"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
Saedís is the archetype of youthful innocence – traipsing through the lands of Tephra like some silly girl; pearl-white and with flowers in her hair and laughter in her chest. Her body might have grown – but her heart is a girl’s heart. Adult was a title she carried in only the vaguest, more impractical manner imaginable. For is she not the same mare who only this morning had lain – splay-legged and laughing in the sand? Wasn´t she the mare who had initiated a game of tag with a random comrade, out of the sheer delight she found in running freely across the shore? Yes, she was the one who walked with the stars at her side, and she was the one who laughed too much, too often. She was not a mare, but a girl-child, dream-spun and sinless, and braided within her wind-combed mane was loyalty and truth.
Saedís could not tell you why she chose to approach the mare; dark-skinned like her volatile lover. But there ends the similarities; this mare is of sunshine and wildflowers. Saedís can sense a kinship to her – two carefree animals, with their manes in windswept tangles, sand on their hides and salt on their legs. Saedís was ever the compassionate and sweet creature and she wears the smile of a friend as she goes to greet this stranger; this mare who was so obviously child of these very shores, unlike Saedís. She did not care – or perhaps she simply did not notice – that her mane and tail were ensnarled with twigs and leaves, and mud now tarnished the pale flesh of her body.
”Hello” she chimes, bells on the wind ”I am Saedís”
In the tongue of her first home – Saedís literally means “Goddess of the sea”. But for creatures whose voices are the wind on a lonely night, or the river as it rushes past, names have more than just a meaning – they have emotion. Saedís most closely refers to distance. The word depicts the deities and their untouchable beauty, their near-intangibility. And she is so much the same as the sea that wove her very fiber that she could take on no other name. If Saedís was a title before, it is a name now, the very essence of her soul. Yes, she is Saedís. Of the sea. Born and raised by it.
Again, one little thing had been enough to make her hide. She knows it is stupid to let herself be influenced this easily by such a thing, and yet she had let it happen again. First she had tried to run, had fled to the forest, but in the end Amorette had wind up in Tephra again. After showing Mura around, she had thus slipped off in the darkness of the volcano’s many caves. Here she’d found the solitude she had been looking for.
Or had thought to be looking for. In truth, loneliness doesn’t fit the ebony woman at all. Amore thrives around others, where she can help, and laugh, and just live. And again she had let something small stand between her and just doing that. This time, too, Amorette swears to herself that it will be the last time.
Her stomach is rounder than before, a sharp eye would catch her pregnancy, where others might be kept oblivious for a little while longer. Amorette hadn’t told anybody, and unless Levi did, nobody knew yet. Something she preferred to keep that way for as long as she could. Does she regret the child? No, absolutely not, but does she regret the father? Perhaps. Only the future knows the answer to that. And it is not like he is around. The flaming male has left as quickly as he came back, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.
A chimed greeting makes her look up, surprised, and perhaps even a little startled. Her eyes are quick to find a pure white mare, and even before the mare introduces herself, Amorette knows who she was finally meeting: Saedìs. She finds herself smiling back, and lightly nodding her head.
”It’s nice to meet you, Saedìs. My name is Amorette.” Her words are genuine as she steps forward to offer the white mare her own dark nose. She would not force the exchange of scents upon Seadìs, leaving the other mare free to close the last bit of distance between them. It had been a while since the ebony mare had been this relaxed, calm and thriving in the presence of another just like her. Like instant falling in love; the instant companionship between them is thick: from Amore’s point of view. “Has Tephra been kind to you? You look good.”
What makes a home? A welcoming. The reverse of a goodbye. A hello. Something that told you there is warmth in a place, something that bids you to draw nearer. Something that may not have reason but instead calls to your instincts. Tephra, Saedís knew, held many things. Perhaps a haven for her erratic tendencies? Amorette is a study in sun-bright smiles and candid kindness and Saedís finds herself as at home with her as she does the Tephran shores.
