#pullofthebowstring

@pullofthebowstring

Hanae had gone from oddly absent to terribly present. Aika knew why, and while a part of her did not like feeling like Hanae was thinking out each move made between them during the journey to the Northern border, a part of her appreciated it. The more distance closed between her and the crags, more so herself and home, the more what conflict she felt grew.

It was growing hard to see the absence of Manami’s mistreatment and more so the destruction of what closeness they had shared. Was it really all that bad? Had she become so swept up in the opinions of outsiders that her vision of their relationship had become distorted. Hadn't they built a sandcastle together during the festival of salt while waiting for the crowds of Northern nobility within their home to thin for the evening? They watched the ships pass earlier in the day and discussed how their ancestors might have chosen to plunder them, what weaknesses they noticed upon first glance.

If their relationship was so dreadful could they have shared such peaceful moments?

The muscles within her arms had started to ache and burn with the extra effort and extended time she was placing into her forms. If she sat still there was more room for her mind to be active scouring through unanticipated twists and turns; practice was repetitive, comforting.

@pullofthebowstring

They were not far from Caldera. As much as Hanae wished she simply knew this based upon her own knowledge, she did not. It was information she retrieved while in the market of a moderately sized village they were camping at the outskirts of. It would be New Year’s soon and many people would come converging upon the area. Crowds to get lost in.

Not that Manami needed additional spies, but Hanae would not have been terribly surprised. Jaliqai’s and Batbayar’s appearances made it easy for anyone who may or may not be tailing them.

@pullofthebowstring

thud, thud thud, thud

The sound of Jaliqai’s heartbeat within her chest and the pleasant warmth Aika’s cheek was rested upon was nearly enough to lull her back to sleep in the dim early morning light. It had been unbearable, the time they had spent apart after Batbayar’s arrival but this had almost made it all worth it. Almost .

There were still matters they needed to discuss concerning their upcoming union. While Aika doubted that Jaliqai could say anything more that would change her mind concerning it, she still wanted to know more regarding what awaited her in the steppe. Then there was the wedding that Hanae insisted that they should attend. Aika could not think of a good reason to do so. With her sister there it was practically inviting a confrontation.

Absently she traced her fingertips along the outline of her fiancé’s hipbone as she focused upon the rhythmic sound and her own breathing. Clearing her mind of its anxieties and spiraling thoughts was difficult on most occaisions, but at times like these it felt so easy, natural.

Aika had always been one to rise with the sun. If nothing was accomplished long before high noon the hope of it being done dwindled dramatically. Approaching the cragwoman was one of these things. The thought had crossed her mind on several occaisions during their shared journey, but the idea was intimidating enough even without both of their fathers present. She had observed Jaliqai before riding in the early morning. Preparation must have happened shortly before Aika herself was ready for practice.

@pullofthebowstring

How many people looked uncomfortable during the ceremony? Manami had counted twelve. Most of them were related to her somehow. Aunt Biyu seemed the most distraught. A visibly pregnant bride was more scandal than her poor little heart could take. Absolutely precious.

Her husband was visibly frightened a thing she found oddly humorous as this wedding was not real in the slightest. This whole charade was for the sake of appearances. So much in her life thus far was meant to gloss over realities that might prove grotesquely distasteful to those of delicate sensitivities on the outside. Such a shame that their opinions mattered.

Even her actual husband- easily her father’s age, without bending and yet the key to her freedom from this ghastly keep and the walls surrounding this wretched cove- seemed to look upon her on occaision with a mild air of disgust. Not that his opinion mattered much. With the birth of the children, she too was certain it was more than one, there wasn’t much she would need from him long after that. He had many enemies, Azula was still out there apparently… Anything could happen.

At this time Manami broke from her false husband’s side, brushing past attendees clogging the reception floor with her handmaidens trailing behind her like frantic little turtleducks. At the corner of the room sat Grandmother, plump and -by the dazed look in her eyes- clearly confused. Nervously her fingers, each sporting a gaudy ring made of coral, tapped upon the smooth volcanic glass surface of her little round table.

As Manami took a seat beside her one of her handmaiden’s quickly scurried to help. “Grandmother,” She began, her voice ever clear and pinched. “How are you? Have you had anything to eat yet?“

As if she had not even asked a question, Grandmother spoke. "Thank you for the lovely ring, Aika.” The woman’s thin nail tapped upon a particularly large ring that adorned her finger. “It was quite good of you.” Manami had in fact given her the ring. It would have been easy to be consciously distraught by this, but by this time she had grown accustom to this particular mistake. Both she and her younger sister were the same person in the elderly woman’s mind. Manami had ceased to exist years ago.

The bride offered her grandmother a soft smile. Correcting her was something Manami stopped bothering with years ago. It only upset her and she’d wind up forgetting again anyways. “I am pleased to hear, Grandmother.” She asked again, “Have you eaten yet?”

“Oh… No, yes.” Manami waited for her grandmother to continue, but she did not.

“Bring my grandmother a glass of water and a sweet bread.” It was directed at one of her two handmaidens, but both started to depart. “ Not you, Mei, just Chen. I won’t have you leaving my sight in your condition.”

For a time Manami simply listened to her grandmother speak. Thankfully she could still hold fragments of conversation still, though it was terribly easy for her to become distracted and forget that she had been speaking at all. Sporadically she would let her gaze drift out to the crowd conversing, mingling and eating together; a mass of revolting, consuming flesh that made so much noise. Among them she noticed her little sister’s pet barbarian.

Lightly placing her hand upon her grandmother's Manami excused herself from the table, instructing Mei to have a seat and keep her entertained. The girl should be sitting anyways, she was with child afterall.