be the lightning in me

Tiny little paws picked their way across the grassy landscape. Though it wasn’t all grass, was it? Big patches of raw earth were interspersed with the grass. Giant bones unlike anything that the small woman had ever seen stood up from the earth like dead trees. This was where she had been staying. A massive skull, eye holes bigger than she was, had been her temporary home. Iolaire didn’t know where she was. Half the time she didn’t know who she was. Insanity had set its hooks within the tri-colored woman and refused to let go. Little did she know, it ran in the family.

A very accomplished mouse hunter, Iolaire had just finished procuring herself some dinner when the commotion reached her ears. Those ears tucked against her skull for a moment as many different scenarios and possibilities shot through her addled mind. In the end, she had no idea what in the hell the noise had been. The curiosity that Io had always possessed hadn’t traipsed off when her mind had gone. No, it was still there, thick and strong. She tapped her front claws on a rock for a moment, warring over whether or not to investigate. Eventually, curiosity won out. Sticking her mouse inside of the skull, Io quietly slunk along through the long grass.

More sound met her ears and this, she was able to decipher. Someone was dying. Or going to die, at least. It meant nothing to her. Nothing meant much to her. Not with… She couldn’t even say his name in her mind. No no no. Gone gone. There was no name. Nope.

Coming to the place where grass ended and river began, Io’s slender muzzle separated the greenery. Citrine and verdant eyes narrowed as she peered through the grass and onto the scene before her. Lots of purple. A purple woman. A purple man. A floating… body. Hmm. Ioaire curled up in the grass like a cat, paws tucked beneath her. She was prepared to watch the goings on and then maybe later she’d go find the dead body and see if it had anything useful on it. That was when things changed.

The bloodied man dragging himself out of the river… she knew him. Green and gold eyes went wide and Iolaire gasped audibly. A face from her past. One that she adored. How was he here in this place? Was he dead too? She knew for certain that she was. When he had died, so had she. The man of her heart. Gone gone. She had woken up in this second world. It seemed that Indigo had woken up here too.

As the now grown boy pulled himself from the water, Iolaire hissed at the gaping wound in his stomach. No, no. That wasn’t good. Instantly, she moved from the concealment of the grass. All gone was the quirky, addled brain from a moment before. He needed her help, this boy that she loved. Striding forward, the small but authoritative fae began giving orders. “Girl, bring me his pack.” Without waiting to see if her orders were followed, Iolaire snatched off handfuls of dried grasses and pressed them against the wound in her nephews stomach. Yes, handfuls. Rather than your standard paws, Iolaire had dexterous appendages. That was why she was… had been… the best healer in the land.

“Indigo, you hold on, boy.” Once the blood had been staunched enough, she peeled back the grass to look at the severity of the wounds. It seemed that Indigo was in luck. Nothing vital had been pierced. His belly basket was all in one piece. A bit of muscle had been torn, but she could sew that up no problem. All she needed were some supplies.