[Medusa]

Medusa slithered quietly, her eyes settling upon a deer. It was a decent size, a pair of antlers beginning to erupt from the deers skull. She drew her bow slowly and aimed down the shaft to center on a point just behind the deers right shoulder. She breathed in, then out as her fingers loosened. Her tail tensed the slightest bit, rustling dead leaves and sticks bellow her scales.

At the last possible second, the deer turned to look directly in her direction. Medusa slammed her eyes shut, but it was far too late. Her arrow flew forward and slammed into the new stone statue that had replaced the flesh and blood of the deer.

"es kòrakas!" Medusa swore violently. She had a tendency to slip into a more ancient dialect when she became angry. That had been fifteen minutes of gods forsaken time wasted. She needed to find a new prey. She searched, her serpents alerting her to the moment of something else. A crunching of hooves and a snuffling snout.

Medusa moved slowly, her eyes cast towards the ground where she set her gaze upon the tusks of a large and glorious boar. A boar that the gorgon was sure could feed both herself and the small girl for a week, at least. She breathed in, breathed out, and released. The arrow flew true, peiceing skin and sinew and into the boars heat. The arrow was so large that it entered into one side of the boar and cut all the way through to the other side.

She let a small smile slide across her her fangged mouth. She felt a flicker of pride. Pride in being able to provide..... no, that wasn't right.... pride in her kill, yeah, that was it. With a small grunt, she lifted the boar from the ground and threw it across her broad shoulders. She began to slither back towards her cave.

She stopped outside the cavern and set the boar down, taking a dagger from her satchel and began to skin and clean her kill. She felt solace in performing small mundane tasks. It felt like a nice blanket of normalcy draped over her cursed life. She sectioned off the boar into quarter and placed the pieces into a sack. She ripped off a chunk of the raw meat and took a bight of the juicy flesh. Advantages of her curse, she didn't worry about cooking anything.

[Thera]

Thera waited alone in Medusa's lair. Her only companion was the crackle of the hearth to her right. It had begun to die down, its heat lessening and lessening. She wanted to add more fuel to the fire but was unsure where the gorgon would have stored the extra wood.

As the minutes ticked down, Thera felt an odd panic rise. Felt her breath quicken, her heartbeat following suit. She hated being alone. Hated feeling helpless and vulnerable. She longed for the reassurance that came from the presence of another, of anyone. At home, she would seak out either Cassia or Coliapeie, one of the servants that was kind to her.

She wouldn't ever see any of them again, though. Cassia had dumped her in the wilderness and Coliapeie..... Caelus had accused her of stealing from him. He had taken her hands in return, then sent her out to die.

She tried to slow her anxious breath, to hold back the tears from her empty eye sockets. She felt like her body was beyond her control as she began to tremble. Her breath coming in quick gasps, dragging her mind deeper into panic. She felt on the verge of breaking down.

What if she had been abandoned here? What if even the gorgon would abandon her home to escape Thera presence? Was she being punished?

Her mind flashed back to her life at the palace. Whenever she would accidentally break something, whenever she would bother anyone, she would be thrown into the quiet room. A cold, empty room that wouldn't echo, where sound seemed to die, where she couldn't even hear her own breath. Being deprived of her primary sense was hell, worthy of the fields of punishment.

"No! I'm not there! I'm not there," she repeated it like a montra, trying to convince herself not to slide into that dark pit of despair that threatened to swallow her whole, "I'm not there, I'm not there I'm not there."

She rocked herself back and forth, clutching her knees to her chin, whimpering small reassurances to herself. She needed to stop this spiral now, or else she would unravel. She rushed through a million different ideas, memories, looking for anything of comfort. It didn't take her long before she landed on an idea.

With a still trembling voice, Thera began to sing. It started out as a wobbling whisper.

"Come little children, I'll take thee away," she began singing. It had been a lullaby about queen Lamia, who would steal children away. It soothed her despite everything it stood For.

"Into a land of enchantment. Come little children. The time's come to play. Here in my garden of shadows," her singing voice became slightly stronger, she Used to imagine that queen lamia might come and take her away from everything. Maybe then she wouldn't be the burden she was to her family. Maybe everyone's life would be better now that she was gone.

She continued to sing the song, slowly losing herself in the words. Lost enough that she hadn't even heard the slither of Medusa's tail. Not until she heard the loud thump of the pray of today's hunt hitting the floor.

Thera stopped her singing immediately, her voice cutting off as if she were being strangled to silence.

"Still here I see, thought you might have fled in terror now that your bandaged up," Medusa's voice haired a hint of bitterness, but Thera felt that it wasn't directly aimed at her. She felt the oddest warmth of relief at the gorgons voice. Relief that she hadn't been abandoned to die on her own, but that warmth was twisted up with the fear that Medusa's fierce presence struck into her. She felt almost like a prey animal herself, sitting injured in the predator's lair.

