~*~
“Do you really think you should be doing that?” Rissika said as she watched flashes of crimson fall to the ground in wisps.

“Fuck off,” Sirenia grumbled.

“I don’t like how you’re acting since she left,” the elf frowned, turning her attention from the young woman in front of her who was growing up all too quickly for such a beautiful world.

“Why? Because you can’t control me?”

The ebony haired elf scoffed and looked away from her sharply.

“Yea, that’s what I thought.”

The two of them remained in silence for the next ten minutes as Sirenia continued what her friend would call a massacre of the head.

“I wish you would have left it alone,” Rissika sighed in defeat as she took in the redhead’s new hairstyle. Her once long, crimson locks that reminded her of blood had been chopped off into a frayed boyish trim. It wasn’t that it looked bad; in fact, Sirenia had kept it in an orderly manner for never having touched a razor in her life. It was just sad to watch it all vanish after 7 years of seeing it hanging down her shoulders.

“I wish you would stop telling me what to do,” the redhead snapped and pushed past the elf towards the door, but a hand caught her wrist.

“Siren…come on, wait,”

“Don’t call me that,” she muttered as she tried to pull away, but Rissika was still stronger as usual.

Refusing her departure, the dark-haired elf pulled her towards her and silently waited for their gaze to lock, whether it be in hatred or surrender, it didn’t matter.

“You need to get a hold of yourself and stop moping around. It’s driving me bloody mad.”

“What do you think I’m doing, Rissika? Twiddling my fucking thumbs?”

“I think you’re having a crisis because she left you and to make up for it your chopping off all your precious hair.”

“By the Gods, it’s HAIR! It will grow back. And I am not having a crisis. I’ve reassessing my life and I think I finally know what I need to do.”

“What do you mean?” Rissika’s eyebrow raised in intrigue, letting go of the younger woman once she knew she wasn’t going to run out the door.

“I’m leaving Caprenicus soon.”

“What?” the elf said in a quick breath, “Does Majesta know?

“She’s not my mother. Nor is she my High Priestess; I hold allegiance to only myself. Neither you nor she can stop me.”

“She’ll kill you if you try to—”

“—KILL me? That’s rather harsh. I’m going to tell her. And Keristi too.”

“Not my mother, you dork. Amaranth. You can’t go back there.”

Sirenia threw her head back with a laugh, her crimson hair no longer bouncing against her shoulders. It made her look daring rather than innocent.

“And what fucking makes you think I want to step foot back in that ash covered wasteland?”

Rissika’s face contorted in confusion.

“So, where are you going then?”

“Obscuria. I want to meet Lord Zykus.”

“Are you insane?” Rissika invaded into the younger woman’s space again, “You can’t travel to Obscuria alone. And who are you to think they’d let you speak to the Lord of Obscuria? Do you even know a thing about him? Of his kingdom? His people?”

“I—I’ve read…”

“Yea, Siren. You’ve read. And reading gets you as far as the cliff until you keep walking because the only thing you really knew how to do was turn the fucking page.”

The redhead grunted and fumbled around for words, furious at the older woman and her bold words, but damnit she was right to a point.

“Let me come with you,” Rissika said, extending her hand out and gently touching Sirenia’s arm as a sign she wasn’t trying to actually be a bloody bitch this time.

“Absolutely not,” Sirenia flinched in response, but didn’t retreat from their position as one might have expected.

The elf gave a sigh and let her hand fall off her before raising it upward to run her fingers through short crimson locks, secretly admiring the novel guise but not daring to voice it quite yet.

“Sirenia, I don’t want to control you,” she said with a chuckle when the redhead swatted her hand away, “I just want to protect you. I know you think you know about how to protect yourself, but trust me; you haven’t seen a spec of dust in the desert. You’re what, seventeen? You’re amongst elves who have danced between the multiverse; can you imagine what we’ve seen in our years here on Feirhkiln?”

“I’ll think about it,” Sirenia muttered and pushed past Rissika with a huff.

“Where are you going?”

“To get something to eat. And if you trying to stop me this time I’ll punch you.”

The elf laughed and followed behind her, not turning down a bite to eat.

“Sure. I’ll be careful”

“I’ve been practicing my Soul-Fire!” Sirenia shouted over her shoulder, further down the hallway now. She pushed her hands together to show a growing ball of plasma, but tripped on the carpet simultaneously, sending an hot evaporating ash onto her face “Fuck!”

~*~

Thank you for taking the time to take in this piece! This is inspired by a novel I've been working on for a really long time. I've been reworking a lot of it; this scene could very well be in it. It's not a final product yet by any means. But the entire universe is there for me to dabble and play with in the mind.

Deeper into the Art:

There's an entire story behind this picture; I don't want to say much about it. I'll leave it up for interpretation at the moment.

Amethyst