“It is a mother’s duty...”
Grating songs rattled through the husked voices of thralls whose sole purpose in their half life was to do just that, sing praise of their gods and hope for the chance to ascend to something more than fodder. Savathûn floated along a path of chitin and discarded husks of the worms the thralls would feed on when they were finished with this refrain. It was the symphony of her passage, dread refrains of her savage glory, it was hardly the first time she’s heard this song, but oh was it still glorious. A battered knight that had seen a thousand battles and would see a thousand more to please his goddess stepped just behind her, careful not to crush a thrall and interrupt the song. The knight’s eyes were on his goddess, “…my queen?”
She had interrupted the old knight’s report on the tithes that his charges had wrought over the face of Titan, it wasn’t that Savathûn didn’t want to hear those tidings, she always preferred to hear the numbers and factor them into the next game or the next scheme. The moment she lost sight of that was the moment she became less than what she was now, and what she was now was exactly what her kind needed as queen and goddess and mother. Now, with the last pieces falling into place in the Dreaming City the goings on Titan were just a distraction.
“To be both teacher and general. To mentor and guide and to discipline and punish. The mark of a good mother is knowing when it is the right time for each step.” She stopped, extending one hand down to indicate the thrall closest to her, hooking one claw in to draw it forward close enough for her to touch, “You were a thrall once, so many were. You stopped singing your songs of praise to sow chaos and grow, and grow to what you are now, Kaarum. Don’t lose sight of what you are, what you were and what you can be.” She withdrew her hand and turned to face the old knight finally, “I have not strayed over the line of guidance for you, you’ve always understood. But you’ve repeated the same tithes twice now, and I doubt you’d be able to learn from your obvious mistakes…”
The thralls had stopped their song, and were now watching the interaction, sensing already that there would be a chance to sing a different song soon. The thrall at Savathûn’s side was already twitching with anticipation, “This was not the first, your scars are testament to that and have garnered you many victories. Prove to your queen, to your goddess that you are worthy to wear another one.” She stretched out her arms, before moving one arm in front of her with an open palm to the old Knight, “Can your brute strength survive the faith of the many? Only your faith will tell us that answer.” While she spoke, Kaarum had been readying his sword, eager to prove his worth, but when she ended her speech she closed her speech and the Knight’s sword disintegrated into a million tiny pieces at his feet, his punishment clear as the thralls began to chatter and hiss. She turned her back to the Knight and began to move along the path once more, thralls filling in where she had been, her voice left hanging above them as their new chant and the Knight’s punishment.
“Failure begets failure. Victory begets strength. That is your lesson.”
