Bramblepoint königinklinge

hydra — regent of shadows, commander of the darknesses which had built her from sable and pitch. she was a powerful wraith; if there was fear in hydra, she had no way of showing it. he wore largesse, but the queen wore the bearing of one who had led war.
"we suffered as much as anyvone," mahler answered truthfully; there was no merit or worth in pretending otherwise. "but ve vere able to rally, and now diaspora prepares itself for children."
onward would life march, onward the parade of birth and of death, and this year, mahler would be at its helm.
"moonspear appears to have fared vell also," for surely hydra in her well-fed motions and regal bearing had carried them all the same through the famine toward spring.
hydra had not the soft-limbed beauty to which many were drawn, but it was to her fierce and cunning loveliness that he found himself most drawn: the knowledge they were they to spar, the queen was well his equal.
dangerous now, the words that tempted the tip of his tongue, but  there was time enough for them to be said when mahler and she had ended their pleasantries.