The very first day Ysalia and Ophidia met, neither had the inclination that their lives would be forever changed, be it by the steering of the fates or mere cosmic contrivance. It was an ordinary, though very beautiful, summer's day on the isle of song. The village folk tended their own and the fauna of the forest made the most of the season's good weather. Despite the view from up high, all was not well on this idyllic archipelago, as indicated by the colour of flame atop the village tower. That day's fateful flame was a bright and fierce red which meant only one thing, the village folk of song had exiled one of their own. As serious a verdict as they came, banishment was only ever used when all other options of penance or rehabilitation had been exhausted. Song folk were peaceful, their pacifist doctrine having survived through myriad wars thanks only to their respective isolation. Even so, there would always be those who took from others, when a life was taken, the elders would have no choice but to act.

Though the flame flickered redder than the blood moon, no such crimes had been committed by any man or woman of song. This was a new cause for banishment, one bred from fear and unease. Of cowardice and superstition. Of desperation great and madness bloody.

A month and two days since the eve of her nineteenth birthday, Ysalia Song had been ousted from her people and sentenced to exile. While the young woman had not committed any offenses she was chosen, for a number of reasons, as a sacrificial offering to the Medusa which plagued her people's sacred temple in the forest to the west of the isle. It was a small patch of land upon which they resided and the folk of song had begun to fear stepping past the village confines, lest they become the next victim of her vile petrification. Fear of their loved ones searching for them and finding only a soulless statue in their place, the last remains of a stolen future. The fear was perhaps irrational, as their villainous serpentine monster had never deigned to stray far from her den, but it was true that those who ventured into those woods in search of her had never returned. Truer still, was the statue that watched over the woods' entrance. Visible from the village outskirts, he was one of their greatest hunters before his permanent occupation as a warning to all who would dare return to their former place of worship. As an extreme measure in the face of this blight, a temporary shrine was erected within the village walls, it was shameful at best and considered to be sacrilege by many. 

Between the fear and the shame, the people began to demand action. Warriors were sent and again they were lost, leading to the desperate act of a shaken community. The banishment of an orphan who had been born without the gift of sight. Ysalia was considered a sweet girl with a cheery disposition despite her circumstances in life, the women of song had made a case for her skills in handling the daily tasks but the elders had already made their final decision. Important decisions that would affect the village and its people were not made via democratic process, choices were made for the people but not with them. It was a tradition they had no mind to change, wisdom came with age or so they believed. 

It had not occurred to young Ysalia that the ways of her people could be flawed, she was simply happy to exist, to grow her flowers by the side of the hut with the most sunlight and least noise. In light of her banishment however, it had occurred to her that she would never again know the blooming of the flowers she so cherished. Not in her home, at the very least. It's nothing shameful, she thought, that her life had become forfeit for the betterment of her village folk. 

The scarlet flame of the village tower's central torch danced her out and waved goodbye, leaving Ysalia to make her trek to the sacred grounds and the blaspheming beast that dwelled within. Escape from this grim end had crossed her mind, but what was the girl to do? Swim for the mainland using only the wind against her hair as guide? Live off the land while her former people poached all the food right from under her? No, she would rather honour the elders and submit to stony transformation within the holiest of places, what better end could a girl like her have hoped for, she thought in contended resignation. Obviously, neither Ysalia nor her village knew exactly how this Medusa turned their people into stone.

At least it was a beautiful day. 

A fresh kill to sink her teeth into, that's what Ophidia needed to free herself from this dreary summer lull. Since when had living become so listless and tiresome? The depressive gorgon had been alone for as long as she could remember, kept company only by the snakes hanging down from atop her weary head. Looking around at the small collection of petrified villagers that adorned the temple's entrance and surrounding exterior, she noted that the décor and ornamentation of her new home was somewhat to blame for her slump, but the acoustics were astounding. 

