Chapter IV – While The Innocent Rest August 18, 2009
Posted by L. Solange in Exa's Saga, Interlude.Tags: character acting in different tense, fantasy, fiction, fifth post AND ahead of schedule
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“While the innocent rest cradled safely in bed, the wicked work for those we dread.”
-Ancient proverb, supposedly popularised before the rise of the Four Kingdoms.
—
Takhris gently lay down the unconscious girl on the eight-sided bed as the door to the now-dark floor closed by itself. He had suspected that something like this could happen, though he had also hoped it would not. Manipulating the air around Exa to release the straps and catches that held the scorched remains of her armour around the girl, he carefully removed the mangled pieces one by one and cast them aside. Once he was sure that she had not hurt herself too badly, he used the control panel to dim the lights in the room and set off a soft symphony that would help Exa rest easier. Then, knowing there was nothing for him left to do at the moment, he stepped through the spheres into a bedroom belonging to the most beautiful child of the world.
The child sits on the warmly-coloured carpet, knees tucked underneath and nimble hands stacking blocks in patterns that would have seemed to have no logic behind them to one not knowing how to look at them. In measured movements the figures that lay on the carpet receive new shapes and meanings, each supplying unique threads to the stories woven which held secrets that even Takhris could only guess at. Occasionally, when lithe fingers capture one of the pieces, it changes or disappears altogether, the number and appearance of the shapes in constant flux.
Noting the soft glow in the horizon beyond the open balcony, Takhris greeted the child with a simple, “Good morning, Errata. Having fun?”
The child’s head turns up to face him with a glowing smile, speaking a courteous reply in a flawlessly melodic voice, confirming that they are, in fact, having fun. Errata continues by asking if Takhris agrees that the shape their hands are currently dancing to create is beautiful, being a direct representation of the social interactions of a community of true salamanders in a volcano near the area popularly known as the Looloq Gap.
Approaching to study the morphing display spread on the fluffy floor, Takhris looked closer and saw how a recent bubble in the magma flow had brought the tribe a new source of food and that now the creatures were celebrating. Time after time, he found himself fascinated by Errata’s abilities, though they had first met a long time ago, not much after Errata had acquired the seeds of the gift and curse that was now mostly under the control of the child. Unable to resist the temptation like always – he was almost certain that it was the strongest reason Errata had chosen the form that would have put a cherub to shame – he stroked the child’s immaculate hair, receiving in turn another heart-moving smile.
