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  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura


    she's got nothing left to lose
    #1

    good gone girl,
    she’s got nothing left to lose


    She had never intended on coming back.

    Beqanna holds nothing for her anymore. Her friends, family and many of her children are dead. The few children still alive have long left this country behind. There is nothing to tie her here.

    Or so she had thought. Then she had come across Covet in the outlands ...

    She had recognized him instantly. In her youth, she had despised him, had even plotted against him during his time on the Dale’s throne. But time had washed away all animosity, and one thing had led to another.

    And now here she is, 11 months later, returning to Beqanna with a tiny black filly bumbling along at her heels. After having both triplets and twins in quick succession she had had no intention of ever having kids again. But she’s already proven how well she sticks with her intentions. And in the end, she doesn’t regret it. Little Rowyn is the apple of her eye - bright and strong-willed, just like Darking had been at that age. She’s almost identical in appearance to Darking’s younger self as well, with the exception of her eyes. Instead of two, bright green eyes, she has one green and one orange, the orange being from her father of course.

    She had first thought to raise Rowyn outside of Beqanna, but the more she had thought about it, the more conflicted she had become. Generations of Rowyn’s ancestors have lived in this land. She deserves to experience the place for herself.

    And so here they are. 

Darking has no idea where to start however. Her old home in the Dale would seem like a logical place to start, but she has no ties to this new Dale. Her home had been the kingdom that was destroyed in the Catastrophe. Her Dale is no more. So she will let the recruiters come and court her.



    DARKING

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    #2
    Sand. Sand, sand, sand, it got EVERYWHERE. In his nose, in his spikedy mane, in his MOUTH! He liked his new Ellie-friend, and he liked Miss Else who was his new mother, but he was not a fan of SAND. Even when he snuck away to visit places without sand, he still was snorting to try to get it out of his nostrils, and itching on things to shake it out of his coat. Which just made him staticky, and made it cling more. AND made the things shock him. Today was not a day for winning, it seemed.

    But maybe it was a day for making more new friends? Because as Perun bounced along, reveling in the glorious, glorious grass everywhere, and the trees, and the flowers, and the NOT SAND YAY! he caught a glimpse the wiggly waggly black tail of what had to be another foal, hooray! He started to bound forward, but was stopped dead in his tracks by a sand-sneeze that shook his whole body, making his knees wobble and almost making him fall over. Stupid sand. Made him sneeze, made his hair all sticky-outy, made things zap him all the time…well, okay, that last part wasn’t the sand. But if he was already blaming it for other things, he might as well add the shocks to the list!

    Oh right, new friend! Recovering, he really did bound forward this time, tiny baby hooves making excited little rumbly sounds as they hit the ground. Little baby thunders! That always did manage to cheer him up! So by the time he found the waggly black tail again, and the him-sized girl it was attached to, and also the Miss Else-sized lady next to her, well he was grinning bigger than the biggest thunder-rumble. Not that thunder grinned. But hey! It made him grin, so good enough!

    “Hello there!” he chirped as he bounced toward the little girl who WHOA had really, really cool eyes! His were grey like stormclouds, but hers! One of hers was the greenest green, and the other was all orangey! “Whoa.” He stretched his neck out, reaching his head forward to get a closer look. “You have cool eyes! My name’s Perun. Or Rune, you can call me that too if you like. D’you maybe want to be my friend? Um, also hello, miss bigger lady, ma’am! You have a very nice nose!” He bet it even might not mind sand so much! His eyes crossed as he tried to look at his own much smaller nose. Maybe when he was bigger, the sand wouldn’t be so pestery.
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    #3

    There was no telling what Jason was looking for each time that he went to the field. It wasn’t his intentions to offer a home within his precious Gates to everyone. For the light kingdom was important to him, and it was to be protected at all costs. The grey stallion did not want to bring wreckage to it rather he wished to bring life. Perhaps Jason was hoping to find such life within the field. He hoped to find kindred spirits, friendships among friendships. Jason was quick to love and devote, but in the field he wished to be more guarded- to protect himself and his home.

