This game is a twisting of snakes. I feel as if coils and scales press up against me, trying to smother me, and yet at the same time I begin to feel more calm on the inside. As if a storm rages around us and yet I am at the epicenter, the calmest part. It does not last for long for Eden is indeed correct - I am young. Too young, some might say, and too untried for the brazeness that I inflict upon him. That does not stop me, anyways, and here I am, marching along Glorall where I have snuck in and commandeered their King. Would they fight for him? I wonder if they are as loyal as those to my mother were. My own reign is in it's infancy and thus, I cannot have earned such devotion, except from those that were born to it. Undyne had devoted herself to my family as well as Pine and Halcyon. Even Elohim, who had become close to me, seemed to want to see me succeed despite my less than hospitable reactions at times.
Why don't you teach me? My eyes skim back to him from the lumpy terrain, moving in sync with this mighty king, and they narrow. His words are testing, no doubt, and I smile a sort of serene, cocky smile as I merely offer a nod. Let him take from that what he will, my flustered countenance flashing to one of triumph when he nods in agreement with me. So - the truth at last was laid bare. It didn't phase me in this moment because it only reaffirmed my belief and it almost eased something in me to know it.
Yet his next words, after having paused to blink foolishly at me, had my ears flicking back and my face shutters closed. Inside, though, inside I am at war with myself. My greatest downfall was my selfishness. I KNEW this. Hadn't I warred with myself over this for many moons? How I had been so focused on my OWN things that my father had died? That I hadn't spent enough time with my mother? A low growl bubbles in my throat again because Eden was here calling me a liar and a coward and really.. it was true. The growl is meant to warn him off, to silence him from this line of questioning, but I can't refute it. Not really. So I cut short my displeasure and with locked eyes, I slowly dip my head in a sort of acknowledgement - the same sort he gave me. Now we are even, truths laid bare. I was a pot calling the kettle black and I felt queasy inside at this realization.
Yet his next words hold mirth. He is amused by this whereas I am torn. Shredded inside with the knowledge once more of how out of depth I really am. I won't let him see it though, my face stoic, perhaps too still until we suddenly break through this path and find paws at the edge of sand. The waves lap angrily at the beach and in the distance gray clouds loom. "Were you not brazen in your youth?" I challenge suddenly, coming to a stop abruptly. My eyes are full of fire once more as I turn it upon him. "I'm here to take your measure and see if you really are as callous as I've been led to believe, even if my aunt Vesper doesn't seem to mind it here." My words are blunt, my expression haughty as I stare at him, equal to equal - but are we equal? On the inside, are we? "I might be a child now," I say with almost a sneer on the word child, "but I will learn from these lessons and become better. What have you learned?" The last question is pushing, testing, because this is a lesson for me guised as a prompt for him.