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