"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
The scent was buried in his nose, lodged there and trapped. He could still smell it now even as he passed the border and into home. Not the blood, though there’d been plenty of that - blood was nothing startling. Their scents. A man and a woman, if either could be called such after what he’d just left. His companion had taken care of it after they both surveyed the place as wolves. She was probably still taking care of it now as he split away before it was done to find Jinju.
But it wasn’t Jinju that caught his eye, his blood still crashing through his veins in a tempered wrath, the damn scents clinging stubbornly in his nose as if he could ever forget them. His face was set, still processing the scene he'd left behind, at the needless cruelty done to an innocent child. Hard, ice-bright eyes slid to Aten just as the golden man also passed the border a ways down from him.
”Aten.” His eyes warmed for this man that was more a son to him than his own was, and he angled to greet him. ”Wow, you look…” His gaze took him in, finally home from so long training and fighting. He could swear Aten, already so fit, had built even more muscle since the last time they’d seen each other. ”Thicker,” he finished with a chuckle, stepping in to give him a brief hug then giving him space again.
”How have you been?”
Oh, yes. He'd almost forgotten about that, his mind on other things, and took another step back so Aten could see him better. His coat was completely different now, the proud coloring of a grey wolf replacing the black and purple leopard. His face and legs were still dark, and those eyes were still the same honest, arctic blue. He tilted his head a little, an easy half-smile in the corner of his mouth and dark forelock falling to the side.
The change had not been his choice, but he couldn't deny that it suited this particular Alpha quite well now that he'd come to terms with it being permanent. Plus, he still got to keep his purple, trailing down the fur of his spine like the dorsal stripe of a buckskin.
Every bit a wolf in a horse's body, he watched Aten curiously for his thoughts on it.
The afternoon sun glazed down on the forest below that stretched across Taiga's border line, casting a heavy covering of shadows beneath the trees. However, among the darkness of the forest, a single shape moved, the animal's coat color effectively matching that of the sun's rays. His dam even used to joke that he had a brighter coat than her, and would one day outshine the sun when he stood proud in his position of leadership. She had far too much faith in him, for a leadership was anything but what Aten wanted for his life.
After his time away from the Taiga, the place he'd come to love as his home, he was more than happy to return and greet the friends he had left behind that day. Even though Aten had no desire to become a warrior, or at least a horse that strived for battle every minute of the day, when he'd heard tale of the gladiator fight in Nerine's border, his interest had been piqued. It wasn't a show of who was the most superior warrior in order to gain some sort of prize. Rather, it was simply a test, a way for horses to determine their own skills and try to better themselves so they could defend anything and everything from their family to their homes to the kingdoms that so generously allowed them to live within their borders.
Aten had gone there with the goal to better his own fighting style, having learned a lot in his time away. He'd also gone there in search of potential kingdom members he could pry information out of, perhaps about the diplomatic states of other kingdoms to see if they might be open to an alliance. Everyone had gotten absorbed in the gladiator fight, however, so Aten had put that matter out of his mind for the time being and focused on the matter at hoof.
After many hours of hard fighting and supplying great skill, the gladiator fight had ended. Aten did not care if he had been deemed victorious or not, only that he was still alive in the first place, could return home to continue practicing, and perhaps also show that the Taiga was not as helpless as some, if any of the other fights there at all, might think. He made his way back home, slowing every so often to rest. He didn't have any serious injuries from the gladiator match, but it had taken a toll on the stallion. There was also the matter of the burn scars on his pasterns.
To this day, Aten hadn't told Jinju where they had come from, simply because he did not want the guilt to weigh down on her. She was already busy raising her colt and dealing with the father, along with any tension that might have built up between him and Ruan. Aten had seen the colt shortly after he'd been born, but had kept his space from the family. Even if he had a close friendship with Ruan, and was friends with Jinju, the business with the colt was not Aten's own. He was not their blood relative, so he felt he had no right to intrude on their family matters. Mainly the reason why he also hadn't properly met the colt yet.
A light at the edge of the trees told Aten that he was nearing the inner edges of the border, and, tilting his head in so his forelock shielded his brown eyes from the harsh sunlight, the stallion took in a breath of air, enjoying the fresh smells that he so enjoyed when here in the Taiga, his home.
His moment of peace did not last forever though, for another's presence soon joined the golden stallion's. Catching the other horse's scent, Aten turned his head, his long dark mane falling down the right side of his neck. For a moment, even though the other horse said his name, the golden stallion almost didn't recognize his friend. But, seeing those familiar dark markings and icy blue eyes among the new coat style, Aten knew who it was.
Aten laughed good-naturedly as well as the older stallion stepped in to hug him. Aten almost hesitated, since he hadn't had any horse hug him since he'd been separated from his sister. But, not wanting to offend of disappoint the leader, he returned the display, albeit not as enthusiastically.
When Ruan stepped back, Aten lowered his head a little in respect for his leader, "I've been good. The time in Nerine was pleasant enough, and I brought with me a respectable amount of knowledge of how to improve my own skills in battle," he explained, smiling proudly as he thought of his past accomplishments.
However, at the same time, an uneasy feeling settled in Aten's gut. He wasn't expecting any horse to come and enthusiastically greet him like a long lost relative, but the Taiga seemed more quiet than usual right now. His brown eyes scanned the terrain, the pit in his gut deepening. Should he alert Ruan of this? But the stallion has been here more frequently than he has, so surely he must know more.
Aten plastered his smile back on his face, wanting to see how this conversation would go before he jumped to any conclusions. "The winds of Beqanna have changed Ruan; it seems there are more members here, new ones. Has there been some recent recruiting from the Field, like how Loey returned with me one day?"
