07-01-2018, 08:45 AM
He is not immune to my power, I learn, and tuck that information securely away. I have no intention of using it - at least not against Wollfbane - but it has long since become a habit to test everyone I meet. They might not even know it, for I am careful and well-practiced: a pickpocket of the mind. The knowledge I gather has never let me down, unlike most everything else.
The hesitance in his smile lasts uncomfortably long (everything past a half second feels an eternity), but when our silence is broken I feel a wave of tension break. Wolfbane has not shied away from me, ended the conversation as soon as he was aware that I was the source of his inner turmoil. It has been quite some time since I made someone aware of my powers. I've never even told Arthas; I was not free with the knowledge since I was a child.
His next question reminds me of that time, and a faint smile appears with the memories.
"I was."
For a while after that I'm quiet, concentrating on the path beneath me as the footing grows less reliable. Ahead of me, the palomino stallion is lowering his head for a drink. I step around him and do the same slightly downstream. The water is cold and crisp, but it flows freely this time of day. I know that as the night falls the temperature will as well; by dawn this riverlet will be edged with ice.
"Loess itself is the same," I finally reply,taking a last mouthful and turning to find Wolfbane watching me. I swallow it quickly, grateful for the minute amount of control that I'd been able to gather over my emotions in the last few moments. "But the residents are all different."
"For a long time it was only me, my mother Heda , and Uncle Castile." A small herd had shared the realm with us as well, but Imperial and his family had mostly kept to themselves. I hadn't minded (though I did wish, now and again, that their children would play with me) and had been as content as one might imagine.
"I definitely won't be remembered as a famous leader," I add without bitterness, raising up a dark hoof to paw mindlessly at the water and stone beneath it. "Unless there's a category for youngest queen, of course. I was crowned the moment I was born, though Mother and Uncle Castile were my regents." I'd ruled alone for barely any time at all. "My only notable act as queen was probably crowning Arthas," I add, kicking a flat red pebble deeper into the water as a reason to glance away from Wolfbane's curious eyes.
The hesitance in his smile lasts uncomfortably long (everything past a half second feels an eternity), but when our silence is broken I feel a wave of tension break. Wolfbane has not shied away from me, ended the conversation as soon as he was aware that I was the source of his inner turmoil. It has been quite some time since I made someone aware of my powers. I've never even told Arthas; I was not free with the knowledge since I was a child.
His next question reminds me of that time, and a faint smile appears with the memories.
"I was."
For a while after that I'm quiet, concentrating on the path beneath me as the footing grows less reliable. Ahead of me, the palomino stallion is lowering his head for a drink. I step around him and do the same slightly downstream. The water is cold and crisp, but it flows freely this time of day. I know that as the night falls the temperature will as well; by dawn this riverlet will be edged with ice.
"Loess itself is the same," I finally reply,taking a last mouthful and turning to find Wolfbane watching me. I swallow it quickly, grateful for the minute amount of control that I'd been able to gather over my emotions in the last few moments. "But the residents are all different."
"For a long time it was only me, my mother Heda , and Uncle Castile." A small herd had shared the realm with us as well, but Imperial and his family had mostly kept to themselves. I hadn't minded (though I did wish, now and again, that their children would play with me) and had been as content as one might imagine.
"I definitely won't be remembered as a famous leader," I add without bitterness, raising up a dark hoof to paw mindlessly at the water and stone beneath it. "Unless there's a category for youngest queen, of course. I was crowned the moment I was born, though Mother and Uncle Castile were my regents." I'd ruled alone for barely any time at all. "My only notable act as queen was probably crowning Arthas," I add, kicking a flat red pebble deeper into the water as a reason to glance away from Wolfbane's curious eyes.
