Larksong Grotto babylon the great

her eyes were drawn away from where they had wandered back to reek, and she felt horror beginning to slowly burn in her belly. the priestess held her stare as she moved with abandon and muttered words that vuk herself did not understand. the light blazed down upon kesheph as she lifted and placed, replaced and lifted, a dangling snake-skin, and the girl's hackles rose involuntarily. she gathered seff closer to her; fear choked her as the priestess began to speak.

her voice was stern and laced with the conviction she displayed in this place today. vuk's brow narrowed as kesheph began to speak of cardinals and seers, raas and tammuz. swallowing hard, the girl tried to catch terich's eye, and then, unable to keep her gaze aside, vuk looked back toward the priestess and reek.

reek.

he stood alone as kesheph went on, speaking of cleansing and evil and prayer. vuk shook; she could not find the words to pray, let alone speak to seff or to terich, let alone the strength to turn away and run from the energies filling the space. the priestess directed them to circle reek, and vuk's legs numbly followed suit, stumbling several times as the pack milled in some vaguely focused fashion around their leader.

reek.

indoctrinated, caught up in this ... vuk had no words and tore her eyes away from him as the pack assembled nearby to watch the rest of this atrocity unfold. snakes, frogs -- nausea choked her as the man she loved followed the twisted words of this kesheph, and tears threatened to fall, but vuk willed them back fiercely. she would not cry for reek, who had in one fluid motion, turned his back not only upon her but upon all of larksong.

hiram.

he was renamed and this time vuk did sob aloud, her voice reverberating in the small space. she had watched reek be murdered before her, and she had done nothing to stop it. it seemed those around her held more strength than her weak heart, for the man called charley spoke once and then turned away, aspen in his wake, the pair of them refusing to surrender to this raas. 

jhala was fierce, her words confrontational, threatening -- vuk's tears continued as she watched kesheph stand alongside the former ridge wolf, heard the pair and also reek -- hiram -- order away charley and his followers.

but vuk continued to stand numbly her, mind emptying as shock settled peacefully over her. instinct alone led her to gather seff and turn away from the grotto, leading him toward the den she had chosen not so long ago.