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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


    Take what the water gave me; Amet, Tangerine
    #1

    -Oh my love, don't forsake me; Take what the water gave me-

    Sylva had been on her mind very much as of late. Though she’d only been there once, (and briefly at that) it still held onto her thoughts for a mixture of reasons. One, most importantly, being that Crevan had yet to return and prove her wrong about his abandonment. A sister was here, blood of his bones, growing and learning the way of the wolf without him. It left a bitter taste in her mouth. The other, which was the driving reason behind her purposeful stroll today, was that autumn would be upon Beqanna soon and with it came Gryffen’s illustrious celebrations.

    Gryffen.

    He amused her, as he often did, but this unsettling twist of character was just as much him as it was not him. The white wraith, host to debauchery and open to oddities even from the likes of his enemies? Now it was Circinae’s turn to be intrigued. “Amet!” She rings out, cutting off the stream of conciousness, “Tangerine?”

    Her sovereign was sure to be about; the scaled face of Hyaline never seemed quite content too far from his lake. His well-praised advisor, though? A name was all she had to cast in hopes of catching that elusive fish. Circinae could do little besides associate the terms Advisor and Tangerine together, she’d never even seen the afamed mare aside from their mutual gathering at Amet’s last Kingdom gathering.

    It was past time that changed. “@[Amet]? @[Tangerine]?” She tries again, easing gently to a stop.

    Circinae

    #2
    if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

    Gryffen had left Amet with a plethora of unanswered questions, but also with the promise of another discussion at Sylva's first (annual?) party. He fully intends to attend, with the hopes that Ciri will join him, but first he hopes for a conversation with Circinae. Perhaps she can shed some light on the shadows the white wraith had left behind; she had seemed to be on pleasant enough terms with the reigning leader of Sylva, but more importantly, he has grown to trust her and her judgement.

    It seems that the water-wolf has a similar idea. Her lilting voice carries over the leafy trees and Amet heeds her call, heading swiftly towards his crystalline lake. He has a surprise for her, as well, but business first. Especially in light of Sylva's return to glory.

    The Dragon King pulls away from the trees and whinnies a greeting to the emerald mare. His swift trot slows to a comfortable walk and he flashes a smile at Circinae. "You have interesting friends," he says in jest as he comes to a halt before the wolf shifter, his amber eyes turning from her to sweep over the calm surface of the lake. "Do you believe he can be trusted?" the gilded King questions quietly as his mind continues to mull over the conversation with Gryffen.

    He longs for Hyaline to be safe, above all else. He has interest in power and in being powerful, but it would mean nothing if he could not offer a sanctuary to those who decided to join him. It makes him think of Heda, in Loess... she had been regal, but almost cold. Did they have other allies? Or would they be targeted? And would Amet want to loan his own people, risk their own lives, should she be overrun? His lips droop into a frown and he sighs in frustration.

    "A party will be a nice distraction," he muses quietly to the moss-colored mare.
    Amet


    @[Circinae] @[Tangerine]
    #3

    -Oh my love, don't forsake me; Take what the water gave me-

    The quick distraction of Amet’s answering call jerks the lithe pony-mare to a sudden halt. She dances on light forehooves, turns quickly about to face him from where he advances, and suppresses her disappointment in the fact that Tangerine would not be joining them. The curious mare had piqued her interest from the start - it would have been a pleasure to speak with her. “Tang has her reasons, chin up.” She tells herself, smiling warmly at Amet’s lighthearted jest.

    “Interesting times make for interesting bedfellows.” She returns, watching with rapt attention as he casts a sidelong glance over the undisturbed lake. His question is pointed - for good reason; the fate of all the lives kept here, in Hyaline, rests on his shoulders. Circy has seen the way a crown can add new lines to the face, or bring about a sense of impregnability, immortality. It’s never an easy burden to carry. But, he trusts her enough (after so little time together, too) that this interaction doesn’t shake her, not in the least bit.

    “I think the odds are stacked in our favor.” She replies after a moment’s pause, “Forget about trust, if we’re being open now - you and I. Forget about trust, Amet. You can’t trust anyone aside from yourself.” Circy cements. It sounds harsh, especially from her. How could she deny her infallible dependence on Canaan and Jah while simultaneously urging him away from such blind trust? “Horses … they’ll come and go from your life. Love, pain, sadness; all fleeting.” She begins slowly, extending her viridian nose to bump against his scaled shoulder.

