Ringing In My Head, From When You Broke My Chest

[Voices of The Deep]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I1p_sXflQQ​

"You Make Me Love The Pain."​

"You Make Me Want To Change"​

Her dreams were always vivid, colorful things. Full of music and whimsy, dripping with extensive metaphors and spiderweb like complexities. Some people had simple straight foreword dreams, but not she...The Queen dreamed like a mystery novel. Ever single thing that happened had the opportunity to be important, and the dreams were driven by a complex and overarching plot that splayed out in multiple directions. This is not to say that they made sense, only that they were heedlessly complicated and devastatingly involved. Now Winter roamed over wide open plains of blue sea, and around her aquatic wildlife, not afraid of her but calm playful things that would come right up to the woman then shy away as if they wanted her to chase them. The sky...the sky was wrong. the sun was out...shining down it's harmful rays down upon the ocean as she stepped steadily across, being born in the old misty and periolous clutches of the the frostbitten north meant there was always snow falling overhead. So her colorful blue sky was gray and lifeless...

Emotionless.

Absorbed as she was in her dream world, waking up was particularly hard for the woman. With the creatures that swam blow that beckoned him so, but something was wrong. Something terrible was approaching, something ripe and huge and wrong. The fish were gone now, and the sky had gone a distressing fuchsia and it swayed back and forth like ocean waves.

A Storm...

Those ice cold optics would steady on the clouds above as they hoarded in to block out the sun...The Queen narrowed her gaze for a moment before looking ahead. The force seeping from her very being and making cold mist where she stood...the solid she stood upon was of her own creation. Ice, formed by the water she stood upon...

Everywhere she looked she saw the vast blue sea...all except for ahead of her...where she saw earth. Dirt...land. She lifted a leg and took a step forward over the liquid waters...and as her foot touched down the water had been frozen solid by several feet...her high heels clacking onto the icy fragment as she ventured forward. Freezing the path of water before her for solid ground until she reached this mysterious island.

Time passed...about an hour...maybe two...and those heels of hers touched down upon a sandy beach as rain feel from the heavens and drowned the sea...Winters hair sticking to her cold cheeks as the Ice Queen exhaled...the cold air and rain making ghost of her breath.

Shelter...it was the only logical step to take next.

Cold eyes flicked back and forth along the island...the woman exploring the island as the rain forced her violet garbs to cling to her pale blue skin...her cold emotionless gaze focusing forward...

The force...it was...tugging at her. Luring her...and without even knowing it. She was following like some kind of moth to a flame.

Guide her...sweet tempter.



[member="Braith Achlys"]

 

[Hailyn]

Months had passed since her decision to live a life in exile - a life with limited, to no, contact with anyone of the outside world. No technology, not that she had ever used it, and no civilization. For a while she had lived on the desert world of Sabarene until her near-death and rescue by Kaileann Vera shortly thereafter. The moment the Lorrdian had found her was the moment the formerly powerful master of the force all but lost her connection with the supernatural force that seemed to flow through everything in the galaxy. Once she had been heralded as a deity of the people of her time, now she was hardly even a shell of her former self.

Vera had ferried her off-world, not without heavy convincing, and the Alunrovaan soon found herself stranded, yet again, on the world of Dasid Anya. It had varied climates, from tundra to tropics, and the should-be-but-not-quite ancient woman tucked herself away on a tropical archipelago far from the prying eyes of the hive-controlled 'civilization' of Dasid. In the morning it rained, in the evening it rained, and at night it was hotter and more humid than her clothes and she agreed with. But it was home. A new home, anyways. Partially because it reminded her of Pax Insul, her real home, and partially because in her misery she felt fulfilled. Kind of like a child that felt better for being punished, only in less of a concrete way. She hadn't really done anything wrong to Corvus - that she knew of - but every day seemed to be a reminder that she was living a borrowed life if only because the Jedi had freed her to kill her but spared her instead.

She could have spent every waking moment of her life hating herself for losing that friend, and for a while she had, but she knew there was something more to her still living and still persisting after that very, very, chance rescue on Sabarene. Isolation had helped her think, at the very least, and most of her time on the island she now called home had been doing almost exclusively that. Sure, she fished and did a little bit of growing and gathering, but most of her time was under a rather well made but lackluster wooden hut which sat beneath several leaning palms that kept most of the sunlight from ever even reaching its roof.