It was time for a good old fashioned hunt to set herself straight. Something fast that she could give chase to but nothing too bony, she had an insatiable appetite when it started to get humid out. The gorgon swept back her snakes and uncoiled herself from the temple's leftmost pillar, adjusting her jewellery in the reflection of the baptismal font. Sharp yellow eyes glared back at themselves, disturbed lightly by small ripples made from sharp nailed fingers clasping the sides of the basin. Ophidia's skin was pale green, adorned only with an assortment of intricate golden jewellery and a gem encrusted headpiece which held back her living hair. Their eyes were as yellow as her own, with thin black slits that would turn to stone all who dared to stare back at them. The folk of the mainland believed Gorgons to be a savage race, which petrify all men, a creature with a feeble mind which can be tricked into petrifying itself. All such rumours are of course false, but the Gorgon herself felt no compulsion to spread the word and correct these reports, she simply wantedto be left alone. Her upper body, which resembles that of a human, also carries several tribal tattoos from various cultures. Gorgon lifespans far exceed mankind's, all these patterns had begun to fade, it had been a long time since the creature had come to trust the words and gifts of man. Time had taught her that such things were fleeting boons disguising tragedy and betrayal. Ultimately, man had come to disappoint. 

Fauna however, would never let Ophidia down. They were and would always be a constant source of distraction and nutrition, she just had to ensure she did not turn her prey into inedible stone before it was time to eat. Reflection sufficiently pondered, it was time to depart for her hunt. Ophidia's snakelike lower half curled into the shape of cascading waves against the sun-bleached stone of the temple's entrance as she slid across it with ease, only stopping and turning sharply at the sound of footsteps to her immediate left. The docile snakes which slept atop Ophidia's head sparked to life as they rose up and flared out, glaring with venomous indignation at the one who would approach their queen. Some peasant girl from the nearby village had somehow stumbled into her domain and was now staring directly ahead, her head tilting up at the sound of hissing vipers. 

And yet, the serpent's gaze did not illuminate the eyes of another staring back. Ophidia frowned to herself, stumped at this newfound predicament. Usually when menfolk would trespass upon her territory, they would helplessly peer up into her merciless yellow eyes and the latter would light up with a hazardous yellow glow. Following that, the victim would harden from the inside out, until nothing remained but lifeless stone. This was not such a case. It only took a quick lunge forwards for the Gorgon to identify the problem, while a startled Ysalia was attempting to reconcile with her crumbling composure. The peasant girl was blind. No matter, Ophidia had a solution for cases such as these in the past. It seemed her hunt had come to her on this fortuitous occasion. Another silent lunge and her sharp nails were digging into the human's shoulder, fangs indenting the sides of the exile's throat. It would be over quick.

Ysalia was frozen. Moments ago, she was attempting to recall the route up to the temple's entrance as she hopped from the stones she hadn't traversed since early childhood, then before she knew it her neck was being held between the monster's teeth. This was it, she was about to die. Her breath came fast and short, it was hard to accept that her sacrifice meant anything to such a vicious being. Although, were it an animal attacking her, Ysalia had concluded that her throat would already have been torn clean from her neck. This was a creature of reason. 

"Uhm... hello." Was not the greatest plea for her life that Ysalia could have probably made, but the girl was petrified in all ways but one. 

It was enough to give Ophidia pause, if only for her nagging curiosity. What circumstances led a defenceless village girl all the way up here, all by herself with no eyes to guide her step... and why was she not breaking down into hysterics and begging to be spared? These were questions that would remain unanswered and plague the Gorgon for at least the proceeding century if she tore the girl apart, so Ophidia pulled away and inspected her prey a little more closely. For manfolk, she was certainly prettier than they usually come. Ophidia was accustomed to the male warriors or hunters coming to this sanctuary, so the sight of Ysalia was as refreshing as it was unexpected. She had almost forgotten that humans could be so... soft. In an instant, her body had coiled around the human, taking care not to cause her harm just yet. 

"Hello, human. Aren't you a weak little thing... is your tribe attempting to get into my head by ssending the unlikliesst of assassins into my dwelling?" 

To the astonishment of both living occupants of this makeshift monster den, Ysalia just snorted. She was unable to hold it back, having imagined herself as some covert assassin was simply too amusing. It was as though all fear and shock in that moment had briefly been converted into a simple little snort. One so unexpected that the peasant girl felt the coils constricting her form temporarily loosen before regaining their tight grasp. 

