A maiden's rebirth

TW Figurative mention of a miscarriage.

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The loathsome, viscous mire had spat her out, and wrenching herself free became a battle for survival. Gasping for breath, muscles taut, claws raking the treacherous ground beneath her paws — the harder she pulled, the more the thing clung to her, ensnared her, unraveled her. Her insides twisted in agony, a final scream tore through the air. Enough. She would live, no matter the cost.

One last wrenching effort, a searing pain— and at last, the entity relinquished its grip. She was alone.

Shaken, disoriented, she felt strange substances trickling down her body, warm and viscous between her legs… But she was alive.

“Help!” she implored. “Someone, help!” she demanded, letting herself collapse onto her side. She longed for a savior, a strong arm to steady her, the solace of being a damsel in distress before a formidable, ambitious man. Now that she was free. Now that she was, once again, the center of attention. A maiden, no longer the sullied vessel of a wretched lineage.

What a relief. What a beautiful day.
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lichen came in all sorts of colors, uesuca had come to discover. lichen grew differently on different surfaces, and sometimes its edibility depended on the weather in which had sprung up. this was quite a dull study for a woman who had been referred to as equally dull. broad-footed and round-shouldered, uesuca was an amazon's answer to a demand for the submissive.

she had slept the night before quite deeply and woken here. after a moment's trepidation, uesuca realized she was without her fellows. she searched for them, fighting the urge of fear, but she was alone.

and so as always, the warrior found the best way to settle her mind. with no audible battles, there was some sense of freedom as she explored.

but she paused in her studious scrapings to flick an ear. for help a voice called, and for a moment uesuca only stared at the rock beside which she had been standing most of the last hour. clearing a sigh, the ponderous woman reluctantly left the lichen alone and traipsed the woodland at a reasonable pace.

was that blood tainting the air with its copper blade?

"what has happened?" accent thick but not unmanageable, step confident with the assurance of her bulk. seastone eyes blinked a greeting, worry tightening its look for the golden lady lain so low.

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Thanks for joining! I can't wait to write with you ;u;

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A woman. What could she possibly do with a woman? They were nothing but serpents, vicious creatures poised to smother any competition—and Louison had revealed herself to one, fragile and exposed.

For the briefest instant, the young lady furrowed her brows, but beneath the thick layer of mud coating her skin, the gesture was barely perceptible.

“I nearly drowned in that… that quicksand?” she murmured, casting a wary glance behind her at the strange, dark matter from which she had just emerged.

A pause. Then, she turned her gaze to her surroundings. From here, the Citadel was nowhere in sight, and worse still, she was entirely incapable of recalling how she had ended up in this forsaken place.

“I need help to stand,” she said at last, her crystalline voice as soft as the downy feather of a goose.

For in the absence of a strong man, there stood this towering woman with her imposing frame. Was she one of those strange beasts, cursed by divine wrath and condemned to dwell within the heavy, grotesque body of a man? In some curious way, this creature both fascinated and repelled Louison in equal measure.
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omg ;;; same
also i got carried away my bad

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despite the fact that garait had renewed his pagi — sub-tribe once more with wealth and with blood, he had remained suspicious and paranoid. an old man by the time uesuca arrived, he spent half his time in reminiscence and the other in warning. she took after him, he said, in build, in eye, and in mind. it was uesuca who sat beside him when emissaries visited, and out of all his children, garait treasured her most.

but his death meant sons and daughters must marry and inherit. uesuca was not only devoid of the feminine charms which might draw suitors, she was without want for men entire. beside herself, cauaria had sent word even to the old men of the other pagis, negotiating a short marriage for the woefully resistant uesuca.

in the end, a far prettier sister made the necessary bond, and she herself was free to leave. life then had been fighting in the eternal tribal skirmishes, settling disputes along the borderland of her father's claim, surrounding herself solely with warriors, drink, and women.

trained gaze traveled but found no others. uesuca stooped at once, heedless of the muck, and helped the woman to rise with a press of her hard shoulder.

all this to say — she was starkly aware of the cascading butterscotch, the sun-gold, the poured-cream column of the lady's throat. the limbs, soft, the body yielding. "where shall i take you?" the large woman asked in a near-monotone, seeing the necessity now of bearing her charge to a safer clime.

