#pre-mk1 tbt.

[delugenal]

𝐒𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐄𝐒 since the last drop of summer fell from the sky, but the humidity outlived the monsoon that ushered it. without the dance of the most free-spirited element to cleanse the city of its morose cousin, a dense layer of moisture clung onto sun do like a shroud, converting its bustling thoroughfares into inescapable saunas. a single step across a threshold drenched the most wispy of seasonal fabrics into a sodden film that adhered like a second skin. walls provided no shelter as oppressive vapors collected in rooms, forming condensed beads on stone and wood.

      even the airy architecture of the palace offered no sanctuary, the peaks of its grandeur barely visible above the coagulated mist. yet without any off-shore wind or mountain blessing, the spacious scenery offered a teachable opportunity.

      rain was overly cautious selecting a spot. thousands of common years at the palace meant he didn’t need to see through the opaque to know where the gardens’ most fragile antiquities were hiding. but there was no such thing as misplaced paranoia when it came to relics older than earthrealm’s first sapient beings.

      bordering satisfaction, the hydromancer posted himself on the edge of an ornate pond. the rustle of his boots on the ivory stone outlining the water’s edge was an inaudible wisp in the heavy air. undulating scales of molten gold flashed through the grey whenever the pond’s occupants broke the surface. the only other life daring stifled lungs aside from himself, and the young woman nearby.

      dark eyes partially obscured by the shadow of hood considered her thoughtfully after one last visual rove around the informal arena for an elusive accident waiting in the fog. ❝ what will you be, princess, a breeze or a gale? ❞

@kitsuan