"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
Far to the east, the horizon begins to lighten. It is the faintest of changes, a bit of charcoal against the black, but as I blink my stormcloud eyes, I see it. A bit of steam obscures it for a moment, but I take a step forward in the knee deep water of the hot spring and once more have an unobstructed view of the eastern edge of the kingdom.
I am standing in my favorite pool, and the length of my wings are held just loose enough that the tips of their longest feathers barely brush the water. I know from experience that it is not the best to drink, but the combination of salt, fresh water, and geothermal heat have made the pool around me a veritable menagerie of life even in the dead of winter. At my feet swim silvery fish, and the quick flick of a lizards tail disappearing into the grass follows the loud chirrup of a cricket.
It is not often that I find myself in the company of another at this hour. Before Hyaline, I’d have been beside Delta or Arthas - often both. Now though, my son is grown and my husband is King of Sylva. I should be there, some part of me knows, steadfast behind the dapple grey stallion. But I linger in Loess still, inexplicably torn between the two.
Yet despite the late hour - perhaps early hour now, I realize, I recognize the sound of hooves. Pulling in my wings more tightly against my sides, I glance in the direction of the sound, my blue ears flicking curiosity as I try to pick out a shape in the darkness.
He could hardly believe it; Lepis’s smell fresh and very present in Loess, exactly where she shouldn’t be given his recent meeting with Queen Kagerus. There it was though, all the same, lingering over rock and bush, seeping into the nectar of the countless flora and leading him directly to an area the Lord of Loess had come to associate with his Cleric. The gentle hush over his territory belies the otherwise tense changes surrounding them, both to the north and southeast, giving Bane the opportunity to quietly gather his thoughts while keeping a steady, clipped tempo as he clop, clops over the rough-hewn trail.
“You’re back, then?” The striped pegasus calls out to her, rounding the bend with an amazed expression to one-up her curious glance, “I thought …” He mutters, shaking the stark white mane rigid atop his neck before coming to a decided halt at the lip of her private pool.
“Doesn’t matter what I think.” He finds himself saying instead, an incredulous grin twisting the blue-black shape of his lips, dawn casting a yellow-gold hue over them both. “You’re here, that’s what matters.”
Instinctually his gaze (darkened to a brooding, flat gray from the lack of light) flickers over her exposed body, searching for a hint of blood or any sign that her stay in Hyaline might have come to blows while Kagerus' talk of “pain-in-the-ass” rings fresh in his mind. As daring as it looked, Wolfbane wouldn’t be satiated until he was sure that his adviser was whole and unhurt. “Talk to me - I’m a mess. Help me understand what happened.” The brutish stallion begins, content for now to stand protectively above where she relaxes in a hazy cloud of steam.
I’d been expecting to see a dappled grey figure, and so for a moment I stare blankly at the striped stallion. He seems equally surprised to see me as well, so it is likely that my moment of hesitation goes unnoticed, especially since a smile comes a moment later as a gust of winter wind clears away the steam.
“I was worried you might throw a party if I gave you too much warning,” I reply. Tossing a damp strand of mane from my face, I wade through the shallow water until we are closer. Sound carries easily across these hills, and I’ve no desire to rouse those horses that are fortunate enough to still be sleeping at this early hour.
His glance across my hide is not missed, but the memory of times I have been unharmed are not yet ancient history, and a lighthearted jest about that particular topic is not something I’m ready for. Not yet, at least, though I do offer a reassuring smile as I spread my undamaged wings in a silent assertion that: Yes, I’m fine.
Another chilly gust cause me to draw them closer again, and I glance to the side pensively for only a moment before stepping to the right, toward the center of the pool. The water is deeper here, and it closes over my back with a small wave. Hyaline might have had glorious mountains vistas and splendid snowfall, but their lack of hot springs had made for a miserably cold two months of captivity. The water seeps between the feathers of my wings, but the weight is comforting, if only because I feel secure at last in my own home.
“Ilma offered me a deal.” I answer, and for a moment it seems like that might be all I have to say. Wolfbane will want otherwise, of course, so I don’t pause for long. Just enough to be mischievous, I hope.
“It wasn’t a very good one though, so I took Princess Valdis on my way out. I thought Kagerus and Solace might be more inclined to sweeten the pot if we tossed their daughter in as well.” Now I pause, clearly rather pleased with myself and what I’ve accomplished. It’s not exactly what we had planned in the air over the River, but I had been forced to utilize rather limited resources and an overzealous cat.
Lepis smiles and Bane feels an immediate tension begin to fade. “It would’ve been the best party Loess has ever seen …” He thinks to himself, content now that the blue-toned perlino seemed totally at ease. “Like she never left at all.”
