&&. tears well in saffron optics and the youth gasps,
                           struggling to draw breath. she tries to speak, scream for her
                           betters, anything, but the words that rise and then die just
                           as quickly – as all flames did – are of brimstone and she
                           chokes dismally, hands clapped over her mouth and breath
                           hoarse and strangled behind the red plates of her fingers. for
                           the first time in eons, she weeps as her father once did ( in
                           another lifetime, almost ), the SECRET so treasured now
                           revealed to her, burned into her retinas, flickering mockingly
                           in the space between her eyes.

                                                        “ a–aah …  
                                                                              da–ddy … ?  

                                                                                              DA–DDY … ? ”