”I’ve been good. The time in Nerine was pleasant enough, and I brought with me a respectable amount of knowledge of how to improve my own skills in battle.”
He smiled warmly back, enjoying the pride in Aten’s eyes. He hadn’t had the time to train the golden stallion himself, even with Jinju and Aten’s help with looking after things, so he was extremely pleased that Aten’s endeavours had been successful for him. Maybe he would always feel the guilt though, as if he’d failed him in some way by not being the one to train him. Aten hadn’t seemed too disappointed then, and certainly was pleased now. Until his brown gaze drifted to the side and further into home.
Ruan’s head tilted as he watched him, his heart still thundering and chest tight from where he’d just come. The uneasiness shot from Aten and into him, and he turned to peer into home, too. He’d thought it had just been the tragedy he’d walked away from. It was, wasn’t it? There was no reason to fear for Taiga. He had only taken a day or so for himself, something he’s never done before. Not exactly willingly, either, but it ended well enough to make up for the disturbance in the pattern of his life.
”The winds of Beqanna have changed Ruan; it seems there are more members here, new ones. Has there been some recent recruiting from the Field, like how Loey returned with me one day?”
Loey. He’d meant to see her in private, but the mage had taken him away before he could. Maybe today, though. If she would see him.
His eyes came back to Aten, considering his words silently for a long moment. He and Jinju had been too preoccupied recently to search the homeless for possible Taigans; tending the forest, protecting the outskirts, and all while she was pregnant (putting out her sudden hormonal fires). Young Ander would be joining him soon when he does, though, once he’s old enough to leave his mother’s side for the day. At some point in all that, he was raising Polaris, though how he managed it was beyond him. He could only hope he was doing a decent enough job.
”No,” he responded evenly, ”Jinju and I haven’t had a chance to. I am just returning, too,” he shrugged. ”Perhaps Circinae has been busy?” Though, that seemed a tricky feat as well with young twins at her side, but women would always be better at multitasking than any man. He never took time to himself. He couldn’t imagine the one time that he did would end in disaster the moment he stepped out of Taiga for once in so many years.
Although... It might be strange that Jinju had not come to greet him yet, to relieve herself of Ander and Polaris now that he was home after being gone for far longer than any of them were used to. He frowned, tried to test the air but those goddamn scents were still clinging desperately in his nose. Something did seem a little different though. Maybe. Like their trees were straining, holding themselves deathly still when they should wave freely and whisper a soft breeze to skitter across the bed of pine needles.
"Find Circinae," he said quietly. "I'll find Jinju." The two women were the seniors of their Taiga when Ruan and Aten weren't available. They should know if something was amiss, or be busy putting a stop to it. He forced a careful smile to his lips. "It's really good to have you home. Did you meet Nayl while you were there?" he asked before Aten could split off, curious for the answer for his own reasons, but there was a weight to his question so Aten would know it was important.
So Aten's judgment was right; Ruan had been gone as of recently too. He knew that the leader was often not gone from Taiga for incredibly long periods of time, and when he was, he often put Jinju and Circinae in charge of supervising the residents and the kingdom to watch for signs of trouble. Aten was always nearby to help of course too, but the golden stallion had been in Nerine for some time prior to Ruan's return to Taiga, as he stated.
Was it this correlation of both Aten's and Ruan's departure that caused this change in the wind? Aten didn't have any position of power here, and he didn't think of himself as intimidating like other stallions with larger physiques or special gifts would. Perhaps whoever had come to Taiga during his departure had seen it as a prime opportunity, with the largely built golden stallion and Ruan gone, but Aten figured it had more to do with the now-gray stallion than himself.
Ruan seemed a bit absorbed in his own thoughts. Aten took his time to do some feeling of his own. The golden stallion stepped a bit closer to the trees, closing his eyes, tilting his head up, and putting his ears forward as he tuned everything else out and listened to the whispers of the forest. Though Aten had no gifts, he was often told by his dam he was just good at picking up on odd feelings in the environment around him. Aten had spent enough time in the Taiga to know when the trees' whispers were quieter than normal, and, as he took in a breath and smelled the changes on the wind, the forest was far too quiet for his own liking.
The trees were a part of Taiga, and would not cease to exist unless the entire region disappeared into the ocean like Pangea had so long ago. But it seems they were troubled by something; whoever had come to the Taiga had greatly upset the forest, and Aten did not like it.
Aten was drawn back from his thoughts when Ruan spoke up, assigning the golden stallion with the task of finding Circinae while the gray one himself went to look for Jinju. Understanding the importance of this matter, since the mare might have more information on what happened while the stallions were away, Aten nodded to the gray stallion and turned, preparing to head in the direction of the coastline. He knew Circinae had a hideaway there, but had purposefully not told her that he knew, nor any horse else for that matter; they just didn't need to know.
Before Aten could make his way, Ruan spoke up again, inquiring about Aten's time in Nerine for the gladiator fight. He noticed the smile on his leader's lips as he inquired, and Aten found himself giving a small corner smile as well as he replied.
"It is good to be home; the gladiator fight afforded me a lot of knowledge, but I did miss Taiga while I was away," he told the gray. "Unfortunately though, I did not have time to speak with Nayl," he said with disappointment, having picked up on the weight in Ruan's question. "After the fight was over, I did spent time in Nerine to try and speak with her, but no one was willing to reveal her whereabouts and I was unsuccessful in finding her on my own. If you would have it, I will return to Nerine after we find out from Circinae and Jinju what has changed on the winds here in Taiga, so that I can try and speak to Nayl again as you asked of me."
