selenias: (Default)
selenias ([personal profile] selenias) wrote2016-09-20 04:34 pm

[ToV] Run Hot, Run Cold

Title: Run Hot, Run Cold
Fandom: Tales of Zestiria
Character/pairing: Judith +/- Rita
Prompt: Sappho #19
Rating: all audiences
Word Count: 250

Notes: Judith after her encounter in Capua Torim, fleeing by ship to (temporarily) escape her feelings. Definitely pre-slash.

The iron was cold and icy to the touch. Judith ran her hand along the hull of the ship, stepping back several paces, tilting her head back to inspect the broad expanse of metal plates and dedicated craftsmanship. This was no warship, just a typical cargo carrier with material from the mines she’d passed through southwest of Nordopolica. Probably goods for the capital, she realized, seeing Zaphias’ and Capua Torim’s flags raised high. A good ship to take flight on. Temporarily.

No one thought much of kritya with their distant gazes, but the captain’s expression was thoughtful when he offered her coin -- passage, staring at the spear she carried in her right hand and the scratches and knicks along the handle. Judith inclined her head, even though the human was no taller than her blade.

He held out a bag of gald, shaking it softly. “Half now, half when we arrive. Fair?”

Judith held her hand out for it. “Fair, if food expenses are covered.”

“Of course. We feed everyone, even the mercenaries.”

She thought of the princess that evening, of the companions who flocked around her. The mage, who’d spit curses and laced her hands with fire, temper hot and brandished like fresh steel. Judith burned like ice, like the dark waters that lay in pools in the caves she’d ran through with Ba’ul, legs racing along rock, but never fast enough. No one simply looked through her.

Judith closed her eyes, drawing into herself. For now, she’d wait.