[IoM] The Meaning of Darkness

[runiclore]

Judas brushed grit from the figurine's face as gently as he could, balancing it on his knee and holding the base to keep it steady. The paint was faded and chipped away, but the limestone beneath was sanded smooth, either by time and weather or the hand of the original artist, he couldn't know. "Selkhet," he intoned for the benefit of his companion. "Goddess of magic."

Raeger made a faint sound of acknowledgement and lifted her head from the floor. "I... saw that headdress in the last place we came out of. Thought it was a tomb. Guess not."

His mouth twitched into a smile when she let her head fall back with a dull crack. "It was." As for the reason behind the goddess's appearance there, he could only guess. "I suppose magic was an important part of their burial rites."

"How?"

"Who knows?" Judas ran his thumb over the figure's lips and blew the last of the dust away. "They knew so many things that are lost to us now. Sometimes I think the magic we use today is only a fraction of what the ancients knew." He met the goddess's eyes thoughtfully, though they were expressionless and dead, too stylized to appear truly real. "Perhaps the Dark Valkyrie would know why that is so."

He saw Raeger prop herself up on her elbows in his peripheral vision. "You keep mentioning that. Are you talking about the one we saw in Amenti?"

Judas set the figurine carefully onto the floor and folded his handkerchief. "No, not her. She doesn't know the meaning of darkness."


. . .

Time: 15 minutes
Word: nurture

Comments

[kytha.livejournal.com]

An interesting snippet to come up with, from the prompt word. It's kind of funny that for all he puts her through during the day (oh noes, teh hiking) he never reprimands her for flopping around like a boneless fish once they stop to rest. XD

Much ♥~