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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


    ALL HYALINE RESIDENTS.
    #1
    Kagerus
    { and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }

    It's not how I anticipated gathering us together. Usually when one imagines greeting the numerous youths who have found a safe haven within one's kingdom, its setting is not that of a different place completely. But things have changed - I dreamt it and I awoke to it, I held Solace in my embrace as I gazed about at it, wondering, worried, aching. Solace did not need to be held for long, however, my beautiful wife being the emblem of strength and self-assuredness in times of need. With a kiss to my worried lips, she stepped forward and leapt from the familiar entrance of our grotto, into an air that was and is rank with change and death.

    She returned, speaking of a shift in the lands that can only be visualized by a pegasus such as herself. A headache forms in the back of my skull as I realize the gravity of the situation, eyes going to what children remained in our grotto, and then to her stomach. It is early, but the possibility is there, and I refuse to take any chances, least of all with her.

    In anxious whispers, I insist that we travel to the new land to our north west, across a small bay, easily marched around. My eyes go to her stomach, words dripping from my lips like tears as I voice my concern for what may be growing in the miracle of her womb. After she comforts me - Solace, my Solace - I clear my throat and take a shaky breath, trying to think more as a Caretaker and Queen than as a mother and as a wife.

    "Let us gather the residents. Urge them to come to Silver Cove, if only to hear what you and I have to say. Tell them to bring the others - we must hurry."

    And, awakening the children - for the two year olds can barely be considered such any more - I instruct them to do the same as we, my heart squeezing somewhat at the absence of Rhaegor. I can't worry now. I can't worry now. He must be safe.

    The hours trickle past like the last leak in a damned river; but eventually, Solace and I find ourselves nervously standing and waiting for slow-movers to join us upon the cusp of the cove after which this place is named. It is daylight, and so its silver escapes us; but it will be good to establish a meeting ground, now that we have left behind the mountains and the willow tree and the lake.

    My heart breaks to think of it.

    We cannot worry now.

    Lifting my chin, I speak into the frosty autumn air, fog curling around my antlers as I speak.

    "We have brought you here today because a change has overcome Beqanna. I know that you all can feel it; but Solace has mapped it out." Here, I pause, looking to my counterpart and allowing her to describe the way the continent has shifted, somewhat similar and yet seemingly inside out in spots. I return my eyes to the crowd only when she has finished speaking, feeling a twinge of pride in my stomach, although it had been she to raise me to this position, and not the other way around.

    "Hyaline has always been a sanctuary, and though we took pride in our heart (the lake), it is not what defines us as a kingdom. That which defines us, is you." My eyes go to each and every person gathered, stomach twisting brutally when I realize exactly how many young aces there are. "Therefore, Solace and I will hear your ideas; but first, hear ours."

    "As disease spreads across Beqanna, we must take refuge. This place - called Silver Cove, a herd-land which existed in before the Reckoning - is one such refuge. Our first proposal is this: that Hyaline continue in name and in function in this land until such time that it is safe to return home. I will stay here in Silver Cove full time to watch over the Harbored, making me the Caretaker of Silver Cove. Solace will continue in her role as the Caretaker of Hyaline, which will now be considered a sub-kingdom, such that when this all blows over, we might return to our mountain home. The division of power will only be temporary, and Solace will be here as much as I am - but it is necessary.

    "Our second proposal is that we migrate to Tephra, the kingdom of Solace's father, Warrick, who is our General. Tephra is also a refuge, claiming also to be something of a sanctuary... Considering the king who came before Kromium, we are willing to bet that the government there will accept us even if they are not. This option results in the Sanctuary (being comprised for now of both Silver Cove and Hyaline) being nullified; we will lose our autonomy, but maximize our security."

    "Those who wish to remain in Hyaline are welcome, but please - look around. Many of you are young, or old. Whatever disease is circulating in the very bones of Beqanna, we the Caretakers of The Sanctuary do NOT wish to see you acquire it. Staying in Hyaline may be dangerous - but you will always be welcome with the Sanctuary, wherever we find refuge."


    Pausing, I look to Solace, hoping that she will have more comforting words to say than I do.