Today was another typical day, the sun was bright - it was the start of the dry season - and Braith was lying on her poor excuse for a bed, one made of various plants and leaves covered by thin strips of bark. As long as the sun was out, Braith was in. It was simple, being an Alunrovaan meant her skin literally burned with exposure from ultraviolet light - specifically sunlight in most cases - and she didn't like the idea of burning away in the sunlight now that she'd decided to find further meaning in life. Lazing about while waiting for night to fall was, pretty much, all she could do in the meantime. A long time ago she could have simply conjured a storm to blot out the sun, or maybe created a shroud of darkness to keep herself away from the light, but now she could hardly even focus on enhancing her five senses.

Luckily it was warm year-round on the island, which meant something to cover her top and bottom and not much else. While she kept from exiting the hut while the sun was out, that didn't stop her from maintaining a shaded watch over the outside world beyond her doorstep. Most days she spent, when it was sunny, laying with her head to the wall watching the waves roll up to the shores of the island some forty meters from the door. A mesh-like curtain of leaves kept reflecting light from actually reaching her, though on occasion she did feel the slight burn of light on skin, but shifting out of the sunlight always resolved the issue in tandem with her species' natural ability to regenerate minor inconveniences such as minor surface burns.

This time around, however, Braith thought - if not for the lack of a burning on her eyes - that she was looking directly into the reflection of the sun on an abnormal wave. At first anyways. She quickly had surmised it was a mirage from the heat over the evaporating ocean - there was no way a woman was walking towards the island on water. Not on Dasid Anya, not in such a remote part of the world, either. When that was clearly not the case, Braith was at a loss. "What even..?" The Alunrovaan muttered, leaning forward on her bed to try to see better. Even from this distance the air was starting to cool, at first it felt like a cool breeze and then it was a nipping cold. Was the approaching woman responsible for this? Who even was she?

[member="Queen Sovereign"]

 

[Voices of The Deep]

She couldn't handle it. Month after month...year after year of hiding in shame, in regret, in disgust.

What more was there to do, now? She'd done all her moping, and now her body was just itching for something to do. But she wasn't suited so well for any other rank other lifestyle aside from the one she had made for herself...the lone wanderer. Forever walking...no pawns to command, enemies to cripple...the blue eyed she-devil merely walked. Wherever she could, as far as she could...as long as she could. At least until something drew her towards it or altered her path the woman moved in a straight line undisturbed. After all...who would dare stand in The Queens way? The sheer thought of such audacity made Winter nearly grimace...

Nearly.

She kept walking forwards, her head tucked down as strands of her frosty hair hung before her visage, gazing ahead without any intent. She was just walking, her left shoulder aching with every step. And with every step she ignored the pain. She would have nothing of it. She refused to be seen as weak. She snorted, a scowl decorating that stone face, her eyes glaring. A breath blowing from her nostrils, her muscles tightening. She had been playing this game for far to long...in her mind she could see it all clearly. Now it was merely a matter of making it a reality...still, the woman pushed these thoughts aside to be unveiled at another time. Focusing on her current...issues. If they could even be called that. Not knowing where she was headed, but still walking at her casual pace...no hurry. No motivation...sloth manifested within the woman as her legs reached out, exploring this remote island.

The dark gray clouds blocked out the blazing sun overhead as rain continued to pour downward...water dripping down her chin as her cold aura emanating around her as the lust green leaves frosted and crunched beneath her heels. Instinctively following the light at the end of the tunnel...this external force pulling her closer...and as the woman ventured closer her gaze landed upon a makeshift hut in the rain...and the closer she got, Winter could see a pair of eyes peering through the blinds made of leaves...

Winter paused...her icy eyes landing upon the ones from behind the tent as Winter stood several yards away as the rain continued to fall heavier and heavier...thunder and lightning clashing in the clouds above, shedding light on Winters silhouetted form.

Was...this what was luring her? And if so...who was it?



