.-°-..-°-. S h a r d s .-°-..-°-.
.Shard 10.
Giza Plains, wet season
.-°-..-°-.
They had entered the Giza Plain from less than half an hour, and Ashe was soaked to the skin already. They had not even tried to shelter from the rain with umbrellas, because giants frogs attacking them were keeping everyone in constant action, as a matter of fact. She could deal with the raindrops falling in her eyes easily, and she could deal with disgusting frogs as well.
But when her eyes fell on her ring-finger clenched around the sword's hilt, and found a striking nothingness, her heart stopped. She could not gasp just because the cold and the wetness had made her voice disappear, but her eyes were wide open in panic as her mind rushed back to remember in which particular movement of the past fight it might have slid out her finger; incoherent and angsty thoughts were all which kept occurring to her mind. She always, always looked at it after a battle - it was her wedding ring - she had had it on from the very first moment he had put it on her -she just could not have-
'Rasler..!'
She fell on her hands and knees, childishly hoping that she could have lost it in those very last moments, while her blond hair, darkened by the rain, stuck on her cheeks, and her pale hands examined tentatively the depths of the semi-transparent green pool, completely uncaring of the fact that she was wetting and dirtying herself even more, if possible.
"Looking for something..?"
And in the very moment she heard his voice - his cocky, insufferable, hinting, sarcastic voice - it all occurred back into her mind like a knife stab - and she didn't know anymore if having lost her ring in a pool would have actually been that bad, if compared to reality. She was so infuriated about it, her blood shooting up her veins as the image of her wedding ring falling from her hand into the sky pirate's one, that she choose not to gaze up - she just stared at his decorated dark shoes sinking into the pool, to then move on his partners' ones, those pointless excessive stilettos, which managed to emerge from the water with at least half of their heel's height.
Ashe, still kneeling humiliated before them, slammed as hard as she could her hand into the mud with a frustrated groan, hoping that some of the splashes would reach at least Balthier's beltline.
.-°-..-°-.
Author'sNote: Aahah that would have been so funny if Ashe had had a lapsus like this.. well I think that when you're over-used to see something, it's hard to change suddenly point of view.. Bad, bad Balthier for having extorted from her such an important object. Re-reading this, I think I noticed a slight repressed dislike for Fran by the princess.. ;)
To all my 'faithful' readers: you make my heart melt, hope to see everyone of you in this chap or in the future ones!
To all the ones who just read and pass by: well, I appreciate it, but hey, if this sucks maybe someone should tell me, uh?
Byez 'till Ozmone!
Swamp-eyes