Saedís observed; in her eyes, there was knowing – an almost eerie connection to this stranger-mare as she spoke soft unmistakable words. Her voice fell like honey in Saedís ears, soft and pungent, and Saedís offers her own pale nose in greeting – breathing in the essence that is Amorette – all cinnamon and spice, sugarcane and amaranth. Saedís thinks that the other is beautiful; poets would call her heartbreaking, but to the dreamers she was romantic. Saedís, pure-hearted and innocent and bereft of the confines of personal space and integrity lets her nose touch Amorettes, a small sign of friendship and affinity she has no real reason to feel but does anyway.
”Amorette” she smiles then; all birdsong and sea-spray. ”It suits you”
It was awhile then before she turned to answer the second question; it took her some time to gather her thoughts from the mountaintops and the stars – the nooks and crannies of which she had wandered in her solitude. And when she does reply, she is not looking at Amorette’s eye but rather inside; perhaps contemplating that the others’ eye be the doorway to her mind.
”I could not have wished for a better home. And what of you Amorette, how is Tephra treating you? I assume you have been here quite some time – tell me, please, of her secrets. What made you come here in the first place?” Saedís lilting voice treads upon the winds not to dance but tiptoe to her ear. There is unbridled curiosity in her eye; a thought, a dream, a whimsical ideal that the two mares share and are the same.
Her lips curl into a smile when Saedìs accepts her greeting. The white mare’s hot breath hits her sensitive flesh, and Amorette returns the favour. The exchange tells her more about Saedìs. Her scent tells of places Amore has yet to visit, and yet it is Tephran too. Aside from that she sees the gentle sweetness that is Saedìs. No pretence, no dishonesty, just Saedìs and the white mare is brave enough to show herself like that to Amore, who should be a stranger. Should be, but Amorette does not experience it as such either.
She smiles, and dips her head politely. ”You flatter me” she replies, smiling thankfully, voice light. ”And you? Are you as unbound and wild as the sea?” Free and unbound, yes, Saedìs came across as such, but wild and unruly? No, not per say.
It pleases her to hear that the pale mare is just as at home as Amorette herself. How could she not? Amorette loves Tephra, just as much as she loves that others do too. ”She has been good to me. I’ve felt at home here ever since I first set a hoof on her grounds.” The volcano, the equine, nobody had needed to convince her to stay. But it had been her father who opened this door to her.
”I was here when Beqanna changed..” The memory is not a pleasant one, though Amorette has never complained about it. Simply because she does understand. Beqanna has not always been a peaceful place. ”When I came to again, I heard rumours of my father being alive and well, and leading one of the new lands. That land was Tephra. He welcomed me home and ever since Tephra has been my home. Even after my father retired.”
If she only knew where Magnus was at now. She missed him, but at least she knew he had been safe and sound. That she could not say about her mother, and baby sister Posy. Amorette still hopes. But enough of those dark things, speaking of Tephra put a smile on her face, not a frown. ”As for her secrets, what is the fun of me spoiling them? Wouldn’t you much rather discover them yourself?” That is a genuine question. Amore enjoyed her exploration of Tephra, together or alone. And she would gladly accompany Saedìs on her own explorations.
Amorette
Quand on n'a que l'amour.
OOC: You have such a poetic way of writing Saedìs, is such a pleasure to read! Almost feel like I’m spoiling it with my scruffy reply <3.
The gentle smile never leaves her lips as Amorette speaks; and her seaglimmer eyes never leaves the others’ sunlit face. There was intrigue in their crystalline depths, the raw recesses of a dreamer’s soul, fearless and fateful. She was transparent before Amorette’s gentle eyes, vulnerable, carefree; and fearless. Saedís lips brim full of pleasantries and poetries which, today, could be neither ridiculous nor base in motivation. She is determined to preserve the candid grandeur of their tone, for she is tired of simple hellos and how are yous. Delighted as she might be to be introduced to strangers (compatriots now) she longs for more direct conversation; for less of the distancing formulas, for more worthy conversation and this is certainly a start.