    "And please - tell us your thoughts, for we are only two people, and we answer solely to You. As a last note: we are tentatively interested in appointing a leader to govern the sub-kingdom Hyaline, if we choose to proceed with proposition one. If you are interested in this leadership position, please say so."



    --

    OOC: please ALL HYALINE MEMBERS RESPOND, IN CHARACTER, FULL POST. You do not need to wait for Solace to speak, you may reply immediately.

    Thank you.
    [Image: kag]
    dreamweaver
    Reply
    #2

    “Or,” another voice vibrates. “I give you a third option.” deep and water-logged, smoky and carried by an accent of an ancient and long forgotten place it becomes an echo all throughout the cove. 

    From the shadows of the sea, from the waves and trees: and even from the rocks, it fills the air and dies with a deep chuckle. Rivulets of water drop to the ground from the spattered gray and black flesh, from the hairless form that slithers forward through tree and rock: the crevices of the Cove.

    Yidhra, stops only when she reaches a rock: balancing and looking down at them with her strange and alien gaze. The barbell shaped irises narrowing and expanding as she gazes at each strand of light: at each thread of color. When she lifts her head to speak the lower half of her face moves strangely and suddenly the coiling tentacles stretch apart and expose the barbed suction cups and the beak resting in their mass: she yawns.

    With her attention affixed the Kraken-esque monstrosity looks over them and rests the mass of tentacles that make up her mane and tail; but not the pair that stretch from her shoulders: those remain coiled on her back.

    “Come to Pangea.” she says it without elaboration at first, without humor and without tease: instead there is a severity in her. “You were supposed to be sheltered by your sanctuary, protected in the reaches of Hyaline. The Caretakers treated you as wards, and for the most part: yes, you did flourish; but the reality of this world has changed and the only people responsible for it, are those around you and yourselves.”

    With a breath she adjusts the fleshy forms near her mouth, stretching them and respashing them to almost mock what her face had been: the illusion of a nose, of jaws. “It was the people of Beqanna who brought Pangea from the ocean bottom, and the people of Beqanna who rushed the lands and brought hooves, teeth, claw, and hellish power against Rhonen. It has been the people of Beqanna who unleashed this contagion, and your Caretakers? They never interfered. Only a few did. They failed at protecting you: this is a truth that you cannot deny. Isn’t it, Kagerus?” she would’ve smiled; but she cannot, instead she looks at the other mare: never in her life having met her, a name only known in whisper.

    “They would seek to move you, to spread you across the east and to try to save you now, when it is too late; but if you come to Pangea than I can offer you something… you will be infected, and you will suffer this contagion; but like any illness: where it began is often where you must go to end it. I saw the Element fall hundreds of years ago, and I see Beganna falling now, let me guide you- let me help you. We can make Pangea stronger: and then we can find a way.” its not light, not a joke, she almost seems so austere that as she peers at them: there is a soured expression in her eyes.

    “In fact, in a good natured gesture-” she looks to Kagerus. “I will offer this, whomsoever comes with me is allowed to freely pass to both Cove and Hyaline and those who do not come with me may in turn pass into Pangea unharmed. After all, it would be in poor taste to cause strife when there is already so much in this place.” and she softens, or feigns it.

    Yidhra remains, tendrils swaying. 

    Yidhra

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    #3
    litotes

    Fear and anxiety: the two swirl into a dangerous cocktail, intoxicating Litotes (blurring his vision and catching his steps). Beqanna is sick. He can smell it, feel it, taste it as it rolls into a black pit at the bottom of his stomach. Each breathe of air feels like the draw of cigarette - tar blackening the precious passageways of his lungs. Some evil, unknown, is ripping his home from him - sending it up in flames just as before. The stallion gulps and closes his eyes.

    This cannot be happening.

    They are all to gather; the orders travel quickly through Hyaline. Litotes rises from his resting place, closing his eyes and attempting to center what control he has left. In a moment, he is taking the journey step by step, mind wandering just as his hooves seem to be. Three pass through his spiraling thoughts: Kensa, Rhae, Will - the three he has bonded with (the three he will mourn if lost). If harm were to befall them, Lie would be lost. He knows now that he needs companions (partners, lovers, friends) or he will drown. Who he was before Beqanna - that boy is slipping away. Lie will be damned before he returns.