Even the way she tosses her hair gives the impression that she’d been here this whole time, soaking in this very pool, just waiting for someone to realize it had all been a huge joke.
Wolfbane waits until her gesture is over, watching with intrepid interest at the way her dual wings flexed and fluttered, before sighing heavily and easing up one of his own hind legs. It’s deep enough into the season now that both are wrapped in their respective traits, the white of his own feathers doing well to cover Bane’s shoulders, belly and croup. Only his ears snap to attention when Lepis speaks again.
“A deal, what?” Pops out of the drake’s downturned mouth, “What deal?” He asks again, a shadow falling over the hood of his muddy green eyes. “What was the point of even showing my ass to Kagerus -” Her overwatcher considers, “- if you were just going to do something twice as bad?”
Clearly, he’s a bit nettled.
“Forget Vladis for the moment, we’ll get back to that.” The striped stallion promises, far from entertained though he holds an austere composure, “What exactly did Ilma say?”
09-16-2018, 11:54 AM (This post was last modified: 09-16-2018, 11:57 AM by kahzie.)
An inheld yawn wrinkles the edges of my mouth, and I must shake my damp head a few times to clear the weariness from my mind. It is difficult to focus, and yet this is how I have felt for the past week, unable to rest despite the exhaustion that weighs on me. A few minutes is all I ever get before I wake, either from a detailed nightmare or simply panicked without cause.
We are closer now, and as the dawn begins to warm the edge of the horizon it occurs to me that he might see this about me, and worry. So I turn away, and miss the visceral reaction he has to my mention of a deal. I am watching the sun creep into the sky, and have only his words to indicate his response. Had I been facing him, seen the tension in his shoulders, perhaps I might have been more concerned with my reaction.
"She told me I could visit home for a night, and that if I stayed, Loess would be in Hyaline's debt for the rest of the year." The white mare had offered an alternate, and though I had considered it briefly, it was far less interesting. It had included returning to Hyaline and remaining under constant surveillance. I have had enough eyes on me in my lifetime that such a deal would never be acceptable.
"The other option involved waiting for more important people to sort it out while I waited under constant guard." More important being himself, Kagerus, and Solace of course. I wonder if Wolfbane suspects how much that grated - the fact that I was not important enough to negotiate my own freedom. He might, I think, and glance back over my damp shoulder.
He is no longer smiling.
My fault.
My reaction is swift: wings drawn up tight and a step to the side to better center my weight. There's no chance of escape with sodden wings, but by the time I throttle my instinctive fear I have remembered who he is, and where I am. Still in Loess, still safe. The projected calmness is held on a tight leash, and I've gained control of my emotions in the time between beats of startled heart.
"I thought taking Valdis might remind them how we feel about being indebted."
Lepis even rushes over the meeting he’d had with Kagerus, openly calling him ’important people’ as if he weren’t firstly and foremostly her friend and confidant. That stings, worse than her decision to accept such an offer and then immediately override it with a blatant act of treachery. The plan had been to swipe, yes, but not after she’d already been free.
“Our entire system runs on checks and balances.” He explains to her slowly, “So what good is our word if we don’t stick true to it?”
His head shifts, turning his once bold glare out to the waking horizon. Bane finds it hard to look at her without totally giving himself away. “You’ve put Loess in danger.” The stallion sighs, a tight sort of sound, “No one will want to contract a mercenary who doubles back on their own boast and then rips a child away from their home. That’s just adding insult to injury, Lepis.” He groans bluntly, simply disappointed.
“We’re taking her back. Pronto.” The fanged pegasus decides, finally lowering his eyes to where she waits, hovering, in her swimming hole. He knows she won’t miss the emphasis on the duality of the word “we’re”, but he feels as if he needs to reiterate the importance on the meaning “pronto”. “Hyaline is a short fly or walk so come out, please; they’re owed a contract and I’d very much like for you to be present during the details.”
Perhaps it is the cold, or my exhaustion, or maybe some combination of the two. Whatever the cause, it nips at my temper in an uncommon way. Rather than duck my head for a scolding - which, perhaps might have been a better choice - I release the calm I'd held around myself with a sharp snort.
"I didn't break my word."
Ilma had frequently accused me of being unreasonable, and the white mare wasn't wrong. I have never been easily broken, and that is as much a result of my innate stubbornness as it is well-practiced control. I consider telling him I plan on keeping her, that I won't be going with them to Hyaline, that there are a thousand things I might have done to put Loess in true danger and that inviting a child on a trip is certainly not one of them.
The tightness in his voice encourages these urges, the way he refuses to look at me as though I've committed some unforgivable sin. The wise voice telling me to apologize grows weaker as the light around us grows stronger. The golden stallion tells me I've added insult to injury, and the scowl that has been building on my thin face grows sharper.