Her laughter; waves along the shore and feather-light matches that of Amorette, and her own neck too curves in a small bow; a childlike imitation of Amorette’s, and her eyes dance with dreamlight.
”My mother certainly thought so” she jests, in response to Amorette’s first question. ”She named me after it”
She listens to the rest of the story; bright-eyed and attentive. Oh, there are few things Saedís likes more than the simple act of listening; the sharing of soul-pieces and dreams.
”Changed?” she echoes; curiosity sparkling in the sea-depth of her gaze. She means not to bring up painful memories, with her child-like innocence Saedís is oblivious to the cause and effect such questions can hold. There is so much she wants to ask; to know, about this kindred spirit with sunlight on her brow and passionate kindness in her eye. ”What happened to your father, if you don´t mind me asking.” her words are gentle on the sea-breeze – she means not to prod, and she certainly does not wish to plague her newfound friend with hurtful pieces of a past sometimes best left forgotten.
But Amorette does not linger on the subject; and Saedís is quick to follow in this dance of words and conversation. She laughs again; birdsong and star-glimmer.
”You are right! Some things are best experienced. I have yet to venture further into her heart. I must confess I haven´t strayed far away from the ocean’s side since I got here. Although I must confess I am quite curious of that volcano.”
@[Amorette] Nooo, don´t be silly - Amorette is adorable and I absolutely love them together <3
The air around them is light, and for the first time in a quite a while Amorette feels carefree. The white mare’s presence allows her to be herself, to drop the pretence, and she only realises the weight of her burden now she has dropped it from her shoulders – temporary.
She laughs softly, smiling at Saedìs jest. ”Did you prove her right?” Nevertheless, it is a beautiful name, but the name does not make the equine.
For a moment Amorette’s dark eyes study the pale mare, her head tilting a little to the side as she does. The simple question had told her that Saedìs hadn’t been around during the Reckoning. Not that she’d missed anything, but for someone who didn’t now the old Beqanna it might be hard to understand. However, she wouldn’t know if she didn’t at least try to explain. ”Beqanna used to be different.”
”There used to be different kingdoms, she used to be a whole different world for that matter. The general areas weren’t much affected, but everything else had. The fairies punished us for our wrath and greed. The Reckoning destroyed the kingdoms, our homes, and we were all magically transported to the Mountain. From there we rebuild Beqanna, under the fairies’ watchful eyes.”
There she pauses, her eyes moving to Saedìs’. There is a small smile on her lips, but it does not reach her eyes. It had been dark times. Amorette does not hold it against the fairies, very aware that they must have deserved it, but that didn’t make the loss any less painful.
”Some were quick to settle in this new world, my father one of them. I arrived later, and by then he – and others – had already build Tephra. He welcomed me home. Others never made it, or perhaps decided that this new Beqanna wasn’t for them.” Her mother was one of those. Ever since the Reckoning Amorette hadn’t heard of her, nor her baby sister. She could only hope that they were happy and safe, somewhere.
Saedìs question is met with a small smile. She shakes her ebony head, as to say she does not mind. ”He stepped down, decided it was time for the next ruler, and he slipped into the background to live the reminder of his life peacefully.” It had been a long while since Amorette had last seen him, but she’s okay with that. She knows he loves her and she knows he is content, things are good like this.
The glint that appears in her dark eyes can almost, almost, be called mischievous. She simply cannot help it at Saedìs mention of the volcano. As if to show disappointment she – playfully – shakes her dark head. ”You haven’t yet? Such a shame. Such a shame.” As she speaks, Amorette is grinning widely. There was so much of worth for Saedìs to discover about Tephra’s volcano. From learning about Pele, the goddess, to enjoy the heated pond at its base. And then Amore hadn’t yet mentioned the many caves or the view when climbing the volcano.