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I already love them, I can't wait to see how this thread turns out! O-O

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What a strange sensation. Louison had nearly drowned in the muscular shoulder of her valiant knight. The touch was all the more astonishing—she could feel each sinew coil and unfurl, slithering beneath her cheek like a beast stirring under a wolf-pelt cloak. She buried her face in that living sculpture of strength, in this raw display of power.

“I have nowhere to go, knight,” she murmured after casting a glance at the desolate expanse around them. She had slipped the grasp of one fate only to be reborn into boundless, uncharted lands, received by a protector unlike any she had ever known.

“I need a bath, a fire,” a citadel, a feast, and humble folk to welcome her. She needed all of it, yet here, none of it could be found. Only this vast emptiness stretched before her…

“Where are the people? Are we in hell?” she asked her mysterious savior, who had appeared out of nowhere— a beast that was nothing like a fallen angel. The fool in her had been bewitched by the rippling, inhuman musculature of this being. A woman with the bearing of a man—was this a demon come to toy with her? She burned to believe it so…
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me too! its a great start

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"there are no baths here, nor people, nor fires," uesuca uttered gruffly. "because there are no fires, you can assume there is no hell," came dry ending. she had not expected to be so enthralled by the gold-wreathed softness of the woman now leaning upon her, and was hard-pressed to keep her focus. "you are royal, then?" asked the stag-worshipper, her seafoam stare finding reason to alight upon that exquisite face.

cornflower blue, those eyes.

uesuca was a fool. no better than any man, she told herself with wry amusement. "where is your kingdom? where are your attendants?" gently she began to guide them toward a forested pool of water thrown round with willow trees and limned in feathered ferns. there was no knowledge of this place for her, and she she moved rote: a pack nearby would be the first instance for the stranger to receive better assistance.

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So, did she truly look like a lady? A queen, a princess, a figure of importance? Even clad in this viscous shroud, this weave of organic refuse, the entrails of the earth itself.
She looked like a man. She spoke like the men of her homeland—naïve, the kind who bestowed compliments without even knowing it. That, at least, was what Louison had discerned.

The lady—her newfound title—found herself strangely pleased by the presence of this peculiar discovery. Her demon without flames.

“If there is no bath, no fire, no people here, then I have no title, no kingdom,” she declared, answering all her knight’s questions in a voice clear and mirthful. “For now, I have only you.” she added, barely more than a whisper. A powerful shoulder upon which to lay her fragile self, her naïve little existence, brittle as glass at the slightest touch.

But as they pressed forward, the barren plains soon gave way to a clearing of quiet splendor, at its heart the very bath she had longed for. So there was delicacy beneath all that strength, the eye and sensibility of a woman. For who else could appreciate such a place? Certainly not the coarse men of her homeland.

Louison turned to her savior with a smile oddly armed, the sharp enamel of her canines flashing before she slipped into the water. A beast’s smile—yet one that sought, in its own way, to be kind.

“Perfect.” She drew in a slow breath. “There is no people here. So you are alone in this place? Is it truly just you and me in these lands?” she asked, seeking answers as she surrendered her body to the crystalline waters, soon to be sullied by her presence.
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seeping ribbons of miremuck floated from the lady's pelt upon the surface of the water. uesuca, who had watched the dainty heels and slender legs dip beneath the pool, now looked away.

so. she was uasal. highborn. no matter the mud nor filth, her bearing, her mien, even her very loquaciousness — all these declared her the rank which uesuca had become accustomed to following, uasal herself.

the smile said it as well, the guarding look of one who wished to know without sharing anything at all. she was a statue of gilt beneath the dirtiness, and she spoke as if she sat upon a throne, not in the chilled water of some far-flung land.

i have you. the warrior turned from where she had been examining yet another sprawl of lichen. "if you mean to have me in your service, then you will need a way to pay a mercenary." said without malice, crouched at the edge of the pool. her claws trailed its stillness. "but i cannot demand something from nothing. so. i will patrol. i will hunt. you will rest, and tomorrow we will seek others. a clan, a camp."

uesuca stood, staring down into the springblue of the eyes which had already captivated her.

best to be shut of this before she lost her mind.