    “But you’ve always known yourself, and trusting in that has gotten you here. When you broke hold with Nerine, it was a decision of your own making - and a good one at that.” She pauses, “Your people, my people, we all believe in you, and so does Gryffen, or else he wouldn’t have bothered wasting his time.”

    It was true, the lot of it. Amet has held his shaky throne and turned it from a sanctuary into an empire. Now young and old alike would rest easy beneath his watch and sleep soundlessly from the chain links of allies he was constructing. “I don’t think the question really hovers over Gryffen, does it? We both knew the answer. You worry about Loess.” She guesses loosely, all too aware of how pivotal that little hilly kingdom had become in this turmoil of succession.

    “If you think me capable, let me handle Heda. I knew her … once.” She drifts, her own eyes now darting away to the surface of the lake. “It all hangs over whether you want to keep her close, or cut her loose.”

    Circinae



    @[Amet]
    #4
    if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

    Amet's inquiry is heavy, he knows, and the answer it yields will probably not be a simple yes or no. So when Circinae pauses to consider what has been presented to her, the leather-plated King waits patiently. His bright amber eyes watch the calm surface of the lake until the water wolf breaks the silence between them. He is attentive as she speaks, considering every option, but can't help the way his lips take a downward turn when the moss-colored mare tells him to forget about trust. It seems lonely to keep everyone at arm's length. And exhausting.

    All he has ever wanted is for others to trust in him.
    And to find someone to place his own trust in.

    Amet thinks of Jah-Lilah and her words on love. His mind drifts to Ciri, then, and the trust he has in her. He thinks of Offspring, Warrick, Tang. He thinks of his siblings. How could he keep himself from trusting in them when that's how he wants them to see him? He sighs quietly, the sound born of frustration and fatigue, but when Circinae nudges gently at his scaly shoulder, his lighthearted demeanor returns.

    He flashes a smile at her, proud that his decision to separate Hyaline from Nerine had not gone unnoticed across Beqanna. He has a strong ally in Tephra now and, as Circinae has aptly noticed, a less-than-strong ally in Loess. A quiet chuckle breaks from his muzzle, though the options that his emerald companion has proffered do pique his interest. Amet mirrors her, his own gaze turning towards the lake for a moment before he tosses his head to motion across the lake. "I'd like to show you something," he says casually before pivoting his narrow frame and walking leisurely towards the western side of the crystalline basin.

    As they walk, Amet considers her offer. There is truth in her statement - he worries, but not about Heda or Loess. "It's actually Tephra that I worry about. Offspring is a strong and capable ally, but I know this does not remove him from Gryffen's potential targets. I do not want Hyaline stuck between a warring Tephra and Sylva." Amet is fond of Offspring and of the friendship they have fostered. He could not (and would not) rebuff the molten King for the chance at a new alliance.

    A truce, though... That could do.

    "I don't doubt your capability, Circinae," he says with a hint of humor, "So yes, I would like for you to meet with Heda. I trust that you will make the right decision in terms of our future relationship with Loess." Color him curious, the young King is almost excitedly anxious to find out what the emerald mare has in mind for the hills that sit just beyond Hyaline's southern border.

    They come to heel along the western treeline, just in view of the lake. Before them grows the sapling redwood tree that Kolera had planted only a few days prior to this conversation. It's nearly six feet tall now, coaxed to grow quickly by the bay mare's new powers. His lips twitch into a smile as he turns his amber eyes to Circinae. "It's like the trees of Taiga, yes? It was a gift from Kolera. A symbol of Hyaline's rebirth, of sorts." He pauses, mulling over his thoughts briefly as his gaze moves back to the tree that is so different from the rest of his home's topiary. "I'd like for you and your tribe to name it. And when you come back from Loess, I hope you will consider replacing Tangerine as my Advisor."
    Amet


    @[Circinae]
    #5

    -Oh my love, don't forsake me; Take what the water gave me-

    The hard turn of his stare from contemplation to … perhaps bitterness? doesn’t go unnoticed by the smaller mare. “Let him mull over it.” Circinae thinks, unwilling to explain the finer matter of her advice because Amet does not ask it of her. Let fate and time be the ones to explain, then. Trust is withheld, always for her - though it doesn’t mean she keeps others away because of it. Quite the opposite, actually! She alone decides who comes close and who stays away; this is where intuition and self-awareness become the first shields against grave missteps. Trust, the tender blossom, comes after; given and received by mutual parties who choose to allow each other in.

    You needn’t trust someone to fuck them, she knows this. It simply becomes a byproduct of choosing to pick the right sort of partner. Alliances, relationships, family units - all are applicable to these guiding laws of life, (for her, at least) and so she holds her tongue and listens while Amet entices her to follow at his heel.

