staying at xhorhaus until covid is over

C3E110

IT'S A WHOLE LOT, FRIEND.

On my first read I honestly thought that Imogen made all those choices and subsequent in the moment. But upon a few rereads it does sound a lot more like Imogen noticed Laudna without even knowing who or what she was noticing, and kept it on her radar out of hopeful curiosity.

Imagine being aware of some blip of mysterious calm, not understanding it but inherently trusting it anyway. And then the townsfolk start whispering about a hag in the woods, and you just roll your eyes because their paranoia is unending and tiresome and rarely based on any legitimate threat. And then one day that paranoia escalates into an angry mob that heads off in some very intentional direction, and you only follow so you can see their faces when the hunt turns up nothing at all.

But at some point, in between all the frenzied thoughts about their prey and all of your own thoughts about their idiocy, you realize something that makes your stomach drop:

The further they go, the closer that blip gets.

You move faster and throw yourself into the procession and keep your mental walls up as best you can, but you already know you'll deal with any amount of pain just to make sure that blip doesn't go away. So far it hasn't, and it's still getting stronger and clearer with every step forward, and you wonder what could possibly be waiting for you on the other side of this swarm--

It's a person.

A woman, you guess but make a note to confirm later, who's pale as moonlight and visibly gaunt beneath her tattered but beautiful dress. She's frankly stunning, but what hits you much harder is her expression: not a trace shock or surprise that these people are gathered in front of her, but the purest and most profound sadness you've ever seen someone wear on their face. And the thing is, that kind of sadness should be loud, should be screaming and wailing its way through your tentatively open mind; but no matter how directly you focus, your find nothing.

(Well, that's not completely true, because underneath all the layers of breathless hollering is the faintest, simplest, most peaceful melody you've ever heard.)

There's nothing in all of Exandria that could sound like that and have even a lick of evil in it, you decide within your next heartbeat, and start to shrug between bodies and duck around torches until there's nothing left between you and this individual you know nothing about except that their mind doesn't hurt.

(You imagine what it would feel like if all these people went away, if it was just you and the woman, if it could actually be possible to share a life with someone that didn't revolve around pain and self-control and being tolerated.)

That impossible dream is what carries you forward, turns you around, and spreads your arms wide like your daddy trying to wrangle an over-excited chicken.

"No. Don't you dare."

More Beauyasha and Imodna

Beau and Yasha heading to bed, asking if Imogen wanted to join

Babe, sex

1) damn they moved fast [rushed writing]

2) damn they moved fast [imogen was desperate]