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A man—she knew how to repay him. But a woman? What could she possibly offer? She had nothing to give, no vows to swear. To lure her with promises of lands and titles would be a lie, a feeble one at that, for her knight had already said: i cannot demand something from nothing. If there had ever been anything…

What, then, drove this creature? To grow attached to such a weight—pleasing to the eye, perhaps, but a burden all the same.

At the mention of these other, the lady lifted her nose to the wind, searching for the faintest trace—a scent, a murmur, a lingering presence. But she found nothing, nothing but the rank odor saturating the air—her own.

Her brow furrowed. The crystalline water had turned thick, sullied beyond appeal. She no longer desired it. She pulled herself from its grasp.

“So be it,” she acquiesced to her savior’s instructions.

“I have one more request to make of you. And this time, I have something to offer in return,” she confessed. “A name for a name. I wish to know yours.” Curious, one ear tilted in her direction, while the other folded lazily to the side.
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"it is uesuca, lady," she said, helping noblewoman step from the pool, "of the triva mountains." too distant from here to matter, she suspected; the warrior had not yet processed waking up in such a place. birdsong announced avian watchers, and the sun was still high, that she could see through the trees.

but night would come.

hunting must happen now, and soon. yet she waited, wanting to hear what sort of name this wildflower might hold. a fool again, uesuca branded herself. any other time she would already have been gone in pursuit of the light and the meat to be had beneath it.

perhaps she had always possessed a folly for the aesthetic; perhaps that was the sum of her love for women who possessed far more loveliness than she. an acceptance of her position in the unfair hierarchy of ranked ugliness, so long as she could exist in the arms of that which was sublime.

heart raced. she kept herself still and a polite distance between knight and royal.

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Uesuca of the Trivia mountains. A name and a place she had never heard of.

“Uesuca,” she repeated. She relished the sound of the name, letting it roll smoothly from her lips.

“Louison. My name is simply Louison, I am neither a Lady nor anything, merely a Maiden or a poor, wandering soul,” she laughed, her gaze now fixed upon her knight. A fleeting moment of distraction—how foolish. They seemed to be as different as night and day, yet Louison, who at first had shown no enthusiasm, was already beginning to appreciate the company of her ever-helpful savior. Was she too naive? Perhaps she had been unsettled by her savior's unusual appearance.

The woman, with no title or distinction—merely the Maiden, in truth—finally lay down after shaking herself off.

“We will rest, and tomorrow we will seek others. a clan, a camp.” She repeated her words—now that she had changed her mind, inviting Uesuca to sit beside her. “I know of no true knight who would leave a maiden to sleep alone.” Such an odd tradition. Perhaps the cold from where she came made the warmth of another body essential for a peaceful sleep. Or perhaps she simply demanded this presence, selfishly, like a caprice.
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"but surely you know of knights who would watch over a lady while she slept," uesuca teased, not yet sitting. again the brawny woman glanced for the light. "i must hunt before it is too late. i do not know these woods." her gaze traveled round for a last look at the still foliage. "you will be safe here, and i will be in earshot."

there was a smile as she stepped back, beginning to turn. "i cannot be a knight if you are not noble, lady lousine." 

by the gods she tried to hide the grace of her eyes, but was struck by the image of the other there framed beside the pool. something around her winnowing smile might have given it away. 

but then uesuca was truly turning, though a word could pause the warrior if the lady wished to come along. if not, gait became a trot and soon she was out of site, hoping that her pulse was not so loud as to give her away.

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A deceptive appearance—for those like Louison, who placed too much weight upon it, even as she distrusted the looks of others.

but surely you know of knights who would watch over a lady while she slept,
She had taken her for a man, conjured her as some strange creature, yet in the end, she wielded the sharp, mocking wit of a woman. The blond maiden offered only a polite smile, a thin veil over the quiet storm within. So she would sleep alone, then.

