The Quieter Kingdom

48 Diamond

"O rival, even silence stirs the blood…"

Fingers brush her wrist and worried eyes peer into Susan's. Susan smiles her most disarming smile in reassurance. She's been daydreaming and she knows it's rude to the friends she's dining with.

"What's on your mind, Sue?"

Susan just shakes her head and glances at her crystal goblet, crude compared to finery she's imagined before. How to explain she's fantasizing the riddance of a mythical creature? Short, vindictive images of a shooting star missing her intended ship deck and plunging into the cold, unforgiving sea flash behind her eyes.

Swallowed up and snuffed out like a match in a puddle.