[open] ; in restless dreams I walked alone (gunsynd, any)

[Aranea]

Oh once upon a time she had known this place. once upon a time she had known this place intimately. it was a lifetime ago and yet here she found her path winding this was again. to the kingdom she had once ruled; to the kingdom that had lured her in when she was fresh-faced and eager. to the kingdom that her mother had known, once, just as intimately. it was a placed heaped in history for the ancient creature, though she did not exactly wish to delve in to the depths of it. it was not the past that she sought to restore, but a future she intended to polish. aranea had lived a multitude of years (mostly in solitude and silence, after those of grandeur and glory) yet her body was young and her mind was sharp. gunsynd had presented her with a sliver of hope and she snatched eagerly at the opportunity - perhaps she would be freed (even slightly!) from this curse that the faeries had so nicely bestowed upon her. was it not enough that she bore the scars of that day? scars the gleamed bright orange against her ashen coat, courtesy of the magician who had healed the bloody claw marks so long ago. the scars had not faded; that was the price she would pay for her life. that and her voice. a small price, some might argue. but this caged bird - she wanted to SING. their journey would be spent in silence on her behalf, though she very clearly perked up when they reached the multitude of smells that marked the boundaries of a kingdom. a kingdom, though she could not possibly know it, that was led by a king who had once known her MOTHER intimately. what could you expect of a stallion named eight and a mare known as a spider... when they finally stopped she faced gunsynd, curiosity etched in her features despite herself. for a second she was not the jaded mare who had lived on her own for so many years, but an excited yearling with a lifetime of opportunity stretched before her. so what next? ARANEA (immortal, mute, infrared vision)from dust, she returned the dream, an enigma... silent