12-06-2018, 08:44 AM
the taigan
His heart hurt for her. He would never say it aloud of his former king but she was right. Had she been his daughter, nothing would have kept him from returning for her. She never would have had to be alone. No, even if he'd known about her then, she would've had him. He would have left the Taiga to care for her. It sends a sadness in his eyes, and a regret that nobody had told him of her existence then.
So much could've been avoided.
He nodded in understanding. Perhaps father was too generous in this case. He wouldn't say it aloud. Not of his king.
His attention honed sharper, listening intently to her discussion of the kingdoms. Naturally, he was not impressed with the kingdom-related options. Though he wasn't quite fond of the word herdland - it scrapes against a predator's pride - he would have the Taiga be an independent nation. A free land without rule, without attachment to another kingdom, for families to live in peace as the Taiga had been originally petitioned for.
The Taiga will be free.
"What about you? What would you do? You're back, and have more claim to Taiga than anyone else I know. You've led her before. What do you want to do, now that you're back?"
It made his back stiffen that he had even been considered gone, but he knew too well the side-effects of magic could be unpredictable. He didn't believe for a moment that Bright had intended for them to get trapped in time. Here he was a day or so later and years had passed. Lilitha was no longer a young girl, but grown and with a child of her own.
He considered her question deeply, though. He had never seen himself a king though he had been Taiga's leader for most of its existence. So there would be some that would still look to him for guidance in its future. A position that he'd been brought into rather than stealing a throne from someone else, one he had been asked to fill. He had done so proudly and humbly.
And if asked, would do it again.
He was modest, but he'd been here through Taiga's life and he knew that he had done best by Her with the Taigans at his side. He had cared for Her longest and had done a damn good job of it, ensuring Taiga remained teeming with life and thriving. There was no arrogance in the thoughts, only facts laid out for him to sift through as he mulled them over. He was honest and fair, even to himself on rare occasions it seemed. Surprisingly.
What would he do? He breathed out slow, strapped his boots on and got to work.
"I would hold the Taiga until the lands were settled." He still refused to use the word claim, nobody would claim the Taiga. It was meant to be as free as the people who lived under its dark forest. "If the fairies' promise was not as promised," he continued dryly, their betrayal loud and in the forefront of his mind, dropping the temperature around him dramatically with his rising mood.
"I would seek them out on the Mountain where the gift of Taiga had been first given. I would petition that they have it returned to its rightful state: a free, unclaimable land." Like the Forest, Meadow, or River. A free land settled in the middle of the territories rather than at the far edge of the earth as the others were. So long as it was respected.
And he damn sure wasn't going to stop protecting those within it. He had never needed - or wanted - a title for that. He would hold it if it was asked of him, or was necessary for Taiga's future, but for no other reason. As ever, he belonged to the Taiga. Not the other way around.