    This day in particular felt utterly glorious. The sun shined brightly, and the warmth that radiated onto his shaded back brought pieces of calm. He was meant to be here. Destiny had tugged his stubborn neck to the grassy field and standing so beautifully in the corner was a mare and beside her a foal. Any walls that Jason had so pitifully built for himself quickly came to a crumble at the site of the yearling. She was absolutely perfect- so crisp and new to life. Unlike Jason she had yet to be changed by the world. There was no resisting the pull that the duo made on Jason. He swiftly shifted his course to better approach them from the front.

    Upon reaching the pair within a few feet Jason dipped his head in greeting. ”Hello there” He spoke to the mother. ”And hello to you too.” He smiled as his gaze fell to the smaller of the two.

    It was then that Jason’s noticed that his straightened path had led him to completely ignore the other foal that had already joined the pair. Jason looked downward and smiled. Youth always brought him joy.

    ”Hello also to you. My apologies for not seeing you before hand” He said in the direction of the other foal. ”So what brings you two to the field?” Surely there must be a father in the picture, Jason thought to himself-Could such a pair be truly homeless?
    jason
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    #4

    good gone girl,
    she’s got nothing left to lose


    It doesn’t take long for someone to approach them, but it’s not exactly who she’d expected. A little spindly ball of legs and sound bounces up, bright eyes fixed directly on Rowyn. Darking can’t help but grin. The boy is adorable, and though the sounds coming from his hooves are rather odd, he seems good-natured and harmless. She hangs back for the moment, letting Rowyn make the first move. The girl needs to learn how to interact with others her own age after all.

    The little black filly steps forward, face almost uncomfortably close to the boy’s own. “Hi.” She pauses for a moment, apparently considering the boy. She clearly doesn’t entirely know what to make of his enthusiasm. And then she reaches out, probing at the boy’s thoughts with her mind, and Darking groans. “Rowyn, NO. Speak with your voice first, then only enter the mind with their permission.” She hadn’t even considered this might happen, but she probably should have. Rowyn is a far more gifted telepath than Darking had been at her age. Granted Rowyn has someone to teach her, and Darking had not.

    Rowyn’s head turns at her words, and the girl’s mismatched eyes give Darking a deliberate look. Darking returns it pointedly. Rowyn is always testing her.

    The battle of wills ends quickly in Darking’s favour however, and Rowyn’s turns back to look at the boy. “Thanks. I got them from my parents.” She shoots Darking another look, and flares her wings dramatically. “I’m Rowyn. I can be your friend I guess.”

    The boy finally seems to realize her presence, and Darking finally steps in. “Hello Rune. Thank you.” She chuckles. What an odd child.

    The sound of approaching hooves catches her attention, and she looks up to see the kind of horse she had expected from the get go. A blue-grey stallion is approaching, and he looks much like the average recruiter or herd stallion. She returns his greeting nod, and smiles politely. “Hello!” Rowyn seems more occupied with trying to impress Rune, so Darking sends her a quick thought - (be polite). The girl releases a grudging, “hi” before turning back to the boy and rustling her wings.

    Darking, for her part, returns the stallion’s gaze to answer his question. “Well, like many in the field, I am in search of a new home.” Which probably seems strange when she has such a young child at her side, but it’s the truth. “What brings you to the field?”


    DARKING

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    #5
    As Perun’s face was stretching close to the girl to check out her cool eyes, she got really close to him too.  Which as pretty handy, since it got her eyes all right up in his face like so he got a real good look.  And yep, bright and colorful and different colors from each other and still super cool.  But while he was getting all up close and personal with his new friend, a tickle started in his head, like the tickle of sand in his nose that made him sneeze, but not in the same place.  He snorted, but it didn’t help.  So he shook his head hard enough to wobble his body and confuse his balance, and then had to catch himself to keep from falling over.  Again.  Oops.  But hey, it worked!  The tickle went away!