    Litotes aches. Already he misses the willows he slept so peacefully beneath.

    The trip is not terribly long, but the doom encompassing Beqanna makes it considerably more harrowing. The stallion mingles into the growing crowd, gently pushing his way to the front to better hear Solace and Kagerus.

    A short time passes - soon all of Hyaline is crowding around. The cremello holds his head high, peering at the two women he knows will lend a hand.

    As Kagerus begins, Lie leans in, anxious to know the extent of the damage. When Solace tells of what she saw, he hangs his head in sorrow. Beqanna has changed: lands have formed, sickness prevails, and a new darkness hangs threateningly over their heads. They offer their solutions - stay here, in the new cove, or leave for Tephra (a shudder runs down his spine: Rhaegor).

    Lie gazes around him for a moment, feeling pain and fear and determination. There are his people; home will not be so easily taken from him again. Before he registers what he is doing, a haze around his eyes, he steps forward to look his two leaders in the eyes.

    “I would like to stay here - as Hyaline,” he begins, voice rumbling low and strong in his throat. “My loyalty is with all of you - you have all given me a true home. I will follow the herd, but my heart is here. If we choose to stay, I would like to help care for Hyaline. I cannot bear to see it go to waste.”

    i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me
    guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right

    Reply
    #4

    Kensa



    Leaving Hyaline is a trauma Kensa is entirely unprepared for. She acts quickly when directed by her Queens to help remove everyone toward the coast, keeping her head and perhaps being a harder version of herself as they push quickly out of their mountains--she may once even snap at a reluctant youngster--suddenly feeling very far from the “young horse” who had played on the beach last summer. She looks anxiously for Litotes during the flurry but does not see him and this adds to her distress but she forces herself to serve Hyaline first. When they pass into Silver Cove her dusty face shows the tracks of tears.

    She is angry and afraid--and these are two emotions toward which she rarely strays--but she bares up and listens carefully to all Kagerus and Solace tell them. Her thoughts go to all her friends in Beqanna. Rhaegor is out there somewhere, and once again she wishes for wings like the ones his mother gave him so that she too could fly up above the world and see how things lay, see that he is safe. She knows the two painted mares must be worried doubly.

    A plague could decimate their population, and it seems that the only appropriate course is to abandon Hyaline. The thought fractures her heart. She presses forward, her face a mystery of conflicting emotion. “Kagerus, Solace. I cannot imagine leaving Hyaline behind… but if we maintain a presence there whoever lingers is likely to contract this illness are they not? I can’t in good conscience expect you or anyone else to hold our claim their and risk themselves.” She looks among her rulers and her friends, people who cared for her and people who thought she was just in the mountains for the good looking boys. Hyaline is her home. She isn’t finished. “But to surrender our sovereignty and be absorbed by a kingdom that may only welcome us out of obligation…” A pause. Her ears pin in frustration. “ I am young, and I hoped to serve Hyaline as a diplomat. I don’t know anything about conflict or protecting our borders, I admit this freely. Others may think we cannot straddle this border and still keep our people safe. But if we disappear into Tephra, if we surrender just because we will be safer there then this Sanctuary will be gone. We may never be called home. Someone else will take our mountains, swim in our cold blue lake, graze upon our sweet highland pastures one day. You are right when you say that the land is not who we are, but it is a part of us.” Her passion perhaps falls on deaf ears, and her topaz eyes flash to her compatriots but she does not falter under any disapproving look she may receive.

    “After almost a year Hyaline is in my blood and I wont leave her forever. I cannot. I will stand between these borders with you Kagerus. Whatever may befall me. I will serve The Sanctuary. I will serve Hyaline.” She is stubborn and sure, anger and fear having grown into a strength of will she was unaware she possessed.




    i'm burning like a fire gone wild on saturday
    guess i won't be coming to church on sunday
    i'll be waiting for love to come around


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    #5
    Knaught anxiously hears the announcement. He thinks to himself, Maybe this change is good, I can hopefully meet new people, explore more places.. but horses are getting sick.. I don't know if this a good thing after all.. He realizes that he wasn't in Hyaline for long, but he felt comfortable for the first time in his life.

