22.Mar.13, 07:29 AM
R'ana jerked as she heard her birthname for the first time in...years. She controlled it, barely, the simple word enough to remind her that this was futile.
S'kef took off and R'nya approached her first, gently squeezing her elbow in attempt to reassure her. Her shakes didn't ease, and she was ashamed that he could feel them.
When he started to move, she couldn't at first. Getting fear frozen limbs to detangle and move was easier said than done and R'ana wanted nothing more than to run.
She found her courage in B'run, oddly enough. She still struggled to breathe, was still terrified half out of her mind, but she was moving forward at any rate.
R'nya's guidance was gentle, gentler than she deserved. She gave him a grateful glance. While she knew she couldn't appeal to him for mercy, the gentleness helped. Oh what on earth had she been thinking when she had stepped forward like that.B'run. The Gold candidates. Par'a.
R'ana stopped a moment and took a breath, then another. Quietly she reached into a pocket for her worry beads, and counted aloud, murmuring the numbers in a voice that lost its shake between fifteen and twenty. When she hit thirty she stepped forward, standing next to B'run. Beads were pocketed and she reached for Shanith.
No. I'm not going home to wait for him to beat you and for you to lick your wounds before coming to me. As if to punctuate her point, Shanith moved to stand by Olemuth, her nearly black silhouette barely seen in the dark of the night.
R'ana still shook, but breathing was marginally easier, even if her breaths seemed to tear at her chest. She felt the physical effects of her fear and pain, knew it would all catch up later, but for now, she was eeriely calm. Detached.
Shanith nosed Olemuth gently in support then stilled, feeling her rider drawing further away from her by the second as she often did when she was preparing herself for a lashing. It drew a moan from the green, the noise loud in the quiet this far from the party.
S'kef took off and R'nya approached her first, gently squeezing her elbow in attempt to reassure her. Her shakes didn't ease, and she was ashamed that he could feel them.
When he started to move, she couldn't at first. Getting fear frozen limbs to detangle and move was easier said than done and R'ana wanted nothing more than to run.
She found her courage in B'run, oddly enough. She still struggled to breathe, was still terrified half out of her mind, but she was moving forward at any rate.
R'nya's guidance was gentle, gentler than she deserved. She gave him a grateful glance. While she knew she couldn't appeal to him for mercy, the gentleness helped. Oh what on earth had she been thinking when she had stepped forward like that.
R'ana stopped a moment and took a breath, then another. Quietly she reached into a pocket for her worry beads, and counted aloud, murmuring the numbers in a voice that lost its shake between fifteen and twenty. When she hit thirty she stepped forward, standing next to B'run. Beads were pocketed and she reached for Shanith.
R'ana still shook, but breathing was marginally easier, even if her breaths seemed to tear at her chest. She felt the physical effects of her fear and pain, knew it would all catch up later, but for now, she was eeriely calm. Detached.
Shanith nosed Olemuth gently in support then stilled, feeling her rider drawing further away from her by the second as she often did when she was preparing herself for a lashing. It drew a moan from the green, the noise loud in the quiet this far from the party.