[member="Braith Achlys"]

 

[Hailyn]

Spoiler

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvR4EXOnAtE[/media]

If not for the fact that she had kept a steady supply of fresh water from a nearby spring at the ready, and drank regularly, the Alua'an might have chalked up the figure that slowly walked towards her as a hallucination as a result of dehydration. She'd experienced it before, knew how much her mind could wander in those situations, so it wouldn't have been too far-fetched. Except when the woman, approaching, seemed to step onto the land and continue walking towards her hut and Braith's mouth wasn't anywhere near dry, nor was she aching to drink. It had been quite a long time since she had last visited the known galaxy, so it wasn't too unlikely that someone might have mastered some aspect of environmental control that Braith hadn't pioneered - it wasn't unbelievable that someone displayed a different kind of control than her, at any rate, as Braith kept far away from bodies of water being that she couldn't swim due to the sheer density of her muscle mass that more than tired her out in such strenuous activities.

Soon, she realized, this stranger was going to walk right up to her front step - right in the middle of the rain, of all things - and Braith was still sitting in little more than rags on her makeshift bed. She looked less civilized than she did when she was living on Pax as a teenager, and ten years older. She shuffled off of the bed, nearly tripping over the leather slip-ons she'd made from the skin of nocturnal serpents that frequented the trees near her hut, and threw on a poor excuse for a long top - a primitive gown, at best. It wasn't anything special, simple silk-like cloth that covered her chest and continued down a tad passed her rump so she remained decent, but it served the purpose of simple clothing. By the bed was a tarp that Kaileann had insisted she kept for heavily rainy days, Braith threw it over her head and bundled herself up. It wasn't for the rain, which never bothered her - she used to literally create such showers for her tribesman several thousands of years ago on Pax - but rather for the sunlight that might slip through the gray clouds and burn her.

Every instinct in her body to stay inside, but there was another driving force in her that compelled her to meet the stranger outside where she was somewhat more vulnerable but also on equal footing. She chalked it up to impulse, but deep down she knew it was the force slowly, fickly, returning to her. If following its urges had ever told her anything, it meant she was doing what it wanted - and not doing that meant punishment, usually in the form of loss of power or opportunity. She wasn't about to let the opportunity to regain her former stature, or the opportunity to meet a stranger that so obviously wasn't native - she didn't look like a Killik, at any rate - disappear. So, with purpose, the Alua'an walked out to meet the visitor, making sure the tarp was kept as closely wrapped around her as possible - the top like a hood over her face rather than simply covering it.

Once outside, standing amid the thunder and lightning that boomed and flashed across the sky, she realized that any necessity to keep the sunlight at bay was gone, though she didn't intend to drop her cover just yet. "Who are you?" Braith called out, a pale hand slipping out from beneath the tarp to move a strand of wet hair from her nose. It was obvious the woman was some kind of wielder of the force, though stating that was - obviously - stating the obvious and would have got her nowhere. 'This is odd, I'm not used to visitors.' She thought to herself. Part of her wondered if the various people that had spirited Corvus away were coming for her, though another part of her told her to accept that possibility - she'd only be able to defend herself physically, she didn't have the ability to call on the force like she once had.

[member="Queen Sovereign"]

 

[Voices of The Deep]

The rain seemed to slam into the The Queens back viciously as the thunder above clashed with lightning...the noise was drowned out by the heavy downpour of the heavens tears as they trickled down Winters soft blue toned skin and dripped from her chin. Icy blue optics remained steady on the small makeshift hut as the being from within shifted around and peered through the blinds...feral or intelligent...Winter would not impose her will upon whoever lurked within. Her eyes slowly drifted from the hut and along the surface of the island as her frosty white hair clung to her face and her expression remained steady...empty. Void of any form of emotion aside from perhaps sadness...she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as the liquid slipped her chin and onto her neck...sliding downward and forcing her clothing to cling to her body.

Winter enjoyed the rain almost as she did the snow...if she so desired, she could turn every drop of this rain into snowfall but for some reason she did not feel the need...she merely enjoyed it. And as the moments passed she brought her head back down and looked forward to see a woman emerge from the hut wearing a...modest gown and wrapped up in some cloak...Winter tilted her head curiously, looking the woman up and down before blinking a few times...her question making The Queen avert her gaze to the ground for a while before slowly shrugging a bit, crossing her arms over her...ample mounds and exhaling. So the girl could speak? Winter was not expecting such intelligence considering she looked almost like a feral human...but still, it was nice to know she had company that was not completely savage.

