A Gift from the Empress
Pushing the boundaries of flash fiction into microfiction, this was the prompt:
- Produce a work of EXACTLY 100 words. Not 99 words. Definitely not 101 words. Just 100.
- You can enter as many as three times, but can only work on one piece at a time. [...]
I entered only once and took the flash challenge, which had the prompt-giver generate three words from an online random word generator. Those words had to be either inspiration or used directly in the story. The three words I got were:
smoke, gesture, person
I decided to include each word explicitly but also drew my inspiration from them, considering several story ideas from the combination of those words before settling on the one below.
“You’re a person, snake or no” Tiralya whispered to the python slithering away in her hands. The Empress bestowed a divine gift for her personal attendant’s pet: an enclosure with all necessities for a life-long palace guest.
Tiralya left the snake for the Empress’s bed chamber. To gaze upon divine visage was forbidden save for Tiralya. Tiralya, loyal servant. Tiralya, child of former slaves, from the empire’s conquest of her people. People who knew the curses of ash and smoke, potent against wards of the gods. Being Empress was simple anyway. She commanded with gestures, and Tiralya knew them all.
