Ouroboros Spine it seeps into the pores of my open skin

She had managed to crawl her way out of fever and pain, though the effects still remained. But, her head was clear (though throbbing), and she had managed to escape the healers for the time. Enough that she had made it down to the lake.

She lay in the spindly shadow of a tree, using its bulk to keep herself sitting up and not lying flat. Her illness left her to ponder.

She pondered a lot of things. Samani’s marriage, the knowledge that she would be expected to marry herself. Perhaps not expected she didn’t not believe Kukutux would force it upon her in such a way, but it was still a thought. A village stood on the continued renewal of life, and life came from women bringing children to their husband’s hearths. Vairë, even with her mismatched spirit, knew this. The doe was a great great grandmother by the time she had passed. That biological clock wasn’t ticking, she wasn’t old enough quite yet, but it thundered in her ears like hoof beats, promising that time would eventually catch up with her. She grew older.

She lowered her nose to stare across the water.

Would a husband find her here? Or would she be sent elsewhere? She couldn’t answer that.