"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
07-06-2018, 01:05 PM (This post was last modified: 07-06-2018, 01:05 PM by Lucrezia.)
Here it comes with no warning; capsize, i'm first in the water
She inhales the crispy scent of steam and sulfur that comes from the small volcano within the distance. The heat of this land makes her feel warm and cold, it is comforting and haunting her at the same time. There are suppressed memories here she keeps tightly locked up within the darkness of her mind. Nonetheless, the memories flood forward, just as the lava pours out from the volcano and crisscrosses across the land.
These memories she no longer can hold back. No matter how much she had tried, they pushed to the forefront of her thoughts, reminding her of the things she had succeeded and failed. She had been someone here, among Tephra and Beqanna, she had been someone that others looked up to.
But she had failed them.
She had failed them as their leader.
She had left them within the dark.
Her heart broke for the things she had done, but her failures did not control her. Lucrezia found her strength within those years she had disappeared from the lands of Beqanna. She would always find the strength within her to stand up—there was never a time she could give up, despite how many times she would fall down and fail she would be stronger again.
It had called her back—the magic of this world, as it always did to those who left for distant lands. Lucrezia could not ignore it, could not simply forget the one place that had given her a home again. Whether or not it was filled with others she knew, Tephra would always hold a special place within her heart.
The peafowl winged-mare steps forward from the edges of the northern land. She does not wait to be greeted as most formalities of diplomacy would be followed. Tephra was her home, and always would be.
“Welcome home,” she mumbles softly to herself as she proceeds deeper into the land.
Midst all the bad things, it is more than time for something good to happen.
Tephra, too, had become victim of the doings of the dark. Residents had gotten stolen from right under their noses, the head of peace, Wound, being the most recent one. And before her Kwartz, and Krone, who’d found refuge in Tephra. With Kwartz being recruited into the dark side, and Krone brutally murdered, Amorette can only worry for the well-being of her dear friend.
The return of a beloved member, leader even, is something that the ebony woman counts as a good thing. “Lucrezia..?” she mumbles softly, a smile slowly tugging at the corners of her lips. She does remember that was crowned queen by her father vividly, as does she remember their trip on the volcano. Lucrezia had been the first to show her the volcano’s wonders, and for that Amorette is forever grateful.
She does not cross the last part of distance with hurry, but there is a bounce in her step and energy that had been lacking. She is tired, looks tired, but it does not change that Amore is happy to see the golden woman. “Welcome home!” she greets the former Tephran queen, first by words, then by extending her neck and offering her nose. “You are back, right?”
As she pulls back the sunlight catches the golden tips of her mane, the ombre golden strands being the only physical change Amorette had gone through ever since Lucrezia had been challenged for the throne by Offspring. She’d aged too, become a mother, but underneath that all still lies the gentle, naïve girl that she had been years ago. “How have you been? I hope well!”
@[Lucrezia]
@[Warrick]
Hope you both don't mind ^^
and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times
Day-tripping to Tephra has become quite a normal occurrence for me during these times of war, though not every meeting with Warrick necessarily travels along the lines of of strategy and tactics. More often than not in fact, we spend the hour consoling each other's worries and building each other up in the face of a world that often attempts to beat us down; together, my father and I are stronger.
Usually, as the sun bleeds its final colours into the sky, I find myself falling to sleep and dreaming myself back to Hyaline - a handy trick I'd learnt not long ago. But after a particularly emotional exchange with the Tephran Overseer, the night swallowed me whole without allowing me the handiness of my magic; and thus, hours later, I find myself blinking awake to a surprisingly different Tephra. The dew clinggs to the meadow's grass, though the ashen scent of the volcano is no less apparent for the morning water's appearance, and the rapidity of my inhale almost leaves me choking; I must hurry back to Hyaline now and quickly, for it won't be until midday that I am potentially able to sleep again and to get back there in any decent time anyhow.
It's as I'm on my way out that I notice the appearance of a strangely adorned mare sauntering with a juxtaposition of a gravity about her into Tephra. My ears perk from beneath their crown of pronged antlers, nutmeg eyes caught on the beautifully coloured Arabian mare. I haven't the slightest clue as to who she might be, as my knowledge on Tephra's history dates back no farther than dear Warrick himself; and yet still, something about the Arabian calls to me.
I turn to approach, and as I do, someone who I do recognize joins me in this effort. Her step is buoyant and her calls joyous, and for a moment I falter, wondering if in fact I ought to approach when the King's consort acts so jubilant in the face of such a stranger. By the time I make up my mind one way or another, it is too late for me to veer my course without causing an awkward scene; and so I settle a little bit farther than is necessary from the two mares, the blood and bone of my hide shimmering in the morning dew.
"I couldn't help but over hearing that your name is Lucrezia," I offer when or if their eyes turn towards me; my lips turn gently upwards. "My name is Kagerus, I am a Queen of Hyaline - I spent the night here after visiting with my father." Although I do not perhaps need to offer this information for Lucrezia's sake, I do feel the need to for the other of our party - and it is to her that I next turn. "Hello, Amorette." I dip my antlered head softly, the words she spoke at the meeting ringing in my ears; word about kidnapping, most of all. "I pray you won't mind my intrusion."
there was a heaven in youbut god there's a devil in me
The inland plains are crippled and broken; dried out tendrils of once long, golden stalks of grass now crumpled to the ground in blackness as if fire had riddled through it. There is no scent of singed foliage, however - only the metallic, bittersweet tinge of death greets his nostrils like a slap in the face, reminding him of the moments he had endured only a few days prior. Longclaw’s body perhaps is still decaying beneath the unforgiving heat of the Tephran sun, where carrions’ black shadow splay across him in unceremonious circles. He couldn’t bring himself to go back to that exact place; where Harmonia had dragged in a slave, unleashing a plague onto Tephra that only stopped because of his dear friend’s sacrifice. It made him feel weak to remember such a memory and even now with the sharp smell seeping into his nostrils, the Overseer finds himself growing faint and dizzy, eyes rimmed with white as adrenaline begins to flood him.
