unabatedly: (45 - SKaSHvC)
ɴᴇʀɪᴀ sᴜʀᴀɴᴀ ([personal profile] unabatedly) wrote in [community profile] ruinations 2018-10-09 04:03 am (UTC)

"I've heard that often, Your Grace. Almost everyone I have met from other worlds has told me so. I wonder if they never existed or if they existed so long ago that when they died out, there was no record of them." Her tone was level, polite, and only factual. Her expression never wavered. Though emotional to her, it was a rehearsed sort of discussion after having so many previously - with Damen, Law, Symon, Grell. Some worlds simply had humans populating them.

Briefly, she looked to Kell. Silence followed and, slowly, she dipped her head in a firm nod. "That would be best, I think. Better that I at least look...normal." She would not say she looked as if she belonged.

Neria reached for her teacup and drew it close, but did not drink before answering the Queen's question. It was difficult to know what to say. Being honest would likely only hurt both her and Kell, and in looking across at the King and Queen who held themselves so tightly, who very likely looked on her with some measure of fear already... She frowned, her thumb brushing over the rim of the cup. "The magic I have from my home pales in comparison to Kell's own," she answered truthfully. No Thedosian mage could compare to an Antari except, perhaps, a Magister using blood magic. "I learned other magic in Asora that allowed me to be stronger. At this point, Kell is likely still stronger than I am."

It wasn't a lie, even if Neria's truth came from a place still steeped in guilt and self-loathing, something that still told her she was weak for what had happened in Aallotar. For all the things she failed to do.

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