Magnus;

[magnus]

Something was happening in Tephra. He felt it in his blood, the electricity charging through the air. He had seen the blade-thin black stallion enter, and while the markings reminded him of the young boy he had seen in the meadow—the one so possessively wrapped around Cerva, the one who had made his very stomach lurch uncomfortably—he had no real way of knowing they were one in the same. The boy had grown up rather differently, growing thin but strong, the bone armor erupting out of his body dangerously.

Still, Magnus had followed him. Followed him enough to see that he had sought out Leliana and then he had carefully backed away. While seeing the wounds on Leliana had made his heart clench and fury rise in his belly, the golden stallion had known he could do nothing for her that she could not do herself, and he didn’t want to interrupt whatever was brewing between the two. So he turned from them, but he remained close—close enough to hear if she cried, to hear if things got dangerous.

Close enough that he could intervene.

The knowledge tied him up in in knots though, and he paced around the border, sweat building on his thick neck, his powerful muscles rolling beneath his flesh. Leliana was not his direct blood, but she was of Malis—and that mattered. He was charged with watching over all Tephra residents, but he knew he had to pay extra care to those healing twins who had deposited here. That or suffer Malis’ horns.

Still, to know Leliana was hurt and to feel unable to do anything was infuriating. To know that a stranger was in their midst and not be able to confront them yet was nothing less. So he did the only thing that he knew how to do, and he stalked the border, frustration building up with every graceful step, the power of the motion taking him quickly. He didn’t pause until he saw the filly enter after, small and thin.

A frown grew between his brows and he paused mid-step, his foot hanging in the air and his heavy-jawed head tilting to the side to consider her. She moved slowly, methodically, and stumbled. Was she blind? He took after her, moving fast but making his footsteps obvious—circling around to come up to her front so that she wouldn’t feel like he was charging after her. When he was close enough, he slowed his pace, walked surely up to her, locking away his internal frustrations. “Hello,” he said gently, his husky voice filling the air. His stomach twisted when he saw her eyes, the gentle pits where they should be.

As he got closer, he smelled the original stallion thicker on her, and he frowned. Was she one of his? Had he abandoned her to come to Leliana? Where was her mother? Questions grew thick in his mind, but he ignored them for now—let them hang there. “My name is Magnus. Are you looking for something?”

out of the blue out into the loneliest place that you'll ever know
I carried the world just as far as I could but the damage had taken its toll