"Hmm...good question...if i had to provide an answer. I'd say i'm just a nobody...a nobody from nowhere." She mused in reply, her voice cold and blunt as she rubbed her fingers along her soft skin and sighed. "I suppose you desire a name...if so. You may call me Winter Sovereign...otherwise known as The Queen." The blue skinned woman explained, enjoying the cold that wrapped itself around her like a blanket of snow. Her ice blue eyes remained focused on the strangers as she sighed deeply. "Do you...know of any possible shelter? It's rather humid." Winter asked, looking around and hoping to spot a cave of some sort in near sight...she liked the rain, but being soaked was not something that she commonly sought out. Perhaps this woman could...assist her in some way.

[member="Braith Achlys"]

 

[Hailyn]

Spoiler

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZYzk7N98X4[/media]

The curiosity on the woman's face implied - at least from Braith's interpretation - that the woman hadn't expected to find her, or perhaps that she was different than she'd expected. Either way, it seemed she didn't need to worry about having been sought out to be put down. She wasn't going to be an Ulic Qel-Droma today, it seemed. If not for her initial apprehension the Alua'an might have acknowledged, inwardly, that the stranger was at least mildly attractive - looking back, that might be an understatement for most people, though at that moment she still thought the lithe, plain, look that her former lover had was best - but was more concerned with what she had to say than how she looked.

That was, after all, what the ancient witch normally did. She, herself, thought herself less than attractive, her skin as pale as marble and her eyes brightly contrasting with their violet and blue hues, so physical appearances were generally not the top of her priority.

The woman's answer to her question was, initially, slightly annoying. The Alua'an was a mostly-logical species, so being answered in a roundabout way was rather unacceptable on a mental level, but was at least mildly satisfied with a follow up to her vague statement with a more precise, though equally mysterious, answer. "Winter?" She muttered quietly, under her breath, as she lofted a brow. Her own name was nod to a polarity between light and dark, her tribal name, Achlys, given to the tale that she would - she did - bring about the death of her people on Pax Insul. Though the woman was dressed much better than she, the Alua'an wondered if she might have been raised in a similar manner to herself - though she had no doubt as to which of the two of them was older in measure of time.

"I have a small hut that I have been living in for the last few months, but there's a cave a bit further inland that holds a spring with fresh water." Braith replied, tugging the rubber tarp from her head to let the rain fall over her. It was obvious that the storm clouds had kept enough of the light out of the sky for her to walk freely without any real concern at this point, at least concern with sunlight, and expecting someone to follow her when she didn't trust them her face wasn't very reassuring. "I'll show you the way?" She said, though it was posed more as a question than a statement - often the best of ways to persuade someone.

"I am called Braith, by the way. I answer to either Braith or Achlys, the first the name my people gave me and the latter the gift from my mother." She was still giving the stranger's name thought, wondering if the cold she'd been feeling was indeed from her and, if so, if the name or the tendency came first, when she slipped the rest of the tarp off and hung it on a nearby branch, not expecting to be gone from the hut for long, in preparation to escort Winter inland to the cave.

[member="Queen Sovereign"]

 

[Voices of The Deep]

The Queen tapped her finger for a moment. Water dripping down every possible inch of her body as those cold blue eyes remained steady on the woman before her...Winter found herself take small mental notes based upon what she had witnessed so far...This woman, whoever she was seemed to be accustomed to a rather tribal lifestyle similar to the one Winter herself was exposed to back on her home planet...makeshift hut and materials meant the woman had spent a considerable amount of time on the island and given the healthy figure of the girl Winter could only assume she was surviving rather well...clearly not stranded otherwise this encounter would of went much differently...Winter sensed no other substantial life on the island meaning this woman was alone...question was why?

That was always the question wasn't it...why does this thing exist...why does it do what is does...Winter grimaced and pushed these thoughts aside, looking the woman up and down as Winters named echoed upon her lips...The Queen nodded, remaining still and making no sudden moves...half because she had no reason too, and half because she was simply conserving energy...Sloth was a sin in which Winter indulged in consistently...