    He stands tall, hoping to be one of the stallions for those who get scared to lean on. He feels the brisk Autumn air blow through his fur and mane and tail. A shiver runs through his veins and body, knowing that his fate is flying in the air with this plague.
    Reply
    #6
    Kiko hears of this plague and immediately thinks about the babies in Hyaline. She's confused and scared as to what could potentially happen. She's been so desperate to find herself a mate and have a family of her own, that at this point she will adopt anyone who needs a mother.

    Kiko lets out a whinny of despair. This can't be happening. We've lived here for so long! "I too will follow the crowd, but Hyaline will always be my home," she calls out, in reply to Kensa and Lit. "If there is anything I can do, please let me know!"
    Reply
    #7
    Dawn is panicking.



    They were gathered like cattle and all instructed to make their way along the coast, towards a new land that has risen from the depths, and Dawn doesn’t know where Rhaegor is. Did he get the message? Is he okay? Is he going to meet them here or is he missing? She knows that there are bigger things to worry about—such as the plague spreading rapidly across Beqanna—but Sunny is her best friend, the one who has always been there for her no matter what. She cannot fathom a life without Sunny, without her mother—

    Oh, Gods.
    Her mother.

    The golden girl can feel herself beginning to crumble, panic flooding her every nerve until she can feel it prickling across her skin like an electric current. No, wait, that’s the bear in her skin, under her skin, itching to claw its way out and roar to the heavens. She wants to dive beneath the icy water separating the Cove from Hyaline and emerge amid the rolling hills and mountains of the place she had only just begun to call home. She wants to find her mother but apparently it isn’t safe (and unbeknownst to her, her mother is already infected).

    She stands with those assembled and listens to the Queens’ words, trembling and trying to control her shuddering skin. Changing here could be dangerous; they don’t know her like Sunny does. A third comes and speaks but she is too distracted, too scared to do anything but stare at the stranger, hardly even acknowledging her presence. She is not here to help. That’s all Dawn can tell. She cannot—she will not—she can even string two thoughts together.

    She is young, she had never known danger or heartache or true devastation. She doesn’t know what her mother lived through; what her grandsire lived through; what her great-grandparents and their parents went through. They all lived in a world that was much more dangerous than the one Dawn was living in up until today, and Cress had protected her dear, sweet daughter from the ugliness of the world.

    “I... want to stay where it’s safe,” she hears herself say, loudly enough to carry over the rest of those assembled. “But I don’t know where Sunny”—they don’t know him as Sunny, you dolt—“w-w-where Rhae is, and I want my friend to be safe.”
    clean.
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    #8

    Fear made her practical, and it would be a lie to say she wasn't afraid now. 

    With two children unaccounted for the decision to leave is a difficult one, but no less necessary. She had taken to the sky as soon as the felt the shifting of the land; Beqanna was shaking herself, and history had taught them that they were little more than fleas on her back - insignificant and small. 

    But fresh and renewed, their salvation had lifted from the ocean before her eyes as Solace dove below the clouds. An old land made new by the hand of magic was given to them, and there was only one option for Hyaline as a people. 

    The trek around the cove is relatively silent, the topics of daily life seem very small in moments like this. Instead, Solace lets her shoulder, or ever so lightly the tip of her wing, brush against her wife for reassurance. It's the only sign that she feels at all unsettled.

    Finally, they halt in the lad which will shelter them, and Kagerus addressed those gathered eloquently, addressing the main issues quickly before turning to Solace. 

    But the kraken-mare speaks first, and the Caretaker pauses to listen. At first, the unknown creature insults them as rulers, saying they have failed to protect their subjects as they stand - frightened yet resolute  - doing just that. Solace's patience is wearing thin as the recruitment efforts continue, as unappealing as moving to an uninhabited plague-riddled land sounds, she can not respect another's attempted to poaching the core of her nation. 

    But her last sentence is the Kraken's redemption; peace it is something that Solace can sympathize with, and in a round-about and threatening way, she guesses that is what the nameless mare is getting at. Solace presses her muzzle briefly to her mates cheek before turning to address the caravan, and their guest, herself. 

