Chasing Sirocco {1}

{1}

And like the moon,
She had a side to her,
So dark, that even the stars
Couldn't shine on it;
She had a side of her
So cold, that even the sun
Couldn't burn on it
-Abigail J.

3555 A.N

"Look it's the flower of the Belladonna," said Sephtis, as he bent down and gently plucked the blossom. It's chalky petals contrasted grotesquely against his ashen complexion and darkening hair.

"Thank you dear,", Celestine preened as she picked the blossom from his hand and placed it in her hair, flashing her twin a smile as she walked onward, enjoying the scents of the Earth Deity's garden.

"Belladonna means pretty lady in mortal tongue i'm told", Sephtis called out to his sister as he ran to match her stride, His onyx hair lightened to grey,  and his sister surmised the god was in good spirits.
"Gifting a pretty lady to the prettiest lady" He mused, cracking a smile as his locks brightened to a chalky white.

"The Goddess of beauty and light does not accept such trifling compliments brother " She narrowed her eyes at him. 

Her statement was met with with a snort from her companion.

"Although you lose spectacularly when it comes to fragrance", he says as he picked the flower from her flaxen locks and held it up to her nose. "A whisper of it's fragrance and you will understand".

 His mouth curved into a smile as he tilted it towards her nose.

Celestine's nose flared in surprise as she took in the fragrance.

" It's  beautiful"

 Sephtis crossed his arms and stepped back, his sable hair was turning onyx. 

The Goddess frowned at the sudden change in his mood, her vision was blurring around the edges. She waved her worries away, blaming her sudden lightheadedness on the wine she had consumed at the feast that night.

"You will be experiencing  some blurry vision, but it's customary for Belladonna victims." 

Sephtis strode towards his staggering twin and clasped her chin.

"Do not worry dear sister, you won't die-you're a goddess after all." He pulled her face closer and roughly pulled up her eyelid. Tears began dripping down her cheeks as she stared back. Her sclera was inflamed-a deep scarlet, and her pupils were wide with the pain of betrayal as they eclipsed the blue of her iris.

"Working as expected", The god commented as he released her chin and watched her slump to the ground, camouflaged amid the perfumed branches of hydrangea.

You'll also be blind for awhile now, I'm sure the world won't collapse if the pretty feather-head is not present, right?" He clenched his jaw, biting back a smirk.

"Now I'll be going Sister dearest, Enjoy", Sephtis cackled as he swaggered lazily to the fast disappearing garden gates.

Hot tears pricked at the goddesses eyes, her eye had swollen shut from the effects of the flower. Heat rolled off her skin in waves as her veins distended, it seemed her body would not respond as she willed it to move. She tried prying her mouth open to scream but only a hoarse whisper escaped as the world faded in and out of focus before she was overtaken by the poison.

>><<

Neith observed the siblings from the highest boughs of an ebony tree. Celestine and Sephtis walking through a path overgrown with Belladonna, their forms disappearing as they wound deeper into the garden. The dark god seemed to be in high spirits as his deep chuckles carried to the highest boughs in the garden. Celestine and Sephtis- twins who were the exact opposites. Celestine radiated light while Sephtis was ever brooding as he oversaw the passage of death. They were sides of the same coin, Neith mused as she glimpsed the top of Celestine's golden head and Sephtis's sable locks resurface briefly before getting lost in the thick of hydrangea bushes separating them from the field of violets ahead.

"I'll return to my practice now Amaris", the goddess whispered to the tree beside her as she deftly twisted her tawny hair into a knot. She was a quiet deity, her friends were the trees and animals during long and lone hunts, she had never felt friendless among them. Not even once.

>><<

Pressing her heel into the earth Neith slowly adjusted the angle of her bow. Sweat and dirt coated her face as she once again made minor adjustments to her shooting angle. She had to make the kill-fast ; a violet glow was staining the sky as the sun ended its journey for the day and it was not fair to kill a creature by moonlight. 

Squinting, Neith eyed the elusive golden deer she had been hunting, it quivered and bounded away again. 

"By Shrike! What is this damned animal doing!".

 She pursued her chase darting behind thick ravine and tree trunks, following the flash of gold towards the field of violets.

>><<

Slowly closing the book, Kiana stroked her sleeping daughter's dark curls as she blew out the lamp next to her. 

"I'll continue in the morn' dearest", she murmured softly.
The queen got up to leave to her chambers when she felt an insistent hand yank her wrist.

"Ammi, I want to know more about Neith", Fallyn pushed off her sheets and sat up attentively. 

"Who is she?"

"Neith", a pause, "Is the goddess war and wisdom, She doesn't have a continent as she is always journeying, hunting and advising."

 Kiana gave her daughter a stern look, "She will also never be deity of Adlaste."

"Ammi, I want to be a warrior princess too!", The girl set about making swishing noises, felling imaginary enemies with her sword as her mother looked on in concern.

The queen's eyes held emotions inscrutable to her daughter as she perched at the edge of the bed and placed her brooch into Fallyn's palms.

"It would do you better to learn to be a good queen first, you are to be queen of your husband's kingdom someday."

"No husbands Ammi, I want to stay here, please don't let them take me away!"

"Fallyn, go to bed", her mother's voice sounded heavy to the princess, as she blew out the lamps before shutting the door behind her. Her heavy soles clicking faintly as she made her way down the hallway of the eastern wing.

The princess pulled the cover's over her, listening to the faint shifting of guards outside her door before she drifted to sleep, dreaming of the tawny haired goddess and elusive dear.