No... no, we were born with the gift. But, only after the eruption. Some are old, some are young.
( She seems at once ill at ease with the conversation and resigned to its implication, shifting the hard weight of the snake on her shoulders from one blade to the next.
The serpent answers her, calmly resettling, coiling around her arm. )
We are not... exiled. We simply... choose. Not to burden our families. Not to burden our neighbours. Not to burden those who kindly would spare us a piece of their bread.
no subject
( She seems at once ill at ease with the conversation and resigned to its implication, shifting the hard weight of the snake on her shoulders from one blade to the next.
The serpent answers her, calmly resettling, coiling around her arm. )
We are not... exiled. We simply... choose. Not to burden our families. Not to burden our neighbours. Not to burden those who kindly would spare us a piece of their bread.