The Leviathan

With a final firm tug, Callisto finishes redressing Tempest's bandages. They sit in a simple room with minimal furnishings—a table and chair beside the window, a small chest at the foot of the bed to store belongings. Callisto sits on the wooden cot with her legs crossed, and Tempest—shirtless and freshly bandaged—sits on its edge.

"Thank you," Tempest murmurs. Her hand sits in her lap. After much repeated berating she knows not to mess with the wound lest it reopen again, but the tension in her hand is obvious.

"Of course," Callisto says. There's something there in her voice, but this is all she says.

Tempest sits there unmoving. Instead of leaving, Callisto places a finger on Tempest's exposed back, and begins to trace the bright and intricate tattoo that spills across it in deep purples and piercing turquoise and yellow. She feels a slight shiver run down Tempest's spine. "Can I ask...?" Callisto begins quietly as she follows the twisting and turning of the great serpent among the roiling clouds.

"Mm?" Tempest responds, her head turning ever so slightly in Callisto's direction.

Callisto stops tracing, putting her whole hand on Tempest's back and leaning in closer to see her face, all but putting her chin on her shoulder. "Why a leviathan?"

Tempest smiles at her—not her usual self assured grin, nor that amused and endeared look she sometimes gives her, but something quiet and unguarded, and perhaps a little sad. "It's not just any leviathan," she says. Callisto tilts her head curiously, and Tempest turns her gaze out the window. "Do you know where leviathans came from?"

"Um... Rhodesma, right?" Callisto answers, sitting up again and looking down at the tattoo.

"Right. During the war of the gods, the first leviathan rose out of the ocean as her champion. The storms it left in its wake were more powerful than anything seen before, giving birth to the very first undines..." as Tempest explains, a slight grin tugs at her lips and her face suggests she's seeing something else through the window, "And they called the leviathan many different things—the final judgement, the wrath of the sea.... The tempest."

Callisto lets out a small gasp, "Oh! So it's your namesake?"

Tempest turns to her with a nod, "It is."

Callisto leans back to admire the tattoo some more, then frowns slightly and gives Tempest a considering look.

Tempest quirks her eyebrows, "Yes?"

"I thought you said you said you weren't religious," she says, giving the cambion a playful prod, "Seems pretty reverent to me."

"Ha! Maybe so. Looks pretty cool though, right?" she answers with a grin.

"Very cool," Callisto laughs. "Have you ever seen a leviathan?"

Tempest's face shifts, once again seeing something not here, "Once. Before I ever took to the sea."

Callisto hums, "Must've been a sight to behold."

"Utterly terrifying," Tempest answers.