I cannot be a knight if you are not noble, Lady Lousine. A laugh, a tease.
“Louison” She retorded, her nose slightly upturned in reproach. More absorbed in form than in meaning, she would not dwell on it for long.

“Then I wonder, truly, what lies beneath that knightly armor… If you are no knight, then what could you possibly be?” she mused, laughing—or merely affecting the semblance of mirth—as she laid her head upon the earth, nestled between her paws. She would await the beast’s return, the knight-woman’s reappearance, yet she would not close her eyes. She would watch. She would listen…

I guess we can wrap things up with your response? I’m gonna start a new thread while Louison waits for Uesuca—let’s see if something happens to her… eheheh! ?

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"louison," uesuca amended, appreciating the pleasure of properly uttering said name while she held the tantalizing eyes of the other. "and i am only a mercenary with a deep belly." a grinning departure held.

forests tall and dark. ledges of stone that forbade her step. mossy pavers of broken rock underfoot. the land was empty. wolves might have passed, yes, but no longer were they here that she could see. yet she would be cautious all the same, a woman stalking through brush with proverbial sword drawn.

primeval weald swallowed the warrior.

***

"lady."

blood smeared her muzzle, her chest. uesuca set down the three hares and moved to dip her own paws in that pool. her eyes moved to where louison had been upon the earth; she wiped her jaws free of the crimson and began to butcher the brace with a knowledgeable ease, silent now for the time being.

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Lady
The word roused the sleeping beauty, who, despite her will, had surrendered to sleep. Louison rose with no ceremony, already fully awake, her gaze sharp as if she had never been touched by slumber. As if she were accustomed to fleeing in haste, in the dead of night...

She was calm, observing the catch of her knight, whose lips were stained with blood. The blond woman approached, her eyes fixed on a drop of blood that danced upon her savior’s lips, transfixed. What a remarkable beast.

“Is that enough?” she inquired. “I mean, for a mercenary with a deep belly, it seems like rather a meager bounty.” Meanwhile, the mercenary busied herself with the provisions, carefully preparing the meat. She was skilled in her craft, something Louison herself lacked: she ate, and that was all. And she was hungry, so without a second thought, she seized one of the prey, crushing it with no delicacy between her jaws. Certainly one of the few creatures weaker than herself, which she could break with undeniable delight.

“I do hope I’m not the dessert...” she said, laughing, her mouth drenched in blood and the entrails she had eagerly devoured without hesitation.
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undeniable now, their parry, the thrust of words. louison lifted a silvertongued blade, and uesuca met it with her own burnished blade; "is that what you want, lady? to be dessert?" a wry retort, dryness covering the leaping want to clean rivulets of crimson from beside the lusty mouth.

"you said before you are only a maiden," uesuca began by roundabout way of answer, settled near. she did not touch the hares. "what will you tell the people we come across? i have seen a noble born from word alone." suggestibility had a long arm.  "but you will need others around to believe it."

and eventually uesuca herself would need more lasting work. such was the cold pragmatism of a woman devoted to being her own man. flirting with beautiful women beside ponds, plying sylphs with meat — all very indulgent for war's daughter. again she chastised herself, yet found the guilt had little sting alongside the glow of louison's gaze. 

was her mouth — blue?

"you were dirtied by travel and you do not sleep like a spoiled noble. your bearing is dignified but you have no servants." a pause. "is there something you flee, lady?"

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It was for such trivial details that Louison loathed women. They were sharp-eyed, infinitely more cunning than their male counterparts, and, above all, they asked questions. They were insatiably curious, brimming with sins, flaws, and vices.

With every remark from Uesuca, Louison listened in silence, her face plunged into the entrails of her meal, tearing, rending, annihilating all that passed between her fangs. She was in no position to negotiate, much less to threaten, so she adorned herself with that infamous predatory smile of hers—gentle at first, but ending in a gleaming array of sharpened teeth.