"I'm more of a sacrifice, I think. You can see I don't have any weapons. B-but um, I didn't know you could speak!" It was clear that Ysalia's curiosity had far outweighed her fear, she had already made peace with her fate on the walk over. 

For her part, Ophidia was now the one to feel a certain modicum of anxiety over the situation. This creature was anything but hostile, it was trying to talk to her. Not just the empty words of a predator teasing with its prey like Ophidia had uttered prior, but a conversation on equal grounds. Though she could never admit it, the very premise of such a thing was so foreign to the Gorgon at this stage in her life that it scared her more than the glint of loosened arrowheads ever could. Fang-like teeth retracted and the girl was brought to eye level, Ophidia cringing at the legitimate spark of interest on the human's face. 

"Am I supposed to pity you or something? Do not expect me to sympathise with your kind, this only makes me more certain that you show no loyalty to anything but yourselves." Ophidia was no longer trying to intimidate the girl so much as question her, so she decided to drop the performative hissing in her speech. She ran her hands down the sides of the pitiful rags the other was wearing, noticing that the creature was still stiff, still scared of her under the surface. "They could have given you something to try and kill me with, even if you never really stood a chance!" 

"They tried to give me a spear and a dagger, but I left them as tribute for the hunter that watches over our village. He... he brought a lot of food for us, before you..."

Ophidia clicked her forked tongue. "I defended myself, lest I became your next meal it would seem. I'd sooner change my mind and kill you here than apologise for that."

Ysalia gasped, heart pounding out of her chest. "You're not... you're not going to kill me? But I don't have anywhere to go." 

The Gorgon laughed, an indulgence she had not seen fit to oblige in many decades. "Are you asking me to finish you off, girl?" The longer the conversation dragged on, the more Ophidia was being forced to feel pity for this creature of man, it was making her feel sick. 

There was a long pause, where the air between them seemed like it had been frozen in time. Ysalia weighed her options, considered what paths had been laid out for her, but ultimately failed to produce anything helpful to her current predicament. The issue with coming to terms with and accepting your fate, is the difficulty it takes to accept any alternative. 

"Why are you..." Was all she could muster before the deadly forest huntress snapped back at her. 

"Do not push me, stupid girl. I have killed for far less. Leave this sanctum of yours and tell all that you see to abandon it to me. I leave alone all who afford me the same courtesy, understood? I'm... tired, so please get out of my sight. I do not take pleasure in hunting helpless prey." 

A pair of trembling feet were placed gingerly back onto the stone floor. The feet turned on their heels and ran.

Of course, Ysalia did not run far before having to slow her pace. The woods were dense and she was not born with the luxury to traverse them at a sprint without risking splinters. Having no other choices, the rejected sacrifice figured that she would have to try her best to hunt and forage. To live as a hermit on this island in a similar manner to the creature that just spared her life. Feeling dejected and unloved, Ysalia wondered what good it was to spare a life such as hers. 

Tracking her way back to the hunter's statue, Ysalia Song retrieved the spear and dagger she had left at its feet and took off before she was spotted by the sentries. Her stomach was already beginning to rumble and she knew her chances of catching a wild animal without her sight would be near impossible. It would likely be the berries that would keep her running, but for how long can one live off foraged berries? It all seemed so hopeless. In all her life, the girl had never once cursed her disability. The village had always made her feel safe but more than that, it made her feel useful. She worked, contributed, felt like she had a place. It was only now, out here in the woods by herself, that the girl felt truly helpless for the first time. It suddenly all felt so unfair that she couldn't see, now that she was faced with tasks she didn't think she could perform. Initially she had thought the Gorgon was showing her kindness by letting her go, but it was the same cruelty that the village had given her. Selfishness. Her throat was still intact because the creature would have felt bad ripping it out. 

Resting her back against a thick tree with a nice cool shade in this humid weather, Ysalia took a handful of berries into her mouth and fought back the tears that would inevitably fall before the darkness whisked her away beneath the rising silver moon...

...

"..."

"...ake up..."

"Wake up!"

