Apollo; healing;
She walked alone. It was simpler than having a partner, one who might have fallen ill; sooner or later, people around her did that. She was still moving around the world, never stopped. She paused and looked at the modest cottage and felt a stab of envy that the girl who had told her she was cursed, who had started those rumours that continued as long as she stayed in that camp, had become so normal and happy.
So many people had died at that camp, the one and only summer she had stayed.
She walked to the door and knocked lightly. She wasn't sure whether she wanted her to answer or not; would it be more satisfying to see the look on her face as life heaved out of her body gasp by gasp, or to read about the plague which had crept back to civilisation from many miles away? She supposed her choice would be made for her.
The door opened.
The woman's lips parted in silent shock before she moved in.
She began by exhaling slowly, and almost saw the noxious gas tint the air before her before the woman coughed.
"You. Stay away from me."
She laughed - actually laughed, a delighted trill that said that she felt she had the power here for once.
"Really, darling, I can do what I want. I've killed more important people than you. I have poisoned with a single breath a stadium. You may be a good healer, but-" she leant closer and grazed her fingers along the other woman's arm, making her cry out "- the inexorable process of death cannot be stopped. You can't stop me." She smiled. "Nobody can."
The woman pressed down on her arm and almost collapsed. Coughs racked her body now and she shook with the magnitude of them. She fell to the ground.
She did not get up.
The other woman closed her eyes. The smallest smile hovered on her face. Then she turned around and walked back into the forest.
Back into hiding.