𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞

𝐄 𝐈 𝐆 𝐇 𝐓

𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐟

*TW: sexual assault is implied

 The sky is dark beyond the diminishing smoke by the time Briéa comes to. The fires are long gone out. Not even embers of them remain. The Shield stands above Briéa, waving salts under her nose. She darts up from the pool of her own blood, nearly knocking Zaara's nose in. Panic settles in.

"What-FUUUCK GODS FUCKING DAMMIT!"

Now the pain settles in.

Her skull feels too small for her brain, her arm and side are throbbing. The bleeding has stopped by now but her skin is pale. Magic does not make her immortal but Briéa knows it's the only reason she's still alive. But now she realizes how badly burned her leg was. Nearly the entirety of her right thigh is covered in scorched skin.

I'm going to lose my fucking leg.

Zaara doesn't give Briéa the chance to come completely undone before shoving something in her mouth, then forcing her jaw shut. "Swallow," she orders. Briéa wants to gag. What it is, it tastes gods awful. Now isn't the time to argue. She swallows, despite everything in her body telling her to spit whatever the hell it is out. "Good, that'll help dull the pain, not perfect, but it'll keep you calm enough till we can get you to medical."

She looks over the room, trying to get some sense of what's happening and what happened. Ennell is on the other side of the room kneeling over the motionless body of a council member, waving the same salts Zaara has, under their nose. When they don't respond Ennell's lips barely move as she whispers the farewell orison.

The memory of carnage comes back to her. The fire. The smoke. The mystics wearing the king's crest. Kelrose brought down to nothing but rubble.

Daskel.

Reihan.

Zaarin.

Aesira.

Gods are they safe?

Briéa tries to stand but Zaara holds her down by her shoulder. "Not yet girl."

"Zaara." The smoke has all but shredded her throat. She sounds like a beast from the deep. Each sound is painful as it claws its way out her mouth. "Zaara..." Even with whatever Zaara gave her, panic still knocks at her door. "What happened?" The Shield only shakes her head and looks to her wife, having moved on to another council member by now. This one wakes.

"I don't know."

"I have to go find-," she tries to stand again.

"No." Briéa stares at the Shield. There is no other option in Zaara's mind. Briéa grabs the woman's arm, for the first time in her life, beyond desperate. Zaara shakes her head again. "It's chaos Briéa, people have only just started waking up, and you need medical." She won't budge. The Thorn catches Zaara's eyes and runs over.

"Briéa!" She kneels beside her, bringing their foreheads together. Briéa closes her eyes. A scrap of comfort finds her being in the presence of Ennell. Her closest mentor, a mother even in Briéa's eyes. It is the first time she has ever felt any sense of calm during the entire massacre. When they pull back, even Ennell is stricken with worry. It's written in the crease between her brows.

"Ennell, I have-"

"Drink." She holds a canister to Briéa's mouth. Despite wanting to get out of there, Briéa drinks greedily. The water relieves some of the pain in her throat. It doesn't take her long to empty Ennell's canister. She tosses it aside when nothing is left.