Otem definitely didn't think that Tamlin was going to actually answer her question. He had all the advantages after all, and he had physically bested her during their last encounter. What possible reason could he have to bend to her will?
And yet he had.
The girl didn't have the time to relish the feeling of superiority that sparked through her, because the words that came out of the man's mouth seemed to shake her magical core with interest and curiousity. She did remember the bloom that had sprouted from her blood. At the time she had wondered if it was merely an effect of being the daughter of Isopia - did the Earth God's blood run so thick in her veins that her very blood could create life? Had Tamlin not run off after stabbing her she would have asked him this, but he had, and so the girl had assumed the flower was because of her, not him.
Apparently she was mistaken.
"So you need blood to make things grow?" Otem asked sounding unimpressed. Really, she thought that growing flowers out of blood was rather romantic, but her pride was still a bit wounded and so she was not yet ready to offer Tamlin compliments quite yet. "I don't." She continued. Looking dow, Otem tried to recall the bloom that Tamlin had previously created. She hadn't really been paying a ton of attention (most of it was directed towards investigating the new wound on her shoulder), but she knew it was roughly rose-shaped. A purple rose began to push its way through the soil, bending and dancing upwards until it was fully formed. The petals spread and opened wide as Otem released a breath and smiled. "I can make potions from them too." The girl added, no small amount of hubris in her voice.
Again he called her princess, but this time he followed it up with a query about Helovia and an invitation to follow him. In her mind Otem could feel Pandora trying to dissuade her from going anywhere with this man, but youth and overwhelming curiousity were currently swamping the more rational parts of her mind.
And she didn't want to look like a coward.
"I do not trust you-" She began testily, gold and burgundy eyes large and confident. "-but that doesn't mean I can't come and see what you've made." The oak-leaf branded girl moved towards Tamlin, her wings drooping slightly from her sides, ready to pull her into the air should the horned man try to maim her once again.
Solanis