    He’ll just have to trust in what she’s told him, she guesses, moving languidly forward until the two are comfortably on their way. “And that isn’t mentioning quiet Ischia, or even Nerine.” She chimes in with a sigh, puzzling over the oddity of Hyaline’s situation. “Gryffen’s coming was due on my part. I never intended for you to get stuck between a rock and a hard place, so for that I’m sorry -” She frowns, peering around them curiously as their path turns shaded with sparse growth. “- but I do believe him to be a flexible sort of individual.”

    They walk, the moment stifled into silence by quiet contemplation, and then the shore turns away from them. Amet speaks again. “Let’s just hope Heda can make good decisions too, yea?” She laughs lightly. He shouldn’t worry - that much was true; Circinae’s mind had never been more focused.

    That is, until he stops them at the treeline.

    Her eyes, so calculating and bright, twist away to rake over the familiarly-colored bark and Circinae gasps just barely. “It’s like the trees of Taiga, yes?” He asks her, the skyward tilt of her chin guiding her up all six feet of its impressive height. Redwood, just as she remembered. Her nose twitches, shifts to a more canine appearance. She presses it flush to the groove of heady wood and inhales, fighting back the surge of tears that threaten to break free once she withdraws again.

    Her head pivots, she’s left staring at Amet with incredulous silence.

    “I hope to make Hyaline proud.” She manages at last, finding nothing better to repay him the kindness he’s given to her, tenfold.

    Circinae

    #6
    if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

    "If Kerberos still leads Ischia," Amet confesses to Circinae, "then we are on good terms. His daughter and I are friends," and Kerberos cares for his family more than he cares for anything else. It has been nearly a year since the leather-plated stallion had had a chance to visit the lavender family. Perhaps he is overdue for another visit. "Nerine, though... I don't believe I would be incorrect to say that our relationship is rocky, at best. Something that I'd like to amend in the future." Amet had never wanted to end on bad terms with Nayl, but it was the price he paid for an important decision, one that he does not regret.

    The young stallion is still unsure of how to feel about an arrangement with Gryffen, even with the emerald mare's insight. It's a decision he will need to make soon, he knows, but perhaps one he will need to make on his own. And he does not fail to realize that potentially finagling with his alliance with Loess could leave him in need of another friend.

    "I hope that she can," he answers, and mirrors the water-wolf's chuckle. It's not much longer before they are standing in the company of the redwood. The Akhal-Teke doesn't expect Circinae to respond in the way that she does and he shifts uncomfortably for a moment before he realizes that it's a good reaction. He offers her a gentle smile, his amber eyes meeting with hers as she finally turns her incredulous gaze back to him. "You will," he says confidently, his chest puffed out in pride.

    "When do you plan to go?"
    Amet


    @[Circinae]
    #7

    -Oh my love, don't forsake me; Take what the water gave me-

    “After the festivities have simmered to a low heat.” She tells him, meaning Gryffen’s party. “If he truly went there just recently, as he says, I’ll want to give her a moment to compose herself. I imagine she must be shaken. He’s very good at doing that, you know.” She compliments offhandedly. Leave it to the white wraith to stir the pot before she can get a chance at adding some flavor. “Ah well,” She thinks with an outwardly expressed shrug, “Better him than me. Maybe this will soften her resilience against change.” Working situations to her advantage would be paramount if she expected the meeting to go well.

    And she did expect it go well.

    “A sleeping dog is best left undisturbed, Nerine isn’t quite so lost.” She encourages, glancing thoughtfully to her leader. Nayl and Amet went further back than she could account for. If her scaled monarch needed her input or wished for the situation to change, he would tell her as much. “And if you need a ride to Ischia, I’m at your service.” She chuckles, never forgetting the way that some horses still enjoyed slow-travelling to places. Best to at least give him the option, should he need it. He might even enjoy the head rush of time jumping …

    A thought occurs to her. They have the time, she’s just never had the opportunity. “Amet,” She says suddenly, tilting her body towards him with sparked interest. “Will you tell me a bit about yourself? I feel like I should know more about you, if I’m to represent your Kingdom in my travels.”

    They could walk and talk, if he chose, or they could stay beneath the slim shade of his newly unnamed redwood for all she cared. What seemed important now was allowing for Amet to give her glimpse into himself, and she would happily indulge in return if he asked. How could she advise him if she didn’t even understand him?

    Circinae



    @[Amet]




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