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  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    [private]  higher, faster, everlasting; Lilitha.
    #11
    the taigan
     
    He could not get a handle on this rage. He should not be this upset with her. He should not be reacting this way.

    His head lowered and he shook his neck violently, sparks of ice bursting from it and drifting down in light flurries of snow. He huffed deeply, expelling as much agitation out of his gut as he could manage, imagining it thrown from his icy breath. He was still abrupt, still sharp when he spoke again, his head lifting high and eyes hard.

    "I'm sorry, Lilitha." She did not deserve his harsh treatment. He hadn't meant to be this way, so cold and merciless. "Do not mistake me. Your father was a good king." He would never speak ill of Romek, and that hadn't been his intention. "I'm sure he missed you each day and awaited your return. I'm sorry he was not able to come for you." Perhaps he had chosen not to, but Ruan didn't believe the man had chosen his title over his adopted daughter. He assumed his king had missed his daughter; how could he not?

    Then again. He was clearly the worst judge of character.
    But Ruan would not speak ill of him nonetheless.

    He rolled a pinch from his shoulders, trying so damn hard to relax, let this tension dissipate. He sighed heavily. "And when the fairies settle names to a land, what will you do? When they call someone a ruler, would that not be you? What do you intend to do when they do this?" How would she respond to being forced into a box with labels?



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    #12
    Lilitha

    I watch the city burn, these dreams like ashes float away...

    Little Singe pressed tighter against her at Ruan’s show of power, and Lilitha lowered her head again to trail her nose along the little girl’s spine in quiet reassurance. “I think it’s perhaps a stretch to call him my father,” Lilitha said, sadness weighing down her voice, holding Singe a little tighter against her. One day, and she already couldn’t imagine letting her little firefly grow up alone out in the wilderness, with no one to protect her or take care of her. Kingdom or no, home or no, he hadn’t even sent someone to look after her, or made an effort to find someone who could take her in.

    By the gods themselves, she’d never abandon her Singe that way.

    She pressed a sad little kiss to the girl’s withers, and looked up at him. “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m not so sure it’s true. Maybe he meant well, but he had more important concerns than me. Still. I can’t know what those years were like for him, and I hold no ill will toward him. But calling him father is a bit too generous, I think.”

    Lilitha listened to his question, grunted with a little nod. “They’ve declared there is to be one kingdom per region, and what happens with the others is up to its inhabitants. They can choose to be a subkingdom, a herdland for the kingdom, an independent herd land, or whatever they see fit so long as there’s only one main kingdom per region. Taiga can be free, Ruan.”

    Well.

    “Or at least they’ve said so. Guess we both know how much stock I put in the word of the fairies.” She tilted her head, studying him quietly. “What about you?” she asked. “What would you do? You’re back, and have more claim to Taiga than anyone else I know. You’ve led her before. What do you want to do, now that you’re back?”

    ...your voice I never heard, only silence.

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    #13
    the taigan
     
    His heart hurt for her. He would never say it aloud of his former king but she was right. Had she been his daughter, nothing would have kept him from returning for her. She never would have had to be alone. No, even if he'd known about her then, she would've had him. He would have left the Taiga to care for her. It sends a sadness in his eyes, and a regret that nobody had told him of her existence then.

    So much could've been avoided.
    He nodded in understanding. Perhaps father was too generous in this case. He wouldn't say it aloud. Not of his king.

    His attention honed sharper, listening intently to her discussion of the kingdoms. Naturally, he was not impressed with the kingdom-related options. Though he wasn't quite fond of the word herdland - it scrapes against a predator's pride - he would have the Taiga be an independent nation. A free land without rule, without attachment to another kingdom, for families to live in peace as the Taiga had been originally petitioned for.

    The Taiga will be free.

    "What about you? What would you do? You're back, and have more claim to Taiga than anyone else I know. You've led her before. What do you want to do, now that you're back?"

    It made his back stiffen that he had even been considered gone, but he knew too well the side-effects of magic could be unpredictable. He didn't believe for a moment that Bright had intended for them to get trapped in time. Here he was a day or so later and years had passed. Lilitha was no longer a young girl, but grown and with a child of her own.

    He considered her question deeply, though. He had never seen himself a king though he had been Taiga's leader for most of its existence. So there would be some that would still look to him for guidance in its future. A position that he'd been brought into rather than stealing a throne from someone else, one he had been asked to fill. He had done so proudly and humbly.

    And if asked, would do it again.

    He was modest, but he'd been here through Taiga's life and he knew that he had done best by Her with the Taigans at his side. He had cared for Her longest and had done a damn good job of it, ensuring Taiga remained teeming with life and thriving. There was no arrogance in the thoughts, only facts laid out for him to sift through as he mulled them over. He was honest and fair, even to himself on rare occasions it seemed. Surprisingly.

    What would he do? He breathed out slow, strapped his boots on and got to work.

    "I would hold the Taiga until the lands were settled." He still refused to use the word claim, nobody would claim the Taiga. It was meant to be as free as the people who lived under its dark forest. "If the fairies' promise was not as promised," he continued dryly, their betrayal loud and in the forefront of his mind, dropping the temperature around him dramatically with his rising mood. 

    "I would seek them out on the Mountain where the gift of Taiga had been first given. I would petition that they have it returned to its rightful state: a free, unclaimable land." Like the Forest, Meadow, or River. A free land settled in the middle of the territories rather than at the far edge of the earth as the others were. So long as it was respected.

    And he damn sure wasn't going to stop protecting those within it. He had never needed - or wanted - a title for that. He would hold it if it was asked of him, or was necessary for Taiga's future, but for no other reason. As ever, he belonged to the Taiga. Not the other way around.



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    #14
    Lilitha

    I watch the city burn, these dreams like ashes float away...

    Lilitha watched Ruan gather himself and consider. She didn’t rush him, just gave him the space to come to the answer on his own. And when he did, she nodded. “That’s all I sought to do, Ruan. Hold her until the lands settle. Or help hold her. Any claim you heard in my voice is only to keep her out of greedy hands that seek to turn her into something she was never meant to be. I’m no one’s queen, and I have no ambition to change that. Ever.” She was hardly queen material, and leading had never exactly been a dream of hers.

    “That’s a good idea. I...my petitions at the Mountain have not gone well, historically.” Banished from the land that was supposed to be her home. Cursed to make her fire cause her agony. Her wings burned away as her fire was restored. Asking the fairies for anything tended to go askew, and it hadn’t occurred to her to try again for Taiga’s sake. “I wouldn’t have thought of it myself. But if it comes down to it, that’s a good potential solution.”

    On the other hand, they’d be asking of the fairies who would’ve hypothetically gone back on their word to grant them a favor and make good on their promise. But. They’d cross that road if they came to it, yes? “I’m glad you’re here. This sort of thing doesn’t come very naturally to me, and I’m glad to see someone I know I can trust.”

    Singe peeked around her shoulder and eyed Ruan again, then glanced at the little boy he guarded with a curious little huff. “You could ask,” Lilitha coaxed gently, craning her head around to brush her lips against Singe’s forehead. But apparently she wasn’t quite feeling brave enough, because she ducked back behind her momma and lowered her head, sneaking another peek beneath her new momma’s chest.

    ...your voice I never heard, only silence.

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