    “Hi, Rowyn!  Whoa, you have wings?”  He hadn’t even noticed, which how had he managed that, even? They were big and pretty and right there in front of his face.  Must have been distracted by her eyes.  Oops.  “I bet wings are the coolest!  Flying would be lots of fun, ‘specially if it was all rumbly and stormy.”  His hair stuck up a bit more, crackling with static as he imagined being back up in the storms he could barely remember and couldn’t reach anymore.  “I’m glad you’re my new friend.  I didn’t get my eyes from my parents.  I mean, my mom.  I’ve only got the one parent, and she came along after I already had my eyes.  So I guess I got them from my…uh, head?”  He shrugged.

    Miss Rowyn’s-Mom seemed really nice, smiling at him and all, so he smiled too.  “You’re welcome, ma’am!”  He might have said more, since lots of the time words just seemed to pour out of his mouth like rain poured from heavy clouds, but there was suddenly another someone talking too.  Rune peeked around Miss Rowyn’s-Mom in time to surprise the sky-colored man, then cocked his head and looked at the gathering.  One, two, three.  Mmmaybe the new person was bad at counting.  But Rune was pretty sure saying that out loud would be rude, so he just smiled his cheery smile and said “hi!” back and answered anyhow.  “I’m here because it doesn’t have sand!  I like the desert, but it makes my nose itchy, and the sand gets all in my hair and then scratching makes me zap things, and it is nice to not be itchy sometimes.”

    Oh, but Rowyn was rustling her wings, and the feathers made such a fun shhhing sound and were so shiny and looked really soft!  “Are they soft?  They look soft.”  He reached his nose toward her wings, and they smelled like the sky and sunlight, not like electric-charged clouds and the roll of thunder.  He blew out a breath at the feathers closest to his nose his eyes lighting up as he watched the way they moved with her and with the wind and with his breath.  “Cool.”
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    #6

    For a moment Jason was far more interested in the homeless pair than the other young foal that was bumbling near them. Though that moment quickly came and went due to the latter mentions’ enthusiasm toward answering Jason question that hadn’t even been directed toward him. The response sparked even more inquiries for Jason, such as where was his mother? It was obvious to Jason that the young foal had been from the light mythical king. That was easily enough concluded with the mention of the sand and the desert, but what was the “zap things” comment and once again what was someone of his age doing in the field alone? The questions could have kept churning through Jason’s head, but he swiftly decided that it was best to keep the conversation going to learn more. Jason wouldn’t allow for anything bad or unexpected to happen- thank goodness someone nastier hadn’t come upon them

    Jason lowered his head toward the two younger horses and responded to the colts answer. ”Oh I bet, sand can be an absolute nuisance.” Jason emphasized the last bit with a slight bit exaggeration on the nuisance part.

    Next Jason returned his attention back to the mare. ”A new home?” He spoke without fully thinking. It was a rhetorical question made more out of surprise than anything else. New home implied she left a former home, and Jason was curious as to why. He wondered if it was related to the young filly by her side. ”Oh..ahem..yes that is what the field is for..” He mumbled on mortified by his lack of conversation skills at the moment. ”I’m here…” He paused in thought- slightly distracted by the other conversation going on between the two foals and wings. ”I’m here to mainly meet others and gage some interest in possibly joining a herd or…” Ugh…he sighed, glancing at his hooves for a long second. ”I’m sorry. I’m currently staying in Heaven’s Gates, the light kingdom, but I am interested in starting a home that may be filled with a quieter life.” Jason truly had no idea what he was saying.
    jason
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    #7

    good gone girl,
    she’s got nothing left to lose


    She can’t help but be amused, watching the two children interact. There are few children in the outerlands, and so far Rowyn has had no opportunities to meet anyone her own age. It’s bringing out parts of her daughter’s personality that she hasn’t seen before. Like vanity. She’ll have to keep an eye on that one.

