Spared (Delfii's Song, Snippet 5)

A story fragment from the Southsong Cycle

(Read Delfii’s Song, Snippet 4.)

[Note: The violence depicted in this snippet, while not gratuitous, might be overly disturbing for some readers. The Southsong setting is admittedly darker in tone than the other Vaporous Realms story-cycles, in general. It tells the stories of men- and women-folk whose society is steeped in unambiguous evil. The first half of this episode recalls the violent death of a character’s parent. Please read with discernment.]

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Twenty years old and a day, Delfii watched the flames swallow her ma like ravenous orange sea-waves. Still garbed in her priestess’s robes, the yarl of the mother isle met her daughter’s eyes amid all the free-folk crowding the temple courtyard.

Quiet had overtaken the assembled crews. There were none of the ritual shrieks or taunts that such occasions called for. But the silence was not solemn, nor was it shocked or fearful. It was empty with a desolate, infinite emptiness.