Rejuvenation and Restoration

A pocket of warmth enveloped the titanic underground chamber, its ceiling laden with crystalline sheets of sky blue gems that emulated the lower heavens. The surface was composed of expansive pools of liquid, each one its own shade of lilac or lily.

Emerging into this area, one would immediately notice a small peninsula of soil and grass about fifty feet in diameter within the center. Around the edges, a ring of short, thick-stumped trees with circular leaves not unlike perennials. Each of their branches hung low, with large purple berries weighing them down towards the floor.

Dominating the center of this ring stood a cabin, clearly shaped of the odd trees' wood and decorated with its branches and leaves, looking worn in some places and new in others.

Just beyond the shore of the island, within the nearest pool, there was a person. A dark skinned woman lounged within the water, leaning against the bank with both of her elbows pushed into the dirt behind her. She was tall, thin, and long limbed with sinewy muscles sculpting forearms and torso. Her hair was as black as the moonless night, tied into a bun while she bathed. Her gown was low laced, designed to act more like a body curtain than clothing, enunciating her shape and curves. She shifted her body to her right as she soaked to glance behind her. Towards the cabin.

After a few seconds, the leaflet acting as a makeshift doorway ruffled. Another woman snuck through, timidly. In complete contrast to her companion, this new woman was short and strikingly pale. At first glance, her skin was so drained of color that she was nearly as white as snow. She lacked the powerful build of the other woman and hunched over.

Around her head and nestled in her mouth was a gray bandana. It covered the lower section of her mouth like a sash. She was dressed in the same clothing as the first woman, the silk barely acting as clothing at all. On her back was a tuft of red and white cotton, six of them running down each side of her back. They were as small as a hand's palm.

A lazy gesture from the taller woman sent the pale girl into motion, practiced yet begrudging. She moved cautiously, but never hesitated. A short exchange of words and the girl dropped to her knees above the dark skinned woman and began kneading her little hands into the woman's shoulders.

The relationship would be clear to any man or woman savvy to the workings of civilization. The sash indicated servitude of the highest degree-- a concubine's sash-- fully imbued with its charms and spells that influenced the wearer. The red and white cotton orbs on the girl's back were wing buds, taking their form to regrow after having been removed and stained with the hosts's lifeblood.

Here, the two women seemed right at home, in some ways.