"Y-you came back," Thera let the words fall from her mouth before she really had a chance to think them through. She mentally kicked herself for sounding stupid, but she felt glad that she was no longer alone.

"It is my home girl, I wouldn't exactly abandon it from your presence alone," Medusa said bluntly as she slithered past where Thera sat.

Thera wringed a section of her plain dress nervously. Her mouth shut as to keep from saying something else stupid. She bowed her head.

"I-I'm sorry...." she apologized because to apologize was second nature. If she didn't, then she would deserve the hurt that always seemed to find her.

[Medusa]

Nobody would have ever told the girl that she had a beautiful singing voice, but she truly did. At least the gorgon thought so as she had listened from just beyond the archway. What Medusa didn't enjoy, however, was how much the damn girl seemed to apologize for merely existing. The way she flinched like Medusa would skin her fr the crime of being alive.

"Stop apologizing. it's annoying," she said bluntly as she cut off a chunk of the boar to cook over the fire.

She saw the girl open her mouth to speak, but she stopped herself and just looked more scared and confused. It wasn't Medusa's goal to keep the girl in terror, but she didn't see a reason to really work against that. Any sane person would be scared of her, and this girl wasn't going to be staying very long anyway.

"What was that song you were singing?" Medusa didn't know where the question came from. She hadn't planned to ask. She had decided she didn't really care, but her curiosity had been peaked.

The girl tensed a little but answered, "i-its a lullaby.... about q-queen Lamia."

Medusa's eyes narrowed, and a hiss left her lips. Her snakes, ever the creatures for dramatic effect, amplified the hiss into a growl. The girl shrunk back at the sound, her face contorting in panic.

"Do you mean to mock me, girl?" Medusa asked, her voice low. Did this mousey girl think it was funny to poke fun at her reptilian features. The thought drove a spike of anger through her body. However, when she looked back at the girl, she didn't see scorn or laughter. She saw fear and confusion.

"I-im sorry,  I don't know what I did w-wrong!" The girl put her hands in front of her face like she expected Medusa to attack her, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

The girl had a twin line of blood pooling under her blindfold, like tears in the eyes. Medusa forced her temper down. The girl hadn't meant anything by this. She was just jumping to anger out of habit.

"Stop, I misunderstood," she turned her back to the girl and checked the meat, almost done, she thought. The silence stretched for an uncomfortable moment as neither of them quite knew what to say. The girl was trembling again, and Medusa found herself feeling that same twinge of pity. In her nearly three centuries of solitude, she had forgotten how to play host. She had met every intruder with violence for so long that her brain wasn't able to comprehend the possibility of not needing to kill.

"Are you hungry, girl?" She asked as she reached a clawed hand into the fire and plucked out a piece of meat.

"I-im fine...." The girl began, but her own growing stomach exposed her lies. Medusa raised a scaly eyebrow, but of course, the girl couldn't see her incredulous look. The girl sat there, shaking and sniffling. To Medusa's eyes, she seemed like a scared little mouse.

"Is lying a habit little mouse?" She looked to the girl and saw her freeze. Her mouth fell open ever so slightly, her lip quivering. She looked on the verge of a breakdown, but she visibly pushed the thoughts down, breathing in shudders.

"I.... I don't want to be a burden," the girl finally said, her voice carrying just a bit of repressed emotion.

Medusa rolled her eyes. This girl could not be serious, could she? Was it an act for pity? No, this girl couldn't act. It started to fit into place as she reflected on the girl's actions. The way she seemed to flinch at the slightest sound. The way she raised her hands to guard against being hit. How she seemed relieved at Medusa's own return. The apologizing. The obedient silence. Finally, she noticed the bruises around the girl's wrists.

What had she run from? What could possibly scare her so that Medusa's company had become was preferable. She hadn't asked, hadnt really cared before now, but she found the curiosity breaking through. However, she continued to refrain. Why would this girl confess her story to a monster?

Instead, she let out a deep sigh and grabbed the meat from the fire, placing it on a small bronze disk she had taken from a hero and fifteen years ago.

"To be given a basic human need is not to be a burden," Medusa hissed softly as she grabbed the girls wrist gently and guided it to the plate, "you need to heal fully if you are to leave my home."

Medusa gave that last bit a bit of a growl, couldn't let the girl think she was going soft on her. She slithered away from her and curled around in her large makeshift nest. They both ate in silence, but Medusa saw the slightest hint of a smile touch the blind girls lips.

"What is your name? I grow tired of just calling you girl," Medusa broke the silence. The girl being just as skittish as ever took a moment to answer.

"T-Thera.... my name is Thera," she said, trying not to let the fear seep into her words.

[Hmmm,who else called Thera "little mouse"? I'd keep an eye out for that name. I hope you enjoyed this little slice of life chapter, I can't wait to write more. Please please please comment on your thoughts and ideas as it helps a lot for writing to have feedback.]