Ysalia was wrenched back up from the darkness with a cold sting against her cheek and a biting soreness in her throat. As she slowly rose back into consciousness with each passing second more unexpected sensations began to reach her. The taste of bile. The sound of another voice trying to speak to her. The stone against her back as she was laid down against it. Gone were the tree and the soft dirt beneath her, she had fallen asleep in one place and awoken somewhere else entirely. It did not take her long to put two and two together. 

"Is... Are you there, miss monster?" She knew that Ophidia was in fact looming over her. She could hear somebody sure, but it was the Gorgon's scent that betrayed her. She heard the creature exhale a short breath in response, before holding a cold compress made from a soaked rag against her forehead. 

"Monster isn't a kind name for someone who saved your life. You ate poisonous berries, if I weren't out hunting you'd just be plant fertiliser with a pretty face." Ophidia glanced down at the soft smile worn by this pitiful girl, feeling colour in her cheeks as the snakes in her hair laughed at her exhumed sentimentality. 

"You think I'm pretty, Miss? If I can have your name, then? Mine's Ysalia... oh, are you an outcast too? Is that why you're alone?" The human groaned as she tried to sit up, shivering from the biting cold with skin icy pale. Ophidia slowly coiled around the girl, careful not to hurt her. 

"It's... Ophidia. I'm not an outcast, just too stubborn to die. Do not dare suggest me lonely, not while I have so many of your foolish men to keep me company for longer than your little tribe is likely to exist. Loneliness is a human weakness..."

While caught up in her warm, comfortable tangle, Ysalia giggled and reached out to frame the stubborn woman's face in her hands. Instinctively, those hovering snakes whipped out and nipped the human's hands with their stinging fangs, leaving small lacerations that reached up to her wrists. It hurt, but Ysalia did not pull away as she enjoyed surprising softness she felt on the supposed monster's face. 

"You're hopelessly stubborn too, it would seem... to die. My venom is just as poisonous as those berries you stuffed your belly with." The Gorgon decided not to pull her face away, those hands were warm and clammy while those of her stony companions were only cold and dry. 

Ysalia gave the contented look of a girl ready to die, which Ophidia hated to see more than she could understand at the time. "O-okay, that's fine... I was scared to die alone, so can you keep me nice and wrapped up like this? I don't have any way to pay... oh, you can eat me if you like. If I still had my flower garden I could give you something beautiful instead."

"You're a very foolish girl. I believe I said as much before, but really... you'd make a better piece of art than a meal. Something tells me that life as a motionless statue would decrease that lustre you have. Such a pretty thing who doesn't know it, who covets pretty things she couldn't know. Why grow flowers if you can't appreciate them?" 

"Everyone in the village loved them, so it made me happy to make them happy." Ysalia seemed embarrassed, tilting away and laughing nervously. "Are you flirting with me, Miss Ophie?"

Ophidia squeezed a little tighter, hating the sway this young thing had on her heart when she'd vowed against such inevitable heartbreak time and time again. "So what if I am? I'd like to know how this village of yours could trample on such honest kindness. I find your innocence a little sickening, my venom could corrupt you into something more selfish and you'd be better off for it."

"Wh-what? It can do that? I feel... a little funny, hehe, am I dying?" The girl's eyes fluttered closed, her arms looping around the beast's neck to embrace her as a mental fatigue crashed over Ysalia like a stormy wave. 

The Gorgon felt that warmth cascade onto her and scoffed, her snakes tangling in the human's hair playfully despite their master's feigned indifference... they can not indulge in their owner's dishonesty, loving the temptation of this sweet creature. "Sorry to disappoint you, this is not a killing poison. Though like I said, it's as potent as the berries that nearly had you. I meant it when I said I could make you selfish, I could make you do or think anything once the venom reaches your mind, breaches your senses and has you dancing to my tune. Have you never heard of the serpent's trance, my dear girl?"

Ysalia shook her head, seeming interested as she pushed herself back against the snakewoman's shoulders and felt herself starting to slip already. "It sounds... scary? I don't know, everything with you is exciting... I should be frightened, but this trance thing sounds lovely when weighed against death... hehe, that look on your face is worth sticking around for in any case."

"H-how can you see..."