"You missed your calling," I tell him. "You'd have made an excellent Storyteller with that flare for the dramatic." It's not the response he'll be expecting, I know, but it is a compromise that I am willing to make. Stay true to myself - the mantra echoes. "No one's been injured or ripped away. She doesn't even know she's been stolen yet. I told her I'd introduce her to Castile, her father."
An apology should be next, of course, and a promise to do better in the future.
"You can keep your reputation intact." Well, that certainly wasn't an apology. "Tell them Sylva went rogue, that I stole the princess to get even for my time spent captive." It's not something I would ever do, of course; the entire idea of keeping captives is nauseating. "That's something a queen of the evil kingdom would do, isn't it?"
09-16-2018, 01:52 PM (This post was last modified: 09-16-2018, 01:52 PM by Wolfbane.)
WOLFBANE
Whatever comes out of her mouth then, he doesn’t hold against her. Wolfbane watches Lepis, unmoved by the bitter hatefulness leaking like a broken sieve from somewhere he doesn’t understand. She’s angry, maybe because he hadn’t immediately jumped on this like she anticipated, but he knows through it all that she’s not entirely angry at him.
“Are you done?” He asks rhetorically, a bit colder than he intends to be. “Because I am. With whatever you’re trying to prove.”
Hasn’t she shown enough already? That’s she’s capable, strong, even smarter than them all (occasionally) is obvious; why would she need to continue alienating herself rather than admitting she went a step too far? Bane doesn’t want to acknowledge that maybe her pride overwhelms her sensibilities, until she mentions Sylva. “I wouldn’t know what an evil Queen does, your highness.” Bane admits without hesitation, “But you can explain that to Hyaline yourself, when we arrive.”
Never budging, never giving any indication that she could avoid this.
“The least you can do, I suppose, is show me where you’re hiding Castile’s little daughter away.” His tail flicks, “Since Loess is responsible for her safe-keeping now.”
"I'm not going to apologize." I tell him as I move toward the edge of the pool, having abandoned my efforts to squarely meet his eyes. The last time I had made a diplomatic misstep, by wings had been broken as punishment. While I know that will not happen again, logic has no effect on the aversion to admitting fault. I might be wrong, but I certainly won't be admitting as much to the Hyaline. I'd never given Ilma that satisfaction and I've no intention of kowtowing to her queens either.
I place a hoof on dry land a few yards from where Wolfbane stands and the rest of me soon follows. My wings stream water in a thousand feathered rivulets, and I caste a long glance from them to Wolfbane as if to question the wisdom of even a short flight. The glance is exaggerated and overdone, as have been the vast majority of my emotions this morning, but sarcasm is certainly an improvement from the vitriol of moments ago.
"She's just over there," My navy nose gestures over the nearest hill, where I'd left the piebald princess after our short flight from the mountains. "Why don't you just go tell her to fly away home without me?" I ask as I stretch out my far wing, shaking away the water in quick flicks. To shake out the near wing would involve soaking Wolfbane in his current position, so I extend it slowly in warning of what is to come.
My physical actions seem to contradict the question that I've just asked; I most certainly seem to be preparing for flight. "It wasn't hard to convince her to come with me. She thinks she's my guard; I couldn't leave Hyaline without one as far as she knows." It's a sobering reminder that I need to be careful with Delta, lest the bold colt think himself an adult too soon and get himself into a situation he is not fit to handle.
"Shall I perform the introductions, your royal majesty?" I ask with unnecessary formality, slipping as easily into good humor as I had descended into bad. I look over at him with a single raised brow, clearly amused with myself.
09-17-2018, 08:34 AM (This post was last modified: 09-17-2018, 10:21 AM by Wolfbane.)
WOLFBANE
“I never expected you would.” Bane thinks, hardly suppressing an eye roll while Breckin finally gave in to his wishes, edging towards the lip of her pool. In the end, everything Loess does comes back to rest on his shoulders - he doesn’t seek to lay the blame elsewhere - it was just imperative that she understand her actions had cut him.
The palomino’s head turns with the indication of her nose, gaze cast over his shoulder to where Valdis (hopefully) plays in innocuous bliss. He can hear Lepis shake behind him, and the bite of her warm-turned-cold spray against his shoulder turns him back to where she stands, soaked. “I hope she’s freaking cold.” He muses, scoffing aloud at her boast that the Hyaline filly had practically walked into her unknown imprisonment. “Oh, it wasn’t difficult, was it?” Bane replies, his own sarcasm matching hers tone for tone. “Why am I not surprised. Even without your gift I doubt a child would present much trouble to you.”
Now he does roll his eyes, but she’s got him - she knows she does - and his fangs flash in the bold winter light when his mouth fashions a smirk.
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