There is a figure in the near horizon - the haziness of sunset seems to trap it in the wavering heat, and though he has no intention of doing much with the distraction, the Overseer’s cerulean gaze flickers towards it, momentarily relieved from the reverie that has encumbered him so. In another time, in another world, perhaps a smile would have found the deep lines of his cobalt lips. Today, however, the sight of an old friend barely brings a glimmer of amusement into the deep, dark blue of his gaze and for the slightest moment his chest clenched tight. He is frozen, perhaps drawn to a stop by the shadowy remnants of Harmonia’s ‘gift’ that taunt him in the corner of his eye.
He wonders why she has returned. Of course, he knows why (it is home, and he would do the same), but he fears to enlighten her - she is welcomed into Tephra, where death and destruction and murder has defined all of Beqanna and Warrick is powerless to stop it. His lip twitches, cobalt-tipped ears flicking forwards as the familiar shadowy form of Amorette greets Lucrezia and for a moment, Warrick is relieved. Amorette is a light within the darkness and perhaps each and every terrible thing that has tainted Tephra’s landscape could be washed away by her.
With a flutter of the wide span of indigo wings, the Overseer makes his way towards the women. Kagerus has made her way to the inlands, meeting both Amorette and Lucrezia mere moments before Warrick comes to rest beside her, squarely halting with a tip of his chin upwards and a soft snort of an exhale leaving his nostrils as his shoulder brushes admirably against the bay overo. He greets Amorette with a stretch of his neck towards her, huffing gently, before turning to Lucrezia.
“It has been too long, Lucrezia.” There is no smile that accompanies his voice, but that fact does not diminish the sincerity in his smoky baritone.
Here it comes with no warning; capsize, i'm first in the water
There is something within the air here, something that is different than what it had been before. She has felt it before—known the bitterness and sadness it has brought to hundreds before. It was part of their world though, this bitterness and sadness wrapped into one. The very nature of it had shaped her and the world around her.
It was ruin, but also rebirth.
And once again it had touched Beqanna.
Lucrezia sees within the distance a smoky black mare she could not forget. It was in her earlier days that she had befriended the mare, and today would still call her friend. She notices the small amount of joy in her old friend, the bounce in her step too, but there is the look of long days and sleepless nights that cannot be hidden. The peafowl mare has never missed a step in noticing the details of such, she has mastered reading others easily and her skills do not falter now.
She does not mention such things though. A smile easily finds it across her thinned lips. There is joy within her eyes, and also a bounce in her walk now as he closes in the distance between her and Amorette. “You are definitely a sight for sore eyes,” she laughs softly when greeting her friend. Lucrezia accepts her gesture of welcome eagerly as she extends her nose out to the other mare. “Of course I am back!” Lucrezia could not see herself disappearing into any other parts of Beqanna. Despite her previous past within Tephra, this would always be her home—this was where she belonged.
Before she can continue speaking further, an unfamiliar face (though there is something familiar in the way she looks and those brown nutmeg eyes of hers that make her feel she knows her almost) comes forward. Lucrezia turns her own nutmeg eyes towards Kagerus, her ears turn in the direction of her. An unfamiliar face was not always safe to Lucrezia. She always remained pleasant and natural as she was, but it was ingrained ever since she was taught by her father to always be on guard.
“That would be me,” she says with a bob of her head. The mare never loses a beat, always playing the role she must in order to have the upper hand. It had never been something she had been proud of holding, these set of masteries she had been taught—manipulation—but it all had been useful in the end for the path she has found herself following in her life. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Queen Kagerus,” she allows a soft bow of her head in respect, the manners of diplomacy never left her. Still to this day she finds herself playing the role of diplomat wherever she went, and in the lands outside of Beqanna it had not always been needed.
She falls silent though when she sees another old friend. Their previous conversations, more many years ago replay in her mind easily. It almost feels like it was yesterday that he had been just a young boy entering into the world (it almost felt as if they all were together again, back in the years before she had been given the position of leader). Before you had failed them, she thinks. No, she corrects herself.
“Warrick, dear old friend,” she smiles from ear to ear. She overlooks him slowly, but her smile begins to fade. There is warm within his greeting, but there is something beyond it all. Lucrezia understands, she feels it even now (the weight of the world pressing them all down, the responsibility to lead them safely into the light as the darkness drowns them). “It has been too long,” she agrees, but she always has reached for the light, always seeing the silver lining, “but it is never too late.”
Lucrezia isn’t sure where to go next with the conversation. Coming home has never been easy, but she assumes that no doubt it would be as if she had never left. “I would ask how things are, but by the looks of it seems there have been recent hardships.” Her voice is soft, careful to find the words, but she has always been direct in laying out the facts. Lucrezia cannot help but feel for her friends—her family and their home.
“I am back, and I will help with whatever I can no matter what it may be,” she vows. It did not need to be said at all, but there was something within her heart that made her feel like she needed to affirm her loyalty once again to the place that gave her life.
![[Image: kag]](https://78.media.tumblr.com/2e8039018ce4dff6112c167ec23e886a/tumblr_p72zjit7wC1s5a0qvo1_100.png)
