Theme: Gift
Word Count: 250
Rating: PG-13
Summary: It was
the first glimpse into a normal life--one that now stained her
fingertips but remained just beyond her grasp.
It was a dark gleam, a glimmer, a mere sliver of hope. And it was the best gift she had ever received.
Her wide eyes sparkled in the candlelight as the tiny flames cast shadows over her smooth, pale skin. There was a fire burning inside her now, trying to smoulder its way past her lips. It licked at her throat, and she fought the urge to throw her head back and laugh carnally alone in the darkness.
That would be unbecoming of a priestess.
Instead she sat there quietly, heart pounding at the image before her–this unfamiliar image of herself. Was this what joy felt like or was it something darker, more sinister still. Delicate fingers reached out to caress the smooth surface of the mirror, before retracting to her mauve lips in fascination.
At the sound of footsteps, she hastily smeared the rouge from her skin. "Kaede," she scolded but left her sentence unspoken. The child looked at her with innocent but knowing eyes, and she forced a smile, for her sake, and turned away from the mirror.
The precious item was already hidden within her folds.
It didn't matter now. In that one glimpse she had seen farther into her soul than she could have in years of meditation. And she knew in that instant that, yes, she could go through with this. She could be something less than herself, yet more desirable ten times fold.
She could be normal. And she would be happy. Tomorrow.