"I just know it is, or I'll choose to believe. If you let me, I'll feel it out." The venom coursing through her body made Ysalia more open than ever, unable to hide anything from the woman whose trance she is subjected to gladly. Hands reached forwards again and the girl felt the other's expression with a burst of giggles. She's no longer scared at all, relieved that she won't have to die in the end despite her tall talk.

"I know just how I'll use this trance... come, girl, I'll show you something only I can make you see." As she uncoiled, Ophidia caught the frail human in her arms and slithered into the centre of the room. She placed the girl down onto her feet and made sure she could stand before letting go. "I'll show you something as pretty as you are, just let my words guide you there. Let my venom steal all the cold from your body and replace it with a fine heat, a dancing warmth like you're standing upon hot coals that force those feet into action. Yes, that's it, good... you're a good dancer, Ysalia. Look out into my sanctum and trust in my words, okay? They're the orchestrator of this trance you're helplessly lost in."

"I... I don't know what a trance is, but I'm having fun! I trust you, miss... I feel compelled to... and I-I want to. When you said I was warm, I stopped feeling cold immediately." A human danced around the middle of the room, a ballroom floor framed by a circle of stone statues. 

"That's good..." Ophidia watched the human falling under her control and considered tainting her out of centuries old spite, but this thing had won her heart from the moment they started talking. She admired the human who just went along with everything she said so easily. "That's very good, Ysalia, you're helping it circulate with all that exertion. Silly human, I have you now... ahaha, you're slipping into serpent's trance. My voice commands your fingers and toes, controls those weak little limbs, steers your body and instructs your mind. Better still, I'll lay claim on your eyes."

"You... y-you can control me however you like, I feel so light and wonderful and... ahhh, it's really hot!" With a little effort, Ysalia tugged off her shirt and Ophidia's many eyes became just as mesmerised as the hypnotised human was. "I can't resist you, c-can I?" Why is the poor human blushing so much... thought the blushing snake. 

"You may not deny these words, my sssoft voice commands your heart too. I could make you fall in love. Open your eyes, seeing something so serene that it seems a waking dream. A field of flowers, all different colours and pretty shapes that dazzle you and make you mine. These beautiful flowers you covet so, that you only ever got to enjoy vicariously, they surround you and you'll love them... each and every one, you'll love. These flowers are just for you." 

"I-I can't deny your words, I know that... but I don't know what they look like. I... I can't even imagine the colours, I'm seeing past them...."

"You're just not looking close enough. Here, this is what beautiful flowers and pretty colours look like." The serpent's tail whipped around Ysalia's ankle and swept her off those dancing feet and into Ophidia's arms. Leaning down to meet her parted lips, the Gorgon kissed her slowly, as though the first would be their last. Fortunately for them both, it most certainly was not. 

Ysalia kissed back and saw colour, gazing upon a field of flowers that she had no right to deny. No wonder everyone loved them.

100 Years Later

"The hibiscus are coming along nicely... you're doing a great job keeping watch!" Ophidia petted one of her statues and sighed, looking around her garden with welling pride as the snakes in her hair all beamed in their little flower crowns. "I'm going to have some lunch in the village, perhaps some of the children will want to come back to see how far along this place is now."

A slither up to stone, Ophidia leaning against it with her fingers delicately tracing the slab. A monument to a woman she denied death for a very long time before those mortal limits took her all the same. The Gorgon smiled and thought back to those days when they only had each other, now she has the flowers and Ysalia her rest. Living legacy, the isle of song becoming a place of beauty after its occupants reworked their definition of peace. It only took a blind girl they thought dead and half a century of tireless effort. "Wish you were here to see it, my love."

No statue could have hoped to contain her beauty, but Ophidia considered herself close at last. A loop of metal around her finger compelled the serpent to continue cultivating flowers until her very last breath. It was a direct order from her wife when she told the ailing woman they could go together. 

Just as Ysalia was once powerless, in deep trance, to Ophidia's words. So too, will Ophidia be unable to deny the human's last request. Song is only the beginning, her orders are to see the world. It's no wonder why... 

"I love you, Ophie."

"Yeah."