08-01-2024, 02:53 PM
The frown deepened the lines of Sören’s expression, eyes hardened to slits as he tried to interpret the thick coils of power overhead. Mortals could witness the angry swell of clouds; the change in the air. But even Kemala could not see what he could. Rain began to spit upon his upturned face like mockery. Sören had no doubt who conjured such idiocy, but Elias must know by now that no display of his power would command the creature or her treasure to him. This was both foolish and dangerous, with no discernable gain.
He was not listening to Kemala speak, and the sudden spur of her movement away from him grit his teeth tighter with frustration at her pluck on his attention. But it was only when he realised the damn woman’s direction that he followed in haste, shouldering past the milling tourists wisely scurrying away from the unnatural storm. She was already ankle deep in the water by then, arms outstretched to the skies, and he did not need to heed the tingle across his skin to know what she was doing. His first irritated instinct was to haul her away before she got them both killed, but it was his second he acted on – gaze searching the churning line of water against the distant horizon as he came to stand close behind her.
Before either of their safety, Sören considered that they were now in the shallows, and the creature’s corpse would not fall lost to the deeps if she was vanquished here. Given Kemala’s prickly ire, he could not be sure she would even consent to be used in the hunt again, and the opportunity seized him tighter than the will to protect her from her own brash nature. Did she even consider what else her power might call? Yet between them, here and now, he knew they could do it.
His chest thundered in anticipation, but there was no movement across the lake beyond the fierce spears of rain, no matter how hard he stared.
Sören’s eyes stung as he sloughed the water free of his face with a swipe of his palm. Grim disappointment twisted his lips, and he was about to turn Kemala towards him with a sharp and commanding grip on her shoulder, when he realised with some measure of surprise that the storm was responding to her. He never touched her, hand hovering only a fraction from her fluttering shawl before it returned to his side, fingers curled inward. She barely stood to his chest, this ferocious tempest, and Sören stared down with an awed hunger for his witness of the arcane secrets that had mystified him since they met. Even the air around her stirred warmer, like she carried a sun in her chest in place of a heart. Her eyes were closed. Serenity in the chaos.
His gaze traced her features before she spoke again, eyes opening to the challenge extended, and with it Sören’s attention also lifted, to see if she received an answer.
He was not listening to Kemala speak, and the sudden spur of her movement away from him grit his teeth tighter with frustration at her pluck on his attention. But it was only when he realised the damn woman’s direction that he followed in haste, shouldering past the milling tourists wisely scurrying away from the unnatural storm. She was already ankle deep in the water by then, arms outstretched to the skies, and he did not need to heed the tingle across his skin to know what she was doing. His first irritated instinct was to haul her away before she got them both killed, but it was his second he acted on – gaze searching the churning line of water against the distant horizon as he came to stand close behind her.
Before either of their safety, Sören considered that they were now in the shallows, and the creature’s corpse would not fall lost to the deeps if she was vanquished here. Given Kemala’s prickly ire, he could not be sure she would even consent to be used in the hunt again, and the opportunity seized him tighter than the will to protect her from her own brash nature. Did she even consider what else her power might call? Yet between them, here and now, he knew they could do it.
His chest thundered in anticipation, but there was no movement across the lake beyond the fierce spears of rain, no matter how hard he stared.
Sören’s eyes stung as he sloughed the water free of his face with a swipe of his palm. Grim disappointment twisted his lips, and he was about to turn Kemala towards him with a sharp and commanding grip on her shoulder, when he realised with some measure of surprise that the storm was responding to her. He never touched her, hand hovering only a fraction from her fluttering shawl before it returned to his side, fingers curled inward. She barely stood to his chest, this ferocious tempest, and Sören stared down with an awed hunger for his witness of the arcane secrets that had mystified him since they met. Even the air around her stirred warmer, like she carried a sun in her chest in place of a heart. Her eyes were closed. Serenity in the chaos.
His gaze traced her features before she spoke again, eyes opening to the challenge extended, and with it Sören’s attention also lifted, to see if she received an answer.
![[Image: odinraven.png]](http://thefirstage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/odinraven.png)