wayfarers_lodge | {Two-Stick} Just the same- Moments in Time

"You are still as beautiful as ever," Firebird Rising said as Two-Stick-Lightning unveiled her face before him, and she had paused, considering the statement, and thought clearly What a thoroughly meaningless and obvious thing to say.

He continued. "I am glad to have you here, Lightning Girl," and touched her face, a propriety declaration of ownership. His hand was hot against her cheek with the fire that burned within him, and he didn't notice when she flinched away a little- not enough to cause a scene, but enough that he would have noticed had he cared to.

She turned, and gestured to her companions, forcing his attention to them. He looked at them as if seeing them for the first time, for he truly was- his eyes had been all for her. He looked at Swiftspear as she introduced them, letting her pride in them seep into her voice, and his eyes narrowed slightly, studying the young child of Tiger.

"You are very strong," he said, after a heavy silence, "A testament to Fang Strike's blood."

Both Chaosti and Rose looked to Two Stick as she started sparking wildly, her eyes dim with fury.

"I will explain this to you, Firebird Rising," she had said, a long time ago, before her companions had been born, before her second child, her daughter and his, had come burning and roaring into the world. "It is nothing hard to learn. You did not know my husband, not even for a moment. You cannot speak of his strength or his weakness because you do not have proof of them- you cannot even conceptualise them because you do not understand us. So do not. Do not think you have the right to even speak his name- you cannot understand what he was to me, because of who you are, no more than he could understand what you may be, if you don't burn me down."

But still, in spite of this, he had spoken of Fang Strike as if he had known the strength of his hand and his magic, and had gone too far. He must have noticed, for he paused for just a second, realising what he had done, before turning back to his people and addressing them, proclaiming a feast for his honoured guests.

She watched him as he moved, running his hands up the arm of his first wife as he bid her to go and start preparing, hands echoing the greed in his eyes. It had taken her years to bring him to balance, to stop thinking of his pleasure and his glory, but of others around him, of his lover and his daughter and the tribe that sheltered him. Thirty years of teaching, of patience, of screaming bloody arguments and handprints burned into her skin, and he had learned that these were her rules, and he would honour them in his dealings with her.

He has forgotten, she thought, clenching her fists to hide the outraged trembling, No, worse- He has unlearned the lessons. He has thrown the knowledge away. All because it is easier to get just what he wants.

Firebird Rising, chieftain of the Wings of Flame caravan, returned to her side, eyes hungry.

"I have missed you." He murmured

"Yes, I imagine so," she replied, "But we must speak about the coming Flood. You must call-"

He brought his finger to her lips, silencing her.

"We will speak of this at dinner. You can wait that long."

She stared up at him, gobsmacked. His nostrils flared at her ozone scent, and his eyes lit up, mistaking her anger for arousal.

"Lightning Girl, you haven't changed."

She bit back her sharper reply, and forced a smile- It would not do to make one of her best allies an enemy.

"I have. I am more now. But you haven't at all."