Chapter Text
Wealth was a very strange thing.
Gold in one side of the world.
Silver in another.
What was valuable once
was nothing
on the other end.
But there was something still
that meant more than metal coins:
friendship, loyalty, trust
And love.
Notes:
Diversity Writing Challenge , a5 – write a poem under 50 words
Chapter Text
There was a poetic sense of justice
about the deed, though no-one cared –
that two souls had been replaced
and the quota had been filled once more…
The murderer was left with a hole
in his family: the tragic parents were given
another to fill their empty space
and knowledge of another life…
Really, though there was much lost, on all fronts,
only the one with blood in the end
was the loser.
Notes:
100 Prompts Challenge, #099 - balance
Chapter Text
It couldn’t be helped, now that they had been broken off:
those wings, but it wouldn’t fix the damage, not at all.
Glue was too cheap, for such a beautiful little horse –
and whether it would still be able to fly –
she hoped it would.
It would break her heart if it couldn’t
and that would be another thing
glue couldn’t fix.
Notes:
100 Prompts Challenge, #098 - glue
Chapter Text
He could sense no deception from them
but still, reluctance clung to his heart.
There were many factors for that:
the threat their name posed
whether they claimed innocence in it or not
and the precarious positions
they were in.
Sons of enemies, sons of friends
in a land where such a conflict reigned –
they wanted to cast aside suspicions and disgust
but it was difficult for all of them.
Notes:
100 Prompts Challenge, #097 - trick
Chapter 5: The Sun Illuminated the Doll on the Windowsill
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
He was an artfully arranged doll
by the windowsill, feigning suicide,
feigning death
in his healing, freedom and escape –
a place where he could walk again
in the sun.
Notes:
100 Prompts Challenge, #088 - window
Chapter Text
She saw him first in the light of the moon,
brushed in white light, like a ghost
that pulled at her heart
But that smile was happy, and real:
even if the rest was a passing dream
she clung to that
And it followed her home and stayed
even when the light of the moon was gone.
Notes:
100 Prompts Challenge, #076 - admire
Chapter Text
He'd thought too many times he would die
but he was still there, still alive,
saved by this other world
who'd quite literally snatched him
from his bed of death
into another life
And now he faced a different sort of threat
every day.
Notes:
100 Prompts Challenge, #018 - daze
Chapter Text
Her voice grew hoarse from protest
but it didn’t matter: they fell on deaf ears
in the end – the slaughter continued
under that pretty banner called execution
And blood and tears dripped into soil –
the soil that was now hears
but, yet, still, without the peace and prosperity
she dreamt for them.
Notes:
100 Prompts Challenge, #071 - raw
Chapter Text
Perhaps it was a foolish choice
for talisman: something of so much worth.
But she could hardly take gold instead:
Worthless it may have been to them in Talia
but worth far too much in that other world –
There were other things
not worth much in either world
But still, the bag of silver spoke out to her
and so it had to be.
Notes:
100 Prompts Challenge, #004 - bridge
Chapter 10: Silver Pen Knife
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
It called to her in a way no other blade
had called to her before – and she knew,
she knew the calling of those blades,
how they begged
for her skin, her blood
But this was different:
it didn’t want her blood, but gentle hands
that caressed the smooth steel, kept it clean,
kept it pure –
It wasn’t so she would use such a blade
but just that she would admire
its design
And if she could admire any sort of blade like that…
maybe, it meant things would change.
Notes:
100 Prompts Challenge, #066 - steel
Chapter 11: The New Duchessa
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
They had no reason to choose her, nor did she wish
to be chosen. It was a beautiful state, yes,
but it wasn't hers
and that man beside her
wasn't the one she loved.
If she lost, so much the better,
she would leave this net, be free of it –
As an instrument of her family name
Though she had no doubt
she'd become a tool again
somewhere else.
Notes:
100 Prompts Challenge, #052 - elect