“I happen to have lived in, on and around the volcano.” Her words are met with a wink. Her gaze moves to the looming volcano, a smile tugging on the corners of her lips. Yes. The volcano very much made her home. ”It reminds me of the volcanic land in which I was born.”
Saedís brims with enthusiasm as she eyes the bright-eyed longing in the eyes of Amorette, in her soft words and sweetly-tilted head. Her own emotions; resting on the surface of her skin like salt on beach tumble and roil together with her companion – there is something, some ache in Amorette´s eyes that Saedís cannot help but want to ease. And she does so with a light touch of pale-white nose to black shoulder – for Saedís is a creature who says little, but who sees much. The melancholy in Amorette´s eyes has not gone unnoticed; the meaning behind her words is not lost upon Saedís.
It is a simple gesture, one of friendship and understanding, but it is enough. Saedís sea-star eyes trail the lines of the landscape that was smothered in the solemnity of history (is it history if it has never happened? What are the echoes if not memories stored in the untouched landmarks or in the centuries-old water?) Suddenly; she is subdued and deeply impressed and she wondered – briefly, with wistfulness that was uncharacteristic of her – if it would be like this always. Even as she stood, with the fabled aurum cooled beneath her feet, listening to Amorette’s story, glory´s grip loosened on the shores of legend and drifted with the breeze toward some unattainable purity, some everlasting perfection beyond the scope of mortal men. The Kings and Queens in their crowns of gilded steel had left passing marks on the rolling green hills and the burning volcano over which they presided. But to Saedís – standing here in the heart of the kingdom; knowing only that which Amorette shares with her – all was new and unexplored and ripe.
But Amorette does not linger on a past she has no sanction to change – and Saedís looks away into the distance where the volcano looms with a hungry gesture mirrored by Amorette. Saedís smiles at the sun-bright teasing tone of her friend; she has been infected with the enthusiasm in Amorette’s voice and the ominous mountain beckons in the distance.
”It is” she quips – starry-eyed and full of life.
”Luckily for me, I happen to know someone who I am sure could take me there and tell me all about it” she teases, and there is adventure in her eye and her words are coated in playful delight.
The gentle touch on her shoulder makes her look up, meeting Saedìs gaze with a small smile. She’s thankful for the small gesture, one of companionship and support, to say that she isn’t there on her own. And that Amorette appreciates. In favour of lightly pressing the velvet of her nose against the side of Saedìs mouth she bends her neck. No words are needed.
Beqanna’s history isn’t pretty, that Amorette knows. She had heard about the time when the Chamber had invaded the Gates, kidnapped her queen. And there is more like that, but not ever had she witnessed any of those things with her own eyes. The fairies hadn’t let the Reckoning happen for nothing, and it was up to all of them now to build Beqanna in such way for them to be proud of it. Tephra is doing exactly that, if you’d ask Amore.
She chuckles softly, nodding, as she is unable to tell Saedìs that it isn’t true. Because it simply is. Shame on her friend – with a playful wink of course. Amore’s dark eyes hold the sight of the volcano for a while, both her ears perked forward and with a twinkle of adoration and delight in her eyes. Home, she is home. And Amorette is more than happy to show her pale friend around.
”Know what you’re asking” she teases right back, playfully grinning at Saedìs. She steps closer towards her friend, lightly bumping her nose against the mare’s shoulder, then gesturing towards the volcano. ”Shall we go, then?” Amore does not wait for an answer, instead just casually starts walking. The rounding of her stomach is still small, not enough to limit her movements, but the ebony woman does not feel like hasting.
Where to take Saedìs first? Up the volcano? It would be a magnificent start, but, sadly enough, when she checks the location of the sun she has to decide it is a little too late to start such a big trip. But then what? The many caves? Or the sauna? Or maybe the heated pond at the base? Mura had really enjoyed it, and Amorette would lie if she’d say it wasn’t one of her favourite places. ”So? Are we going to relax? Or would you rather do something more thrilling?”