    "Your priority must be to keep yourselves well, for Hyaline. We must remain healthy to protect and shelter those who do contract this plague, and ourselves." The gold and ivory queen pauses briefly, her mind involuntarily tracing the faces of her unaccounted for children and fearing the worst. "The vultures always come out of the woodwork when there is unrest and sickness, we will be no good against them without our health." 

    Solace's heart stirs as Kensa and Lie step forward, and she listens with pride as the next generation of Hyalineinas speaks with such courage and honesty. Her head dips in appreciation towards each of them and her mind is made up.

    "Then we will stay here, close yet safe. And when the time comes that this sickness is washed clean we will return to our Homeland with strength and numbers." Her voice is clear and steady as she returns her crystalline gaze to Kagerus. 

    But Solace is unable to leave Dawn alone in her fear. She moves to moves to come alongside the young mare, seeking to lend her a shoulder to lean on if that will help sooth her shuddering, her roaming gaze landing on Kiko and Knaught as they too weigh in.
     
    Softly, her skin begins to glow. Like dawn over the mountains, barely noticeable at first, light washes across her coat and wings. It continues to brighten, twisting and rising upward in hundreds of thin threads until they form a pillar which stretches into the clouds. Solace feeds the magic with her own energy and hidden fear for the missing. With her light, she calls to them -  to all of those who still have not found their way the sanctuary reborn  - a beacon of safety. 

    "Even in adversity, we will prove that Hyaline can continue to flourish."

    S
    olace
        we're reeling through an endless fall
    we are the ever-living ghost of what once was


    EDIT: added another paragraph towards the top XD
    That's why I shouldn't rush posts
    Solghostdoll2

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    #9
    Knaught looks over to Solace. “Solace, I don’t know if you know me but I’m Knaught. Please let me help in any ways that I can. This place has been home for me, not for long, but once I stepped onto Hyaline lands, I felt at home. I want to help keep Hyaline strong, even if it means I sacrifice myself to the plague,” he explains, standing tall and brave. His thick dark tail stays still against his body, as he feels the winter gusts blow over him. He Allows himself to shiver a little bit before going back to his stance from before.

    He smiles softly looking at all the other horses, his mane, tail and his winter coat blow in the gusts. He looks back to Solace and gently bows to show respect and maturity.

    @Solace
    Reply
    #10
    She follows them as they move towards the Cove; a land she was unfamiliar with, as much of this place she still considered new. She had been in Hyaline when the change took place, if you could call it that. Beqanna was a large and vast place, and yet news spread fast — much like the disease they were all outrunning. She follows the masses, but even as she does so her dark eyes search worriedly for her gold-blazed daughter. She had been on a journey to Nerine with her father, and while she expected the wild filly to stay there awhile, it was unlike her to not return to Hyaline occasionally to see her mother, and the winged boy she often saw her with.

    She pushes the worry out of her mind, shivering against the bitter winter winds, reminding herself that Leilan was a good father to their daughter, and that Breckin was fond of her too; they wouldn’t let anything happen to Chryseis.

    The black mustang doesn’t fully understand what is happening, but the tension and worry is tangible. It hums in the air around them, she can see it in the creased lines of their faces as they travel, and she knows that whatever has swept across Beqanna is frightening, and something that no one here has witnessed before. They arrive in the Cove, which to her is just as lovely as any land she’s seen. She does not understand the fierce attachment that these horses have to dirt and trees, when the very same things can be found just about anywhere. It is the individuals of the herds that make every place different, and she has come to consider these horses home — not necessarily Hyaline.

    She listens, quiet, keeping her thoughts to herself for the most part. Briseis will likely stay wherever the majority chooses to stay; and she is about to say as much, when the stranger arrives. She smells of salt and brine, with tentacles that writhe to reveal a peculiar beak, and Briseis blatantly stares at her, unblinking. Every time she thinks she is getting used to this place, it throws something else at her. It takes her a moment, in fact, to realize that the creature is speaking to them — subtly insulting Kagerus and Solace, and simultaneously trying to lure them into the lion’s den of Pangea. ”Excuse me, but who are you?” Her voice is quiet and unwavering, with a calmness that is nearly unnerving; she has never been one to speak in poetry, and she wasn’t about to start now.
    briseis.
    you’re ripped at every edge but you’re a masterpiece
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