09-23-2018, 09:53 AM
Walter is the only good thing that Djinni had gained from the Reckoning. Everything else had vanished - the Chamber, the Deserts, the quiet herdland where she knew she could always go to find her parents. Priam and Aseret are out there in the wide somewhere, trapped (or perhaps not?) in a place that Djinni cannot reach. The rose-gold mare had tried to fill the immediate void they'd left with Nerine, and then with Stillwater. They'd each satisfied her - for a time - but in the end she was always left alone and unfulfilled.
And then came Walter, and Djinni finally understood what it was to love someone more than she loves herself.
It had taken her nearly fifty years to do it, but the lack of shielding magic had only hurried along what was ultimately inevitable. "My gnat." She says with a smile, tucking herself beneath the offered curve of his long white wing. She leans against him, feeling the pull of twist of the muscle in his neck as he turns to look down at their daughter.
It had taken the genie some time to get accustomed to this Walter - musclebound and brawny, a guardian of the queen of Nerine - but beneath it he is still the honey-eyed stallion that she had met in the Meadow when she was just a girl herself. That time seems so long ago, and yet she remembers each bit as clearly as she does the day before.
"Sylva?" She says, startled from her daydream of the two of them visiting the Falls for the first time. She blinks her brown eyes a few times to ward away the sleep that had just been starting to creep in. "You know they're Nerine's enemy?" Djinni no longer keeps up with the latest gossip, but she does remember that announcement. "If you still want to go though, I am sure Rivka would appreciate some free time."
And then came Walter, and Djinni finally understood what it was to love someone more than she loves herself.
It had taken her nearly fifty years to do it, but the lack of shielding magic had only hurried along what was ultimately inevitable. "My gnat." She says with a smile, tucking herself beneath the offered curve of his long white wing. She leans against him, feeling the pull of twist of the muscle in his neck as he turns to look down at their daughter.
It had taken the genie some time to get accustomed to this Walter - musclebound and brawny, a guardian of the queen of Nerine - but beneath it he is still the honey-eyed stallion that she had met in the Meadow when she was just a girl herself. That time seems so long ago, and yet she remembers each bit as clearly as she does the day before.
"Sylva?" She says, startled from her daydream of the two of them visiting the Falls for the first time. She blinks her brown eyes a few times to ward away the sleep that had just been starting to creep in. "You know they're Nerine's enemy?" Djinni no longer keeps up with the latest gossip, but she does remember that announcement. "If you still want to go though, I am sure Rivka would appreciate some free time."