    As little Rune compliments her wings, Rowyn stretches them out even farther, pulling them out to their full length. They’re still small yet of course, because of her age, but compared to her spindly foal’s body they do look impressive. “Yup, I got them from Mom.” She flicks her head back towards Darking, whose wings are tucked tightly into her sides. “It’s awesome!” Her wings droop momentarily, and she tucks them back into her sides. “But I’m not very good at it yet. Some of my flight feathers still need to grow in.” She adds in a slightly lower tone, clearly not really wanting to admit to it. Rune shifts gears however and Rowyn latches on to the change in subject. How does your mom come along after you already have your eyes? I got my eyes when I was growing in Mom’s tummy.”

    Darking takes the mention of his mother as an opportunity to step in. “Where is your mother Rune? She might be worried if you’re out here all by yourself.” The boy continues rambling, and Darking’s ears perk at the mention of sand. “Are you from the Desert? Do you need help getting back?” It’s been a long, long time since she last visited that sandy kingdom, but she’s never forgotten the way.

    Rowyn on the other hand, is far more interesting in his ‘zap things’ comment. “What do you mean, ‘zap things?’ How do you do that?” Rune’s attention has returned to her wings however, and the black filly welcomes the attention. “They are soft! You can touch them if you like.” She stretches them out so that Rune can get a closer look. “And they’re not the only thing I’ve got. I can read minds too!”

    Darking cringes as she senses her daughter sending out another mental probe towards the boy. “Rowyn! That’s enough!” Sighing, she turns back to the blue-grey stallion, who suddenly seems a little unsure of what he’s doing. “Well, I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking for at this point. But a nice place to raise my daughter is what I need.” She smiles. “I’m Darking, and if you haven’t guessed it already, this is my daughter Rowyn.”


    DARKING

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    #8
    Rune snorted at the sky-man’s description of sand as a nuisance, nodding his head vigorously.  “It gets everywhere!” he agreed with dismay.  His attention was very quickly recaptured by Rowyn, though, as she told him more about flying with her pretty, shiny, soft-looking wings.  “Oh, I bet you’ll get way better at it even than you already are, once the rest of your feathers grow in!  Then you can swoooop and dive and dance in the clouds!”

    His delight was quickly erased by confusion and disgust though, when she mentioned growing in her mom’s tummy.  “What?!  Ew, did she eat you?  Gross!”  He shot a wary look at Miss Rowyn’s-Mom, sidestepping behind his friend in case the bigger lady did eat foals, because he did not want to be next on the menu.  Oh wait, except she was okay.  He cocked his head at Rowyn, glanced between her and her mom with horrified fascination.  “My mom found me after the storm-man set me down, so I already had eyes.  And yeah, Mom’s from the Deserts, and I think she’s at home still, maybe?  It was too shocky and the sand was sticking to my most of me, and I sort of just…ended up here?  I think I could probably find back though, maybe.  I prob’ly left enough sand behind that I could just follow my trail back.”

    Rune’s storm-grey eyes lit up when Rowyn said he could touch her wings, and all mention of sand and deserts and moms was immediately gone as he reached out his nose to touch the soft feathers that let her soar high up in the air.  “Ooooooh, they are soft!  I was right!  Oh, and I dunno, dry air and scratching makes the lightning build up on my skin ‘til it crackles and zaps stuff.  Well that and if I’m mad or excited or whatever, and it makes my hair all sticky-uppy too.  How d’you read minds—oh! Is that the tickly feeling in my head?”

    A flick of his ears as the tickling feeling came back had him catching the bit Miss Rowyn’s-Mom was saying about needing a home, and he perked up.  “You could come live in the desert with me and my mom and my sister, Miss Darking, ma’am!  I mean, if you don’t mind sand.”  Then he could play with his Rowyn-friend all the time, and he bet Ellie would like her too!  “I bet you could come too if you wanted, Mister Sky-Man.  We could all play together!”
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    #9

    It was impossible not to eavesdrop on the foal’s conversation. Jason was amused by the discussion of flight. Though Jason didn’t need wings to fly, he often grew them when he decided to travel in such a way. It felt far more natural to flap feathered wings and glide along the wind.

