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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


    searching for myself [Brennen, any]
    #11
    Ceil blue gaze scans the lush forestry for the source of the avian trills. Tufted lobes face forwards atop noble poll as limbs shuffle beneath young stallion. Raven-hued male keeps pace alongside grandsire until the pair reach the shade of a looming tree. Rubbery labrums curve into a soft smile as one of the singing, plumed birds nests in Brennen’s tresses. Attention redirects to mahogany male as he speaks, Jesper thoughtfully processing his words. A nod of poll indicates his understanding of male’s guidance before ebony equine gathers his thoughts to respond. Level tone emits from parted mandible as gaze shifts to match honey-eyed masculine’s gaze. “I am not sure I could handle the heat here in Ischia though, the company is splendid.” Smile spreads over lips as stallion directs attention to the feathered friend studying him.
     
    “Having said that, I think it would be in my best interest to pledge allegiance to an alliance of Ischia. That way, I will at least have you as a resource. Of course, you will have me, as well." Jesper pauses for a moment before continuing, "I am captivated by the great forest that lies between here and, the Plains; the inland forest with the permanent, fiery canopy. Perhaps, it is because I have called the Forest home for so long, but it draws me in. Do you know what it is called?”

    @[Brennen]
    Reply
    #12
    hold me in this wild, wild world
    'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
    Sometimes, he is a contradiction. At least, a contradiction to those who don’t pay attention to more than just the rumors. Because of course, the rumors are that he is a famed fighter, a fierce warrior, and they are not exactly wrong. He has cultivated this reputation for himself, by staying in general remote from the rest of the populace except for when he stages himself in great battles and shows off his fighting prowess; the gladiator battles, the alliance, protecting the Tundra, the war with the Valley. He actually minimizes the number of regular battles he fights, to keep the rumors greater than reality.

    The reality is that love is the driving force behind almost all of his actions. It was love for his father, and a desire to please him, that had led the boy of Brennen’s youth to enter the gladiator tournament at the tender age of three, and emerge closer to the top than anyone would have expected. Love for his Tundra, the family he was building there, had made him strive to be the top of his game from that point onward. And the circle of people he cared about grew, his reputation grew, and he used it as a weapon to keep them safe. He took no pleasure in hurting others, but he would not allow his people to be hurt.

    Watching him in his element – as very few did – made his relatively gentle temperament clearer to those who were paying attention. Such as now, when he ambled through a jungle carrying a brightly colored parrot on his back, deliberately helping her stay balanced as she groomed him. It was also clear to anyone who paid attention to the way Brennen doted on children – his own, and others’. He keeps an ear flicked towards his grandson, and nods when he is finished. “The forest Kingdom is Sylva,” he looks towards where the mainland would be, where the continued autumn forest lies far inland. A part of him balks against sending the boy away; it’s not a small part of him that still longs to keep his sons and grandsons close.

    A large part of Brennen still belongs to the Brotherhood, but he has not and will never force his children into the life he has chosen. “I don’t know much about it, but their current Queen is also said to be an aspiring warrior.” He smiles at Jesper again, a knowing glint in his bright eyes. “I am sure she would be glad to have another warrior join their ranks, especially one who will work hard to become even better.”
    hold me in this wild, wild world
    and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
    BRENNEN
    Reply
    #13
    The obsidian male listens carefully to grandsire’s words and, feels a pulse of excitement coursing through his veins. Sylva! The word on the wind is that a warrior leads the forest kingdom, too. Nuchal ligament of crest tightens to arch neck a bit while Jesper explores the possibilities within his cranium. He could start out as a brave squire and, train to become a noble knight! Maybe even become her valiant commander! Poll tosses in an effort to shake prematurely grandiose thoughts from mind. Crest uncoils to  bring poll and muzzle back into a relaxed position. Directing light blue gaze back to mahogany stallion, Jesper notes his genuine smile and, twinkle in his eyes. A thought then comes over the young steed, pushing out his own personal agenda. How did he become Brennen – this magnificent warrior that stands so gallant and, strong-willed?
     
    The question spurs enough interest for black bronc to ask. Although, he begins with a well-thought out topic, he finds it hard to contain himself and, soon finds his tongue moving faster than his brain. “I feel as though we have only talked about me. Please, Grandsire, I would very much like to learn more about you. Where were you born? Who were your parents? What is your greatest accomplishment? What is your biggest mistake? What do you fear? What has Beqanna taught you?” He stops himself here, conscious that his questions might be too invasive. Weight shifts off right hindleg as Jesper prepares himself for more conversation. Quite honestly, he hopes for a story of grandeur to be admired; and, aspire to. Settling back, male awaits mature male’s memoir with an intensifying curiosity.

    @[Brennen]
    Reply
    #14
    hold me in this wild, wild world
    'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
    Youth is an exhausting thing. While Brennen has always been an old soul, and age has taught him even more to conserve his energy (every move counts, every movement is calculated and precise, rarely does he frolic or cavort anymore), Jesper is like a coiled spring beside him, contracting and expanding and nearly bouncing with contained energy. Still, they cover ground quite nicely, and Brennen subtly directions their walk to wind deeper into the jungle, sure in his path but in no rush to get there. He usually goes by air – it’s one of the few places where the canopy opens up enough to allow him easy air access – but he has the foot-path memorized as well.

