i'll come for you if you want me to; set

[Set]

“Don’t you ever tame your demons; but always keep them on a leash.”

The anthill trembles with the weight of her introspection.

The horizon shudders with the weight of his.

Was he gone long? “A lifetime a few times over,” he answers, though he does not actually know. Does not even really care to reach back and know. The past, he has come to find, is exhausting. Completely, utterly, wholly exhausting. It draws you in with illusions of well-worn memories delicately edged by the sunny deceit of time. But the memories quickly turn to dust in your mouth, achingly dry, devoid of light. Because you can’t go back again. Some can, sure. He could even. But it is never the same – will never be the same. Starlace. He rolls his shoulders, the corners of his mouth sagging, though the smile is not yet gone. The space between she and he, tremors with the dull ache of loss. It is a twinge that long ago took up space in some dank back corner of his mind that now sits up in recognition, eager to meld with the misery of her loss. He tamps it down, giving his head a small shake to clear it away. The swaying trees draw his gaze again.

“Set,” he introduces himself, the gravel of his voice incongruously smooth.

He can see her there, amongst the frenzied red and golds, the bloody Queen. Standing just out of reach, watching in ethereal silence before turning an walking away. She slips from his imaginings just as easily as she had slipped from his life. What would she think of him now? A woman with no love lost for those traited. His yellow eyes flicker black, breaking the spell , and he shuffles closer to her. “Tell me, Eilidh,” he starts again, hooves shifting underneath him. “Why are you still here?” Perfectly aware of the ambiguity of his question, he eyes the prone mare expectantly. There is something about her that speaks of a confidant, an old soul. With the quiet nonchalance of a magician nearly a century old, he slowly, languidly, lowers himself to the ground near her. A low groan rumbles in his chest as he stretches out on his side in the warm sunlight, his head settling near enough that he can see her if he rolls his eye just a bit. For now, though, his eyes shutter close, taking in the sharp smell of dying earth and the warm scent of his stranger turned companion.

SET

alliance champion, once king, mage