    The discussion turned for a moment and the colt spoke of his mother from the Deserts, yep, Jason had assumed correctly. The description of the colt’s father was strange, but to be honest the little one didn’t seem completely developed yet. All of his current descriptions were left a little wanting anyway. Either way it was easy for the two foals to catch Jason’s concern. Youth brought about such innocent conversation, and reminded Jason of their vulnerability.

    When Rowyn tapped into Rune’s mind, Jason could sense the release of magic. He himself smirked and looked to the filly, ”Your mothers right, it isn’t nice to enter heads without permission” Jason had to concentrate a bit more than usual to enter the small ones mind- he had definitely grown rusty.

    Jason then looked back to the mother and nodded his head at the introductions. ”My name is Jason. It is a pleasure to meet you.” The young colt once again stole the conversation away from the adults and invited the trio to his home. It was clear to the stallion that the Deserts would make a far better match for the mom and daughter pair than the Gates. Rowyn needed relationships with ones her own age- the Gates could barely offer a sanctuary at the moment. ”Well thank you for the invitation, but I believe I’ll be staying with the Gates a bit longer.” Jason spoke more assuredly now. ”I think the Deserts would be a good home for you two.” He looked to the pair. ”Perhaps I’ll come visit some time, if you wouldn’t mind that.” Jason needed to venture to the Deserts sometime and checking in on the three would be a good excuse. Jason was trying to make a change- whoever he connected with he wanted to stay involved in one-way or another.
    jason
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    #10

    good gone girl,
    she’s got nothing left to lose


    The boy is just so enthusiastic!  Darking can’t help herself, and chuckles out loud as the boy rambles excitedly about flying.  It’s been a point of irritation for her daughter that her skill at flying is taking so long to improve, and she likely won’t appreciate Rune’s attempts at comforting.  She does, however, seem to appreciate the general attention the boy is giving her, something that Darking is still finding amusing.  Along with the fact that the boy seems rather poorly informed on the facts of life.

    “Noo!  Of course not!”  Rowyn snorts derisively.  “She and my daddy got together and maaade me in her tummy.  That’s how babies happen, silly!”  She prods at him gently with her nose.  “Don’t you know anything?”  Her little mismatched eyes widen skeptically when he starts talking about ‘storm-man.’   “What do you mean storm-man?  And mom’s don’t find you, they give birth to you.”  Her voice drops conspiratorially low, as if letting him in on a secret.  “Out of their butts!”

    Darking is so taken aback she can’t hold it in.  She lets out a loud guffaw.  “Oh sweetie, that’s not quite how it works.  And some mom’s can find their children.  We’re going to need to have a conversation about this a little later.”  Clearly Rowyn remembers a little of her own birth … just not any of the finer details.  “Perhaps we should accompany you back home Rune.  I think your mother would like to know that you’re safe.”  But the conversation has already returned to Rowyn’s wings, as the girl is flaring them out for Rune’s easy viewing pleasure.

    Of course, their conversation changes again just as quickly.  “Lightning builds up on your SKIN?!”  The black filly peers in closer to Rune’s coat, as if she’s expecting to see lightning there at this very moment.  “Show me!”  She leans back, as if expecting to get suddenly zapped.  “Yeah, that’s what that is!  Mom says I’m probably immortal too, but I can’t really show you that.”  She freezes suddenly and turns to the blue-grey stallion, head cocked to the side.

    (“Cooooool.  You can talk in people’s heads too!”)

    Rune of course has missed the little exchange, and is speaking again, offering Darking and Rowyn a home, much to Darking’s surprise.  She is even further surprised that Jason agrees the Deserts would be a better fit.  He’s right of course, the mythical kingdom likely would be better for the two of them, especially with a child that Rowyn is already getting along with so well.  But to have a recruiter admit to that is unusual.  Granted, he hasn’t exactly been the usual recruiter.  “That sounds lovely Rune.”  Her green eyes turn to Rowyn, though she already knows what the answer will be.  “What do you think Rowyn?”  The little black filly nods sternly, trying not to show too much excitement.  “Sure.”

    Smiling, she turns back to Jason.  “It's been a pleasure to meet you as well! And of course we wouldn’t mind.  You’re welcome any time!”


    DARKING

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