rhythm of war spoilers Unmade/human fanart

[cosmere_play he/him, she/her. Go nuts]

Here's a scene from my fic Of Me, 3000 words, rated Mature. It's written from Sja-anat's point of view as she follows Evi through her years in Kholinar.

Here's an excerpt:

Sja-anat watched her cry. She knew Evi’s passions. You are lonely, she said after a time. She had seen the way the Alethi treated her, and she felt a kinship in that. Sja-anat was too elevated above the common spren and Fused, yet too different from the other Unmade. She missed Ba-Ado-Mishram. There were none left like her, and Evi’s passionate loneliness touched her.

“By the storms, I was already lonely before. Now what will I do?” Evi whispered. She stared into space for a while, then sniffed. “No. I must not despair,” she said, brushing away the gloomspren. “I have my son. He is of me.”

He is of the Blackthorn.

Evi scowled at her fiercely. “He is also of me. I am the only one who can show him a different path. I will not allow my son to grow into a monster. I will enlighten him about his heritage. He will be my home.”

The words stunned Sja-anat into silence. Evi was often soft and accommodating, but her core was hard as obsidian.

Evi stood, then paced a few moments in silence. Eventually, she sat again, looking up into the mirror with that boundless curiosity that pleased Sja-anat. “Do you have any children?” she asked.

Sja-anat hummed uncertainly. I corrupt lesser spren with my essence. Is that like having children?

Evi smiled, considering her answer. “My children are of me and of their father. Your spren are of Roshar, and of you. So, it is a little like having children. Do you love them?”

I feel…passionate about them. Many die. I wish… She stopped, startled by a secret she didn’t even know she had.

“What do you wish?” Evi’s eyebrows rose, and she leaned in closer.

I wish…they could be free. I wonder if…they could be more.

“I understand,” Evi said, glancing towards her son’s room, then back up at Sja-anat. “I want Adolin to be free, too. So he can truly be himself, not what the Alethi want him to be. Free.” Her voice broke as she said it. She stood and stepped close to the mirror, looking back and forth into Sja-anat’s white eyes. Slowly, she raised her hand and pressed it against the glass at shoulder height. “Free and at peace,” she whispered, so close as to fog the glass.

Free and at peace, Sja-anat repeated, mirroring Evi’s hand. As she pressed, Evi gasped. Sja-anat felt something. A bond, forming between them. A…warmth.

For the first time, she had a secret she wished to keep from Odium.

Edited October 13, 2023 by cosmere_play
added alt text to image