And as the woman revealed that she knew of a cave nearby that had fresh water Winter merely nodded. "I'll follow your lead." Winter replied, looking her over as she took the tarp off and hung it from a branch, revealing her well toned feminine body structure. Muscular...powerful...Winter found herself admiring the woman just from this aspect alone. Winter had always felt isolated because she was so outcasted from her common gender roll as a Queen...a monarch. But either way, she quickly dismissed these thoughts and tilted her head when she gave her name...Braith or Achlys? Winter found herself leaning more towards the name given to her by her mother...a simple philosophy the Sheikah lived by...

"Very well then...Achlys." Winter cooed, her hair hanging messily before her gaze, forcing Winter to toss her head to the side in order to clear her visage. Where she'd lead...Winter would follow. She found herself rather interested in this mysterious woman...very rarely did two enigmas come into contact with one another in such a way. A prospect Winter found...exciting.

[member="Braith Achlys"]

 

[Hailyn]

While Braith was, indeed, a bit toned from living in the wilderness for the last half year, the muscle definition was far more of an illusion, visually, than it was truth. A year ago, today, Braith considerably less thin, though the muscle mass and density was still much the same, and quite a bit more "normal" from a human perspective. The difference between an Alunrovaan, muscularly, was that all of the muscle fibers were nearly three times more densely packed together, giving the appearance of of normalcy while hiding a wellspring of strength. Shedding weight and body mass, however, revealed more of that muscle than she'd like, and in that way an Alunrovaan that was underweight appeared more muscular as they thinned while a human might appear bony because of the amount of muscle density and mass they tended to have.

To put it simply, any amount of eyes on her body, below her head, was a discomfort to her, whether or not it was in silent appraisal or not.

She slowly nodded her head at the Sheikah's response, turning away from both the shore and her hut towards where she knew the cavern and its accompanying spring was. "It isn't too far, just be careful of snakes." She said, hiding a small smile as she heard her name spoken. She never knew why, but simply saying her name always made her feel a bit better. Maybe it had to do with antisocial tendencies that had driven her to living a life ten thousand years after "her time" rather than in it, maybe it was because most people only knew her by Braith, or maybe it was because the last person to have called her by any of her three names had said them all with fingers running through her hair. The little smile became, temporarily, a larger one. A guilty memory that made her feel elated, if only for a moment, and then drove that sense of nostalgia, knowing she wasn't going to have that feeling ever again, home like a stake.

Thus far, having started towards their destination, not entirely paying all that much attention as to whether Winter was keeping up, Braith still hadn't given the stranger much thought beyond idle curiosities, though she was more than planning to ask her twenty questions when they were safely tucked away beneath the rock and dirt that ventured several tens of meters below sea level. "What brings you here?" Braith asked aloud, although it was more of a thought that she hadn't intended to let out of her head. Truthfully, she wasn't even certain what brought herself to the island, let alone the planet, but hearing someone else's reasoning often helped one interpret their own. A small part of her wondered about the woman's past, but as Winter hadn't delved into asking Braith about hers, she opted to let that question remain unasked.

[member="Queen Sovereign"]

 

[Voices of The Deep]

The Queen remembered a time in her youth when the young lass was more...girlish than what she appeared now. She was a princess then...heiress of the north. Sparkling blue eyes, long white hair that draped along the snow...a beautiful azure dress with jewelry crafted from the finest smiths of her world. Signs of a true monarch...she ate from silver platters and attained power from birth...handed to her like her meals every morning and afternoon. This was something most ladies dreamed of...but to Winter...to The Queen...

She despised the idea. The idea of being a lady...the idea of being handed power because it was ones 'birthright'. The sheer arrogance in such a concept made The Queen furious at one point when she was young...what gave her the right to be born and suddenly have the responsibility of an entire realm placed on her shoulders? For a young princess to be expected to play a part in the devilish game of Diplomacy and Darwinism? Maybe...in the end. Thats why she rejected everything she was...everything she was expected to be. Why she abandoned the crown...abandoned her birthright...her commanding and restrictive family. Her cursed birthright...she left it all behind and fled to the stars.

