Welcome to Gaia! ::

It crept up on her, so slowly that she did not realize it at first. She could not have named it even as it sank into her like talons of a bird of prey. One day she was dancing, the dance of the seven bells and the next her movements felt like she was sloughing through mud.

She couldn't get out of bed by the next day.

The loss of her brother through separation and her need to save him was not enough to keep the depression away. It crept into her until her whole body felt too heavy to rise.

Let them find her here laying, let them kill her for all the good it would do. She felt dead already, she'd never find her brother Sven. She'd never see him again, why even fight any longer?

The children of Horus were cruel to her at best, but that didn't matter when she had hope. She would die here now, she knew that--there was no escape.

She closed her eyes, waiting for the end to come.

Artemis had returned home slowly, her body aching after her feeding. She'd fed more than she had in weeks, her stomach sloshing with blood. The feeling brought on one of contentment. It wasn't often that she got the chance to down something quite so big.

She hummed happily as she came into the camp. Her brother's call caught her off guard, and she turned quickly to him. Her eyebrows creased together. "The thrall?" She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. "The new one or the dove?"

They had several thralls, her brothers were always so...non specific. She glanced around, "Where is the dove?"

Usually, the dove was up dancing or singing or something like that--their father forcing them to speak with her like a civilized creatures. Finesse, he said was an art worth learning. As of yet though, Artemis had not found that to be the case. One rake of the claw and she could open a throat---that was much more satisfying than words.

She knew they would come for her soon. They'd rip the flesh from her bones probably. She should run, she should get up and do her chores. All she had to do was go through the motions, but the motions seemed....too much.

Viveka kept picturing herself rising up, but the action never made it to her legs or her body. She was too weary, too tired to care. Let them come, let them kill her. At least there would be no more worry, and no more threats.

She could lay here and just die. The pain would be temporary and then would come then nothing. She'd be done. They wouldn't be able to kill her again.

Sven

The voice in the back of her mind insisted. They would get her brother, her little brother. They would make him suffer. They would do all they had done to her and more...and more. She didn't want that to happen, she didn't want him to come to this place.

She pressed her legs harder and struggled panting to her knees. Sven, the voice in the back of her mind kept urging. Sven. Sven. Sven.

If she died, they would take him. She was all that stood in the way of him coming here. Sven. Sven. Sven! Her mind screamed it and bitter tears leaked down her face. She had to fight to live, to fight to live if only for him.

Only for him.

It took more effort than she thought possible to get one hoof under her body. She was trembling by the time it rested on soft earth. Hurry, they might be coming the voice urged in the back of her mind while another part whispered to just lay down it'd be over soon.

Sven.

She was sweating by the time she got two hooves under her. It was glistening on her back as though she'd run miles--she felt like she had. Viveka lurched forward pulling the rest of herself to her feet unsteadily.

She stood there like a newborn foal, wobbly and unsure. Memories of Sven at that age came to her mind, the worried look and the scared eyes. But how he had lit up when he saw her. He had loved her from that first moment as much as she loved him.

Sven.

She could do this. She could do anything for Sven. All she had to do was go through the motions, nothing had to mean anything. All she had to do was breathe in and then out, one minute at a time. Even just a breath at a time.

Viveka took a step as she heard Khonvoum coming, and plastered a smile on her face though she felt far from smiling.

The thrall was standing there, her legs trembling and body sweating. There seemed something wrong with her, but there was nothing he could see. He assessed her slowly. "Why have you not been doing your duties....Viveka?" He added her name as an afterthought.

Her eyes were glassy, her hair dirty--her feather drooping in her hair. "Are you sick little dove?" If she died, father would be angry and take it out on him. She was his responsibility to take care of, to learn from.

But it was a lesson, he could not fathom. The quiet grace of her, the easy movement of her long limbs that moved fluidly despite bruises or fear. Something drove her that he did not understand.

She watched her brother through eyes thinly veiled with hate. Here he was pandering to the dove. It was against their nature. She felt that white hot hate well up in her. Blood of her blood, sired by the same parents and yet--she hated them, hated all of her brothers as her father knew they were destined to be. He was always right, her father. It rankled her. But disobeying him was not even a question in her mind. His word was law. His word. It always come back to words for their family.

Why did words have such power?

Her fear choked her for a moment as his claw tugged her hair. It was an attempt at...compassion? Or something? He was trying to figure out what she was hiding. She leaned into his claw as though it was soothing instead of painful. This was a dangerous game, but much better than his wraith.

She searched her mind and she began a low humming in her throat. She sang him a song she had often performed, a song about a meadow and peaceful sleep. It was a gentle soothing song that she had first learned with her grandmother, one she had taught Sven when no one else paid attention to him.

She wondered if he thought of her? But thinking of him was dangerous, she could not even say his name if she wanted to keep him safe.

Artemis eyed the exchange going on between the thrall and her brother. She tilted her head in wonder. He was trying to coax something out of her. The entire exchange was sickening.

With sudden decision, Artemis backhanded Viveka. The bruise started instantly and the tips of her claws made neat marks on her flesh. Her brother turned on her angry, but she met him head on.

"Coddle the thrall and she'll give you nothing but lies. She is meant to be broken and bent, to serve." Her voice was a hiss, "You and father and your stupid words." She was sick of these endless lessons.

Her father backhanded her and she felt blood in her mouth. His words were like acid to her. Your brother has learned a lesson you never will. You are weak and if you do not learn, you will be nothing better than a slave.