    The birds have decided they aren’t as interesting as they had the potential to be, and drifted away to higher branches where they are less distracting with their chatter. They still follow along the same path, but at a distance. All except Brennen’s little friend – but even she has fallen silent, seemingly drowsing from her perch upon his crest. Not to disappoint now with a lack of interest or energy, the boy follows up after digesting Brennen’s advice with a veritable stream of questions; the older stallion lets him run himself quiet before he says anything, holding in a laugh but only at the greatest effort. He still exhales on what can only be called a chuckle, because mirth at the refreshment of Jesper’s enthusiasm is hard to keep to himself.

    “Well, I was born on the Beach,” he answers, and that at least the boy should be familiar with. It was one of the lands that had not changed between the old and new Beqanna; the fae had left the beach and its collection of ghosts and the dead alone. It was not a particularly nice place to be born, or to grow up, but it had been Brennen’s home. “I didn’t know my mother – her name was Green with Envy, but she either died when she left me at the Beach, or has disappeared so thoroughly that no one ever saw her again.” When he was very little, Brennen wondered about his dam, but has rarely though about her in the last hundred years or so. She simply doesn’t factor into his life. “The crows that frequented the Beach took me on as part of their flock, and I lived with them on the Beach for about a year. Then I went looking for my father, Texas. He was King of the Bachelor Kingdom, the Tundra, and so I settled there with him, and that was where I lived until the lands shifted and the Tundra ceased to exist.”

    Much as he never thinks of his mother, he often forgets he was once a Prince, amongst the many other titles he has held since. And Texas – he does not know how to describe Texas, so he doesn’t try. He had – does – love his sire, but he no longer idolizes the man the way he had when he had been so young. He considers the next question – his greatest accomplishment? There are many bright points in his life, he supposes those will have to do. “As far as achievements go, well, I entered my first huge tournament when I was barely three, the Gladiator tournament which was much like an Alliance except perhaps even more blood thirsty. Nobody expected much, but there was an opening to represent the Tundra, so they let me go. Imagine their surprise when I was third overall,” The flash a grin there has more of an edge than anything he’s shown Jesper so far; a hint that Brennen can be fiercer than his laid-back rumbling usually gives any hints of. “A few decades later I was also able to represent the Tundra in an Alliance tournament, and took fourth there, which was reasonably well.” It was better than “reasonable” to be fourth out of 18 contestants, but he has always thought he should have done better… “Actually, your mother edged me out of top three placings, taking third herself.” He smiles at the boy again, pride for his lost daughter very clear in his face. Bethanie had been the closest to him, in terms of raw skill.

    “But, perhaps more important was the many years I was able to serve the Tundra as General. I trained a lot of fighters to protect the Tundra, or go on and protect their own Kingdoms. That was a greater accomplishment, a greater good, than simply winning battles of my own. That and truly being able to defend others – more than just defending a Kingdom’s honor, or just proving it has capable warriors and it’s not an easy target, fighting in a real war is a totally different beast.” All humor has fled from the warrior’s ageless face and he is quiet for a few moments as they walk, the roar of the waterfall they are approaching starting to sound in their ears. “That is the greatest fear I have ever known. Watching my brothers, and my friends, and my children walk into a war I knew not everyone would walk away from. But I couldn’t ask them not to go, because they had every right to fight against evil just as I did.” Brennen can see them as he says this – his brothers, furious at the massacre that had led to the war; his lover, a formidable magician but he feared for her just the same; his son Cagney, not a fighter and hopelessly in love with a girl on the other side; little golden Nylee, Queen of the Falls and with no business in the midst of a mock battle, much less a war; Bethanie fighting off blood-crazed wolves to save Nylee, her younger half-sister, and Brennen caught up with his own fight too far off to come to their aid. Morphine and Beth had saved Nylee in the end, but Morphine had not reached them in time to save Bethanie. “That war took your mother from us. She took injuries defending her Queen and half-sister that not even the magic of their healing waterfall could cure. You must have been born just before that war, or before she passed on from her injuries.”