If she wanted power...if she wanted respect. She'd earn it herself. And Winters road to power and sovereignty was not a pretty one...she began as a dancer...a stripper. Using her body as nothing more but a tool to gain entry into a rather popular space station that was designed to work like a casino...club...general place of adult entertainment. And so she played her part as a peasant...seeing life through the eyes of the less fortunate so that she may teach herself humility. And so she worked as an exotic dancer at the Club. However, this was merely a clever cover for Winter. Eventually, she eliminated the owner of the Club and claimed ownership. She continued to form alliances and consolidate power before finally overthrowing the entire station and claiming it as her own...and this was only the beginning.

Winter had been alive longer than most...she had attained skills that would aid in her ability to lead...to dominate. She used her knowlage and alliances to integrate herself into the criminal underworld of the galaxy...starting as a small fish in the big pond she provided services in espionage, spying, assassination, kidnapping, information brokering, and even guerrilla warfare during the great war between the rebellion and the new empire lead by a dark creature known as Snoke...but she was smarter than to put herself in the center of such squabble and thus retreated to the far reaches of the galaxies outer rim...the dark zone. It was from there she rose to power...she was a spider at the center of a very large web...a web with a thousand threads spreading in every direction and she knew precisely how each and every one of them danced. She had politics in her pockets, powerful leaders on speed-dial, mercenaries under her control and so much more...her rise to power was long and tedious. And eventually, she became her own ruler of her own realm...her own self made Queen. And for three hundred years she has yet to lose her touch...but she had changed. So much so...

Her daughters were gone...lost fighting in wars that were not worth it...lovers who died because of their short life spans. The Queen had become bitter and lonely through her long life and now she was so cold inside she forgot how to even feel again...anger, desire, love...all these emotions were just words without meaning to her now. And maybe thats why she was traveling...walking...trying to 'find' herself maybe.

And in her search for herself she met this woman...this exotic beauty who was as much as a mystery as The Queen was herself. And as she warned of snakes Winter merely cocked a brow in amusement...continuing to follow the woman. And when she asked what brought The Queen here Winter took a breath and rubbed her finger along her biceps as her arms were rapped firmly around her chest.

"Nothing...i'm little more than a wanderer...searching for myself. Something of myself..." She replied coldly...Winter had been walking for so long...one might say she was born for it cause she never ran...

Born to walk away yet she'd been walking her whole life.

"Tell me Achlys...what do you see when you look into my eyes?" Winter asked, looking upward and allowing her cold icy gaze to fall upon where the womans eyes would be if she turned to face her...The Queen was curious...what others saw in her eyes.

Cause all Winter saw in herself was an empty void.


[member="Braith Achlys"]

 

[Hailyn]

If not for her upbringing, there was a very good chance that the Alua'an might not have been as superstitious as she was, but if not for that superstition then Braith might very well have simply rolled over in her bed and ignored the earlier arrival of Winter. After having lived for the greater portion of ten thousand years, having betrayed and been betrayed, seen consequences born from choices, mistakes, and even seemingly unavoidable circumstances crop up simply because an action was made that agreed, or, more often than not, disagreed with, the unseen force that tied the galaxy together like a thread to a seam. Some people called this the "Force", an apt name, and some called it fate. Braith, however, didn't see a point to naming something that nobody would ever fully understand - but she knew that following its calls and whispers almost always helped in the past.

So, when the force finally whispered in her ear after almost a year of silence she took it as the sign that Winter was someone important to how the rest of her life played out. And, considering that each step she took towards the cave brought a miniscule return of some of her senses, Braith had absolutely no issue following that sign, and future signs, in order to regain her identity as a master of this so-called "force" as the formidable sorceress that she once was. However, Winter's attitude was rather grating and put a bit of strain on her newly humbled personality. She appreciated concise, direct, and clear answers, not roundabout responses that never really answered the questions asked in the first place. But, for a shred of her former glory, she'd carry the burden of playing guide for this stranger. When the woman asked her question, which sounded like she wanted to slow down their trip through the dense undergrowth in the middle of the rain, the Alunrovaan audibly sighed, though not quite in exasperation.

For now, it seemed.

