SONGS OF OURSELVES

❦ prickly

i can see your heart beneath your ribcage

you should save it for me

sunlight and lemon trees

and all the things we could see

i'm far too careful

i wish i was braver

braver than she

wish i could be all you need

and you can grieve her, baby

but it's easy to love me

❧ hope tala, "easy to love me"

Night fell on the road and it was time to pay.

Sunkanmi sensed the shift when the sun sank - the driver untied the keyhole flap separating her perch and the passenger cart, and even the horses quickened their footsteps as if keen to hear whatever she might say.

Up until the evening, the other families did their best to ignore the two clear oddities sparking like bleach and vinegar on the far end of the cots. The magical handcuffs they shared only inspired more confusion - if those two so obviously despised their partnership, then why in Ixi's name were they chained together?

[It's a test, you see.]

[Whoever cracks first loses all dignity and the winner gets bragging rights 'til Xosa do us part.]

In the end, bravery fell into a child's hands and curiosity outpaced fear by a country mile. A real tortoise-and-the-hare situation.

So the youngest daughter in the caravan climbed the food barrels and waddled, bow-legged, to the armored woman with a sword laid across her lap. Intrepid as a polar explorer, Joa Snowbreaker forged ahead.

"Joa, no!" Her mother waved her back. "Come now!"

"What were you like?" The little girl braced her full weight onto Sunkanmi's leg like a drunk on a barstool. "Before you were big?"

"Why do you want to know?" Sunkanmi's question expanded a bit too slowly, too calmly, for Xosa's liking.

(uh oh.)

Joa's mothers held their breaths and froze. The other travelers lifted their heads to watch the exchange, ready for a blowout.

"Dunno," Joa shrugged and wiped her nose with an overlong sleeve. "Just wanna."

"Hm."

(let me guess.)

(she hates kids, too.)

Severance, ever the loyal pet, clinked in its sheath. For a brief moment, Xosa worried his twin flame might actually declare retribution and cut the little girl down for her insolence.