For Space

docholligay:

I asked @simplymindspace if I could write a drabble for her birthday–she asked for SilMil Venus and Mars. I’m rusty and it shows, but HERE IT IS. Intensely short at 386 words. 

Venus never walked—she prowled, her hips swaying  in a panther-like murderous grace as the
light caught the edges of her armor. There was something lean and hungry in her
eyes, ever focused and sharp against the darkness, her muscles twitching in
anticipation, hand casually at the pommel of the sword on her hip.

And it was in this way that she walked the halls of the
palace now, long after most had retired for the evening. It was not, in truth,
part of her duties, but the cold stone hallways helped her think, and it was
good to have a sense of the layout of the palace so clear in her mind that she
could engrave it in stone.

The new girls had arrived today. Uranus and Neptune.
Neptune, as the daughters of Neptune always were, would be an asset, a silent
and skilled assassin. But Neptunians were funny creatures who allied themselves
to little, and indeed, Venus worried about leaving Neptune alone with the
princess. So she wouldn’t,  she supposed,
at least at the start.

Uranus was weak and useless, but then again, they always
were. It was a waste, Uranians being built for combat but not having the spirit
for it. She’d have her train with Jupiter, but the weaknesses of being raised
soft would persist.

But though she allowed her mind to drift to these two new offerings
to Queen Serenity, that was not the purpose of her hunt through the darkness.

Mars came to her mind, as she did often. The war between Mars
and Venus had been a bitter one, and in the aftermath of the gladiatorial
combat for leader of the Moon’s troops, one of the daughters of Venus had taken
up a scrap of a Martian skirt to tie her hair. Since then, it had been a part
of the uniform, a reminder to Mars that they had been bested.

Venus had always considered it a misstep, when the Moon had
made Mars Venus’ second. She knew Mars watched not as the other girls from
other planets did—with fear, and respect—but with envy, and desire. Mars would
rise to power if Venus fell, a second chance to prove their value as warriors.

There was a target on her back, and the daughters of Mars
were archers.