I've never loved a darker blue than the darkness I have known in you
She finds that with some magicians—or those, like him, who know magic in their own way—there is something like an easy camaraderie. Something about knowing that they each know the ebb and flow of magic and all the different things that can mean. Before she had felt magic plant inside of her like a seed, she had certainly not known what it meant to harness magic. She would never have guessed.
But it twists and writhes within her now, and she couldn’t dispel it even if she wanted to.
Anymore than this stallion before her could.
She tastes the sweetness of the berries on her tongue as she considers his counter to her concerns. There is a piece of her that is relieved by his perspective and she smiles a little freer, tipping her head back and drinking in the cooling Tephra air (although, even in winter, it could hardly be classified as cool).
“Perhaps,” she says simply. “I would like to think the gods are on my side.”
But wouldn’t they all?
Still, the conversation moves forward easily and she finds she has no trouble staying abreast of it. She navigates the rivers and channels, watching him grow slightly embarrassed under the realization.
“A nomad then,” her voice is gentle as she touches his shoulder. “We would be honored if you wanted to stay.” Her hazel eyes search his for a second and she grows quiet as she slips into the back of her mind. It is easy to find the connection to Vulgaris there. Easy to quietly ask his thoughts on the matter, to converse and get his approval before slipping back into the present, her eyes refocusing just slightly.
“There is no need for you to do anything, of course, but we have need of warriors.” She laughs light and gentle. “We have attracted all kinds of characters here in our growing family—and some even of considerable gifts—but the political climate is tense.” She thinks to her conversation with Heartfire, to her own concerns in the growing quiet since the war. “And my husband, although a skilled warrior, is but one man. I trust you, Maleficar, and I saw you try to help us when Loess attacked.”
A pause, as she thinks.
“Would you be willing to serve as our Champion?”
like fire weeping from a cedar tree, know that my love would burn with me