No pressure, right? 

It’s funny, though. There [i]should[/i] be pressure here. Their journey, their quests, their lives, all of it’s riding on her, and a conversation with a god. But, in the moment? Right here and now? She’s just a fox, on a raft, floating in the middle of an abyss, having a talk with her reflection. No eyes on her. Nobody talking back. Just her. And her. 

Jackdaw took a deep breath. She pictured...well, it’s a little silly to admit, but she pictured her stories. The ones she’d carried within her for years, ever since she first heard them. Tales of daring, clever heroes, enduring incredible trials, facing impossible odds, and never ever being at a loss for words. She thought about what one of them would say if they were here, right now. 

And - in the company of herself - the voice of another spilled forth.

“I read about you, you know.” She whispered to the waters. “Back in town. I read of you. I read of your eyes for the lonely, and your arms for the loveless. I read of a love that never ran dry, and a heart that never let go. It was...it was beautiful. I haven’t been able to get it, to get [i]you[/i] out of my mind since.” She clutched her chest. Oh, how it ached, even now. “I didn’t understand why, at first. But now? Now I think I see what I was missing.”

She reached a paw out over the water. Slowly, haltingly, willing herself to just keep the trembling to a minimum? For a moment, please?!

“Your body is not your own. You make it of the things that you’ve taken. And you take in everything you can, everything that stirs a feeling in your heart, but it’s never enough. You have to have more. It’s been this way for so long, you...you don’t ever think that the next one will satisfy you. You just know that it won’t. You are [i]lonely.[/i] You are [i]empty.[/i] And...

“...you are me.”

She rested her paw on the surface, rested it on her own reflection.

“If you take us, if you drown me, you won’t ever be able to speak with me again. But if you let us go...then we may speak a while, and when we next meet, we may speak again. And again. And again. A lifetime of happy meetings. That’s what I offer you.”

A pause. A silence. An uncomfortable silence, that reminded her she was less alone than she pretended.

“I...the only name I have is Jackdaw. What’s yours?”

[Rolling to Talk Sense with Wisdom: 1 + 6 - 1 = [b]6[/b]]