The rumble of the earth made her nervous, the muscles beneath her coat stiffening. If Pagan had behaved apprehensively, she might have acted out, but because the thick-built stallion remained calm, Avangeline did as well. Then, at the burst, her ears flicked and her head snapped up, eyes wide as water sprayed toward the sky a short distance away. She hadn’t meant to become distracted from Al-Hattaal’s plight, but what she had witnessed (something she’d never seen before) astonished her so greatly that she was moving forward before she was conscious that she was.
“What was that?” She asked their friendly greeter, Pagan, her voice thrown over her shoulder as she moved forward with wide eyes, inching toward it. Was it the gods? Were the gods in the land not among the others, did they not possess mortal bodies and walk about their followers? Beneath this earth was there a great deity of ice and water, lurking? Would they be kind to her if she showed kindness to them, and help her return home? She faintly remembered Tsura’s successor had a lover who was devoted to the goddess of waters… surely that counted for something… some proof that those devoted to other elements could intermingle in peace.
While hope stole her mind away to dream the impossible, Avangeline approached the now dormant geyser, but remained back a few steps, still somewhat nervous.
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