“For now, there is no one else to persuade. Only you and me.” The blonde’s voice was steady, though she received Uesuca’s words like veiled threats, like an ill-placed curiosity that demanded wariness—a snout burrowing far too deeply into the anatomy of a mystery she had no intention of unveiling.

“I am a maiden,” she declared, running her tongue over her lips, striving to keep her voice laced with honeyed melodies. A struggle, indeed, for even the simplest of Uesuca’s inquiries rang with an unspoken menace, the mark of a beast far too shrewd for comfort—her knight for the moment, her predator perhaps in another.

“Where I come from, knights slit the throats of those who dare question their lady’s status,” she had said. But here, no knight stood at her side to shield her from Uesuca’s scrutiny. Here, there was only the hope that Uesuca herself would be the one to sever the throats of those who pried too deeply.

“And so, Uesuca, there is nothing I flee from—save perhaps, the sorrow of mourning my knight. He is, it seems, nowhere to be found.” Had she attempted to put an end to this clearly disturbing question?
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"the blood adds to your insistence," uesuca commented, but her head bowed beneath the truth scraped from guileless mouth, it seemed. some horrid part of the warrior wished to prod further, to see if it was gold or only gilding which defined louison. "a knight cannot be blinded." but neither did she expect the woman's immediate trust.

the crown of thorns which comprised her smile was enough for now to confirm.

rising, uesuca gathered the entrails, carrying them off toward the treeline to bury. she was not long gone and did not leave sight of louison. and when she came back, it was to scrape mud from her broad paws and face each of the cardinal directions. "tomorrow you choose our path," she filled herself with the eternality of leaping skybow eyes, a breath swelling her chest, "and i will threaten the lives of those who question you on our journey."

an arched brow, a fighter standing back. the stag-heart was pledged as a sword. now louison must find trust, or at very least tolerance. uesuca was smitten, but more than that she was curious. she wished to see louison on to safety, to see her blossom among others as her own insistence said the other would.

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The message had been conveyed, and for the time being, the knight would ask no further questions, it seemed. Yet Louison was not deceived; this woman had revealed her flaws, those of the weaker sex, the one who sheltered and nourished sin. Despite her bestial nature, she remained, after all, a woman.

She had stepped away to engage in some strange ritual with what she had salvaged from the entrails. Louison had slightly wrinkled her snout—how curious. Why squander what could fill a belly? In times of famine, it held more value than gold. But the maiden said nothing, observing the knight silently, noting the grime that coated her heavy paws upon her return.

Tomorrow you choose our path, and I will threaten the lives of those who question you on our journey.
Ah, that she was eager to witness—this blood that would spill, which she hoped would come at the slightest hint of opposition. But for now, she remained reserved:

“We shall see,” she acknowledged before stretching out once more, licking her lips, stained with entrails and blood, just enough to render herself clean. A far cry from the demeanor of a lady, but whom did she need to impress here? Neither common folk nor nobility.

“We shall see what tomorrow brings, if it's not just you and me wandering these cursed lands!” she affirmed, before lowering her head between her paws.
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last for me :D

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uesuca saw no reason to stay in this place, even if they were alone. loneliness did not need to take the form of static, though she voiced none of this. there was no urge in her to further misstep, though she was again pondering why exactly louison did not seem so swift to find others. did she fear them? loathe them? maybe uesuca had been completely mistaken; suppose this lady had run away from demands upon her to travel as a hermit?

in that case, what need had she of a knight? it was in her use of such a word that the boarsword had seen nobility, first. the rest spelled itself. she believed louison in stark denial, but her role was not counsellor.

"we shall see." her eyes, thankfully, did not stray with such sentiment as they had before. "rest well, lady."

a sentinel at the edge of the woodland, putting a bow round the pondland as louison presumably slept. her own respite would be taken later, uesuca not nestling too close beneath the heavy cloak of high night.

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“Keep an eye open, knight...” she had given in reply before curling in on herself, letting sleep take her—or so one might believe.

Thanks for this wonderful thread! I can't wait to see what comes next for them! O-O

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