Ssssssensitive Ssssssubjects

Tarana grumbled and pulled the coat she had been given tighter around her torso. Not that it did much to help against the cold. There were heat charms around the park, making it easier for cold sensitive creatures to maneuver, but they were interspersed. And so her progress was a lot of stops and starts and extended rests. Her tkmgue flicked constantly, searching for her sister's scent.

"Sssssamara?! Sssamara!"

She called out, the frustration clear by the hissing in her voice. Rana didn't hiss normally unless she was upset, and boy was she ever upset.
She and Sam had always been close. Not the same way Chi and Corsalyn were, but similar. They understood each other. And, Rana had assume that meant there was something between them. But now she was with that dragon. Gwyn, or whatever his name was.

He had suggested she follow her sister, talk to her. But what was there left to say? He had won and she had lost. She couldn't kill him in this place, and even if she could. Would Sam hate her if she did?

Rana gently took the heat charm and sighed in relief. Already she could feel the sluggishness leaving her mind and body. She frowned harder, her clarity of mind reminding her why she was out here in the first place.

"Your dragon gave you thissssss item, yessss?"
It was nice. It warmed her all the way to the tip of her tail. It was another thing he could give Samara that she couldn't. Not here, where her curses actually mattered and she was as bad off as a cripple or a child.

"I wass going to find out eventually. But..." For once in her life, Tarana hated not being able to look someone in the eye. But she was also glad for her blindfold, which had absorbed her tears and kept them from streaking her face. She was a high priestess of Ishtar, and she had already cried all her tears as a girl.

"Did you even know I wasss gone for nearly a month? Honua did not. Corssssalyn did not."
The prison had not been kind to Tarana. Without her powers, forced to sleep on a bed barely adequate. It had been humiliating. But it had made her miss her sisters, and realize that she wanted to try and stay least mend things with them. The peasants of this world could still stay out of her way, but...

What did all of this mean for the two of them? They had never acted on the bond they shared and in this world that was so backwards, it looked now like the chord was struck.

"I..." Tarana hung her head low and coiled up tighter on herself. "I'm sorry."
Those words were harder to choke down than anything she had ever eaten. They cut like glass.

"I want to be happy for you," she admitted, handing the heat charm back. She was warm enough for now. And Sam looked cold. Rana wouldn't abide the sister she loved so much feezing while she was warm.

"I really do. I just... I am jealous. Of you. Of that dragon. Of Honua and the others. This world has been very kind to all of you."

Meanwhile, Tarana was no less than miserable here. No one respected her, and in fact it seemed like so many went out of their way to remind her that she was nothing in this world. She never said any of this; her pride wouldn't allow it.

"I am glad you have found a place here. That you are not an outcast."
Samara was blossoming here like she never could on Messangia. Honua too. But now Tarana was the outcast; not even allowed to visit Narraine in her home, and Tarana was the burden; her curses making it nearly impossible for her to legitimately survive.

"You're a fool then," Rana said, coiling closer to Sam for warmth. She wouldn't initiate contact without approval first and she didn't feel like asking right now.

"I would never abandon you for anyone. You are my..." soulmate? That seemed like such a silly concept. But she and Sam were clearly cut from a similar cloth. And she loved Samara in ways she didn't think she could her other sisters.

"You are no more of an outcast here than I am. Corsalyn refuses to believe I have changed. She still treats me like a monster. Maybe I am.

I must confess, I don't like your dragon. I don't think I would like any man you chose to be with though. I feel... like I am the one being left behind now, in this world."