1. Jhimara

    Private The Rearview

    She was traded a cup of something murky and resinous for her handful of regional coin, a transaction that felt provisional once the polished pewter kissed Jhima's bottom lip. The ale was strong, surely, but good was in question, a one-note impression that was so solidly singular that once it...
  2. Jhimara

    Open A Festival of Lights

    "The fuck does it look like?" "I mean, it's... definitely... a bear," The knight tensed in reply, under a breath which was held, caged in the same urbane restraints that kept outward contempt and judgement from wreathing his features. Trothful and warm-blooded, he was. Her demeanor was unlike...
  3. Jhimara

    Private Bridled and Bleary

    Jhima tipped her head back, squinting against the dawn. Still the colour of champagne. Still just as unnerving. Cold sweat gathered and beaded in her hairline, dampened the nape of her neck. The taste of acid thick on her tongue after swallowing it back from rising and burning her throat. The...
  4. Jhimara

    Private The Rearview

    After another season spent roughing up the wheel tread with the feel of the road beneath her and the certainty of where it led, Jhimara found herself too proud to ask for directions. Some places offered them up without her asking, but this coastal town wasn’t one of them. Avenues ended in...
  5. Jhimara

    Private Bridled and Bleary

    That Jhima could be someone else’s sight for sore eyes surprised her, though not nearly as much as the one who had spoken the words. Sure, her head had been heavy, and sure as shit she had been ready to complain about it. But now it felt lighter, the memory unlocked of a night spent stealing...
  6. Jhimara

    Private There won't be a third

    Jhima also chose something old for herself, straight-backed, solid, and gaily painted in faded hues. She felt she needed a chair she could lean back on with her full weight after her scrap. It was a seat at the table she vaguely remembered belonging to an aunt she didn’t know well enough to ask...
  7. Jhimara

    Private Bridled and Bleary

    The dawn light here was too pale. It didn't lance into your eyes with streaks of violent red and orange like it did on the free plains, where nothing, no mountain, no tree, stood between you and the sun. That kind of over saturated blaze bled the body of fatigue, coloured over regrets from the...
  8. Jhimara

    Dare Wild Strawberries

    Yeah. Quiet moment spoiled. Jhima knew better than to climb up and force friendship. That's how you broke horses, if you were drunk on malt liquor and didn’t care who or what got hurt in the process. She’d learned better tactics by now. Carried more self-respect than that. So she stayed just...
  9. Jhimara

    Private There won't be a third

    Jhima was still playing at her vengeful game, driven by the sense that Bobby would bolt like a foal to its mother the moment his crabby old wife called him off. And as long as Estelle wasn’t among the sleepy-eyed spectators who’d gathered, Jhima meant to leave him with a few more lumps to nurse...
  10. Jhimara

    Private There won't be a third

    Like Vyn, Jhima didn’t need to know the details of whatever kept Jem busy. It was enough to see he had become the sort who wouldn’t take guff from busted old Bobby. Pride swelled up in her chest, pulling a grin she didn't hide, teeth catching Bob’s lantern light. Sure, it wasn’t much to boast...
  11. Jhimara

    Dare Wild Strawberries

    An invitation like that couldn't be denied. Still, Jhima let it settle over her like motes of pollinated promise, as if she were even capable of saying no. Debating it was a voyeur’s trick that bad dogs played, all panting mouths with salty breath, unblinking eyes, a flash of teeth before the...
  12. Jhimara

    Private There won't be a third

    Maybe one of the road-aunts had been keeping count, marking time by the spokes of the wheel, able to name which of the Eight was biggest in the sky the night Jhima first joined the Wagons. She didn’t care to ask, or know. There was pleasure in not knowing. However many seasons had turned, it...
  13. Jhimara

    Dare Wild Strawberries

    If woodland spirits spoke, they communed with women like Venla. They sought her out, likely, drawn in as if by a secret spell from their old corners and cobwebbed caves, competing to worship at her altar. A hand-over-hand race to share the air she breathed, sinking like stones into water blessed...
  14. Jhimara

    Private There won't be a third

    Jhimara hummed low, audibly contemplating. Then she carved the tone wetly into the wall of one cheek, blowing a flatulent sound out of her mouth. It was not polite, but it captured the correct emotion. Why be trivial about it with words. Vyn and Jem could be used to her manner by now. “Bad...
  15. Jhimara

    Private There won't be a third

    Jem's dry bark met Jhima's rusty blade, the gritty laugh erupting from her like holding a hacksaw against worrywood. "HA! Takes 'em long enough to find the damn things," Of pitchforks. Of the family who wielded them. "I tossed two in the creek 'fore I left. One for me," Eye on her cousin, the...
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