spoke slowly, carefully sounding out each word, "I dream I am not myself. In a place I've never seen. Dark and weightless, as if suspended beneath the sea. I dream of standing above a world made of cities and towers. I do not understand how I can be so high, and then everything be so dark. It is as if I am falling through the night sky. Then there is a door and lights, bright lights but not suns nor torches. So bright that I come awake and I feel as if my eyes must adjust to the morning light. Is this... familiar? What does it mean?"
She lets the questions hang in the air. A breeze rustles her hair and aerates the skin beneath her injured hand. She looks down, remembering it. She stares at it a while longer, seeing yesterdays bandage discolored from sweat and seaspray. She holds her hand out, palm down, slowly for Ryanti to see better. With her other hand she begins unwrapping the hand. The skin beneath is pale, void of sun and breeze for over a week. Her fingers twitch slightly as she unbinds her hand.
The back of her hand is bruised a deep purple with a sickly yellow border. Her ring finger was severed at the nearest joint below her knuckles. It appeared as if someone had attempted to perform healing magic to close the wound, but had failed and resorted to cauterizing it to staunch the bleeding. From the stiff way she held the finger, it was likely the bone at the base of the severed finger had been completely shattered.
"Were a bullet," she said finally, "Pierced meh shield and took a finger with it."