    He looks over at Jesper as he says this, and he’s led them so close to the waterfall that the overspray reaches them. The bird on his back chirps a sleepy objection, and burrows deeper into his mane. They both take a quiet moment, Brennen turning from the boy to stare into the tumbling water as if it is a long-lost friend. Bethanie was always going to go before him, because she was mortal like her mother, but she should have died of old age, not brutal war. Knowing she did not live a full, long life leaves an ache in him that he cannot ignore like he can some of those who lived to a ripe old age. “This reminds me of their waterfall. The Dazzling Waterfalls.” Even the name brings a small smile back to his eyes. “They loved that Kingdom so, your mother’s family. Almost as if it was a living creature, and not just a place to live. Some of them said it even spoke to them, in their hearts and souls. They served it for all of my lifetime, some seven or eight generations. Beginning with your great-great-great-great grandmother, I believe, and all the way down to what would have been your…hmm…first cousin once removed, Nairne, who was still serving the Falls when the Kingdoms disappeared. And perhaps her brother, Rhonen, though he was quite young when it happened.” His mind wanders for a moment because there is a chance, actually, than Rhonen is still alive. Possibly even still a relatively young man – a cousin Jesper could get to know. But he can’t be sure, so he pushes the thought away for further research. “That might be my biggest regret,” he sighs, staring again at the waterfall. “I fell in love with your grandmother Neraza, but I never let myself tell her, and she fell in love with another who became her King and life companion. There have been other loves in my life, of course, you don’t live to this age without them, but I will never know what Neraza and I might have had, if I had been willing to admit my love for her.”

    There’d been other circumstances, of course, reasons he’d been reluctant. How does one admit to loving a foreign Queen after she is banished from your own Kingdom, because she swapped out one of your children for another, and drove a huge wedge between yourself and the mare you thought you loved? Politics had prevented them from even acknowledging each other for enough years that she’d already found Edmond; and it would have been the lowest of the low to try and get between the two of them when they were so clearly in love and so well matched; both mortals who would live and die the same lifetimes.

    “Beqanna has taught me…everything,” he wants to roll his shoulders, is halfway through going to do so when he remembers his passenger and stills, settle for shifting his wings instead, trying to find a better way to phrase it. “The good things and the hard things.”
    hold me in this wild, wild world
    and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
    BRENNEN


    ooc; I'm so sorry this is not a post it's a novel /hides/
    Reply
    #15
    Ceil blue gaze studies his grandsire’s facial expressions as he waits for his story to begin. Jesper’s day begun as a mystery and, at first, overwhelmed him greatly. How could he possibly grow comfortable in Beqanna if, she led a lost boy on an out-of-this-world adventure? Alas, the discovery of his mother’s sire seemed to restore the black’s faith. Perhaps, Beqanna knew what she was doing after all. This gesture on his behalf convinces the stallion not to fear the unknown. He could not fathom living in a state of dread. No, he vows that, whatever Beqanna holds in store for him, he will embrace it. This, newfound confidence adds a lightness to each footfall as young steed marches alongside mature mahogany male. A single whuff escapes nostrils in anticipation as story begins. Fur-lined lobe closest to Brennen faces him to capture every word while other lobe pricks forward. Jesper hangs on every word in revered silence. A pang strums raven steed’s heart as he learns that elder male grew up without his mother also. At least he got to meet his father. Jesper attempts to recall what he could about his own sire but, drawing a blank, he makes a mental note to ask about him later.
     
    Although Brennen does not offer much more about his own father, Texas, Jesper detects a tone of respect that stems from love. The obsidian stallion watches as grandsire’s tone shifts. The moment he begins the tale of his conquests, Jesper notes his pride. However, he expresses admiration for his daughter as well – Jesper’s own mother. With this knowledge, the raven steed finds comfort in his choice to pursue becoming a warrior. Jesper heeds Brennen's next words carefully. With Brennen’s next sentences, onyx male understands the importance of becoming so much more than just a good fighter. In order to truly find fulfillment and, his purpose, Jesper would need to dig deep. He must stand tall and, strong. He needs to influence others for a cause that he believes in. He would need to inspire and motivate them. Of course, the life of a warrior runs the risk of saying goodbye before you are ready. To Jesper, it seemed as though this was his mother’s fate. She did die valiantly though. The youthful black supposes that, should mother and son share this fate, he would meet death willingly.
     
    Light blue gaze takes in the magnificent cascade before them now. He could see why Ischia would be so attractive to his grandfather: a shoreline, like that of the Beach and, a waterfall, which captures the bay’s heart like his children and, grandchildren. Gaze shifts from the captivating plummet of water to honey orbs of his grandfather. His words carry the weight of his emotion with each syllable and, Jesper can sense that Brennen dearly misses that part of his life. A sigh escapes nares as a wave of sadness washes over raven bronc. He soon refocuses and, realizes that Brennen’s tale wraps up with one last sentence. Jesper stands in silence for a moment, unsure of what would be appropriate to say. He then decides to start with the obvious.
     
    “Thank you for indulging me, sir. I hope I did not cause you any pain in asking you to stir up those memories. I would have very much liked to see the Tundra or, the Falls. Alas, I am grateful for the sacrifices of the generations before me. I hope Beqanna continues to show me her ways. I plan to explore each kingdom in search of any living kin. I promise to stay in touch with you, of course.” Stepping slightly closer to winged warrior, whiskered muzzle stretches out to place a gentle nudge on his shoulder. After all, Brennen took time away from his duties to welcome Jesper and, answer his many questions. This certainly is not goodbye but, the raven male felt the need to acknowledge elder's many gestures of kindness before setting out.


    @[Brennen]
    OOC: I am sorry for keeping you waiting! And, for wrapping up this thread. If you want to continue, Jesper can definitely stick around <3
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