U N B O U N D
“When you tear down the persona, what beast lies within?”
She took a deep breath, the scent of the room filling her senses, focusing on the aromas that she’d come to associate with the Drage home - particularly that of meadows and long grasses, gardens and roses, simultaneously sweet and spicy, an ode to the landscape that beckoned beyond its four walls -
“Don’t think, just relax.”
Aelin groaned in response, shaking her head, feeling the need in every muscle spasm and restless twitch. Twice, Børre had brought her here to change and she’d been unable - or refused - to do so. It didn’t seem he was going to allow it a third time - having been at this for hours already.
As he so dutifly reminded her, she was playing with borrowed time.
The change wasn't only a necessity, but a safety precaution for their kind. He didn’t need to go into all of the details for her to know what all that entailed. Aelin remembered Jhaan vividly at the end of his life, his change deprivation had driven him mad, made him unpredictable, and she’d been the one who had to put him down in the end.
Slowly she shifted to get into position on her hands and knees, concentrating until her body rebelled once more, convulsing so hard that she doubled over, gasping.
“It’s going to tear me apart,” she whimpered, feeling sweat break out along her hairline as the tremors intensified. Perhaps she was just too human.
She heard Børre's intake of breath beside her, felt him shift closer, “It will not, but it is more painful the longer you resist,” Børre reiterated, as he had in the last session, and the one before that, “Let it happen.”
She tried to focus on his words, feeling her skin prickle and stretch until her brain threw up the brakes again and her body tensed. Sweat trickled down her cheeks, growling, unable to reverse the process.
“Let your body do the work. Your nature will take over when you let go and accept that this is what you were meant for.”
In the struggle to keep her thoughts straight and anticipate each phase as her body moved through it, the still-panicked part of her brain took over, trying to convince her that nothing about this was ‘normal’. Her muscles knotted and convulsed against her resistance, unable to accept that this was the way of things. That she was meant to be this way, that she was designed to do this. Sweat poured off her in streams, her body determined to see it through the process, through those final ten seconds of excruciating hell, until finally, it was over.
“Well done,” he gave, “it will only get easier from now on.”
The pain ended, gone without so much as a lingering ache, laying out on her side and panting until she leapt to her feet, standing completely still except for the movement of her tail, which wouldn’t stop whipping from side to side. He went to the door, and pushed it open.
“Now run.”