"When I look into your eyes?" She asked, trying not to sound impatient or incredulous, as she stopped mid-stride and turned with a questioning look. A pale hand slid down from a low-hanging branch that she'd begun to push aside so she could rest it on her hip, wondering why her opinion mattered in what was likely some kind of internal debate. "You're likely expecting some kind of a deep meaning behind my words, probably something cliche, like 'You look like you've been through a lot' or some other obvious statement that applies in some way to almost everyone. To me, though, you look tired - I'd even venture to being bored - of whatever you've been handed in life." Braith said evenly. She wasn't always one to be bristled by such little things like random, quizzical, questions, but, then, she wasn't usually quizzed like this, and certainly not by a complete stranger in a rather non-intimate scenario as this.

She held in a breath for a moment before turning around again, the hand she'd brought to her side pushing at the low-hanging branch again, and sighed. "If you want to talk it can wait until we're at better shelter than under a tree. I don't know when the rain and the clouds are going to clear, and I'd rather not get caught out in the open when that happens." She said as she continued to carry on walking. Later she'd blame it on being tired, hungry, bored - a hundred things could have been the reason for her attitude - but, really, she was still as impatient as she had been when she was a little girl. Being treated like and spoiled as a revered tribal goddess tended to do that to one's childhood well into adulthood. Right now all she wanted was to get to that cave - which was, really, only a handful of minutes away at this point - so she could get one step closer to what she'd lost.

[member="Queen Sovereign"]

 

[Voices of The Deep]

The pair only seemed to move closer and closer to the center of the island as the crackling lightning stabbed through the air around them...booming thunder illuminating the skies and shedding light upon The Queens face...those bright blue eyes staring through the darkness as the rain forced goosebumps along her skin...her violet clothing clung to her blue skin as those strands of snow clung to her purple toned cheeks. Her gazed focused on the mysterious woman before her for a moment...the two of them pausing under a tree as Achlys looked back at Winter and echoed her words...the two of them sharing eye contact for what felt like hours...until she finally spoke.

"You're likely expecting some kind of a deep meaning behind my words, probably something cliche, like 'You look like you've been through a lot' or some other obvious statement that applies in some way to almost everyone. To me, though, you look tired - I'd even venture to being bored - of whatever you've been handed in life."

This response...would of made Winter smile. A wide smile that was genuine...if The Queen was capable of expressing such a thing. Yet still...as those bright eyes averted to the floor beneath she closed her icy optics and gave a brief nod.

"It was a test of character...the eyes are windows to the soul and it would seem you have glimpsed into mine...well said Achlys." She would reply, leaving it at that as the woman continued to lead them onward. Towards the spring which she had mentioned.


[member="Braith Achlys"]

 

[Hailyn]

She frowned at the admission to pretty much what she'd been expecting. 'Go figure, I always get stuck with these kinds of people.' Braith thought to herself, not at all happy that she was essentially in the company of someone that was probably going through the philosophical kind of existential crisis that she, herself, had gone through when she was a teenager. Only she hadn't made it a habit to act like an oyster to the outside world, but she supposed not everyone could be as welcoming to the idea of being worshiped as a deity for their entire lives. Not that she actually was one, but that was another story entirely. She, personally, could probably go the rest of her life without any more tests, but she figured that was exactly what was in store for her now that she was sticking with this frosty woman.

"It's just up ahead." She said, breaking the awkward silence as they neared the small spot of natural shelter. Not more than, perhaps, fifteen seconds after she'd spoken there was a small spring that led into a cavern that had portions of rocky terrain that was manageable enough to walk on - a stretch of shoreline, more or less. "The cave isn't very long, but it does provide plenty of shelter from when the torrential rainy season starts." Braith noted. She had only been on the planet for at most five or six months, but five or six months had already exposed her to the brunt of the rainy season that followed the so-called winter that this portion of the planet experienced.

Not waiting for a potential question about how safe it was to go inside, Braith went ahead and walked along the edge of the small stream that split the ground of the cavern in two on the left hand side. While she didn't mind the rain, there was an extent to how much water she could tolerate at any given time. Being that she walked in without really saying anything should speak to the lack of any kind of danger that might have been inside - not that any force user that was prone to walking over water and freely made the air cold had much to worry about even if an animal lurked within.

[member="Queen Sovereign"]