"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
A thundering sound shook the ground of the Chamber as the two horses raced on. Nitika whinnied happily, her white coat glistening like ivory as she raced on. A wind rushed through her mane and tail as she covered the ground in large strides despite her smaller body figure; well, small in comparison to the father of her filly, and even her rapidly growing daughter.
At only a year, Siba was quickly catching up with her in height. The filly's coat was beautiful, her paint points lightening so that they nearly matched her father's in color. Her multi-colored mane and tail were long and thick, a trait she'd inherited from her dam. In all, she'd inherited a lot of traits from both of her parents, and had grown into a beautiful yearling.
Living in the Chamber took a little getting used to at first, but Nitika had quickly grown used to it. She didn't know if she would stay once Siba was a little older and could traverse between the kingdoms freely, but if she did choose so, it was a nice place to call home. She had been living in the Falls for a while though... she owed them her loyalty...
The sound of hooves next to her snapped her back to reality. The mare looked over, seeing Siba was catching up fast to her dam. Nitika put on another burst of speed, playfully whinnying at her daughter as she raced on, determined to beat Siba in the small race to the creek they were having. They sometimes engaged in mock races like this to work on their speed and endurance, valuable traits for a wild horse to have.
When Siba had been a weanling, Nitika had often let her daughter win. Not to give her an ego, but to show her daughter it did take a lot of heart to win, as well as strategy and strength. If this was a situation where a predator was chasing her, she needed to adjust her running plan, use the land to her advantage. However, today, it was all about fun.
"Come on slowpoke, you can do it!" the paint mare shouted to her daughter as she spurred herself on.
Siba laughed loudly as she and her dam continued to race across the fields of the Chamber kingdom and toward the small creek nearby, both running as fast as they could. During the time they'd spent in the Chamber, they'd grown to know it pretty well, even though Siba knew there were a lot of other secrets still hidden within.
At first, Siba had been confused as to why they'd left the Falls. Nitika had simply told her she wanted the paint filly to be able to spend time with her sire while she was growing up, something that made sense to the young creature. She'd been quite excited when she and her dam had made the journey to their temporary home until Siba was deemed old enough by both parents to traverse between the herds without some supervision to protect her.
Siba focused on her dam's form running in front of her. She would not lose this race today; she'd lost too many already! She spurred on, her legs kicking into overdrive as she raced to run on an equal pace with her dam. It seemed to work, for a moment, as Nitika slowed a little and Siba caught up. However, seconds later, Nitika sped up again, laughing good-naturedly as she called back to the filly, taunting her with the name 'slowpoke'.
Siba whinnied before pushing herself to run harder, "We'll see who's the slowpoke today!" The filly was exhausted from running, but she kept on, having a good feeling about today. They continued to race on, the creek now within distance. Siba put on a last bit of show, kicking it up one more notch and successfully getting ahead of her dam before they reached the creek.
Once they were there, Siba slowed to a halt, her hooves kicking up dirt as she skidded along. She whinnied, jumping up in the air and rearing a couple of times, a victorious look on her face.
"Haha, I won! I beat you mom!" the filly cried, kicking up her front legs again to show her elation.
The time had passed too quickly, the seconds fell away to minutes, hours to days. Soon enough those days added to months until about a year had passed. During that time Nikita had proven to be a brilliant mother. He had watched her raise Siba into a bright and curious yearling. Nymph had grown fond of Nikita, her insight on the happenings within Beqanna, and the little personally ticks she noticed in Siba had easily become recognizable as unique to her. He cared for her, she had allowed him something that he had been denied before and too wounded to ask for it until then. He didn't know how much longer Nikita would stay in Chamber but he wished to make the best of it.
The Chamber was in a state of change, his recent promotion, 2 new students to train, the loss of Arthas, Gates no longer being an ally, and the drama with Dacia and Lupei all meant that he had spent more time away working than he had with them. He was greatful for the time that had been made available none the less. He had just come from the Kingdom meeting, which Nikita had not been allowed to come due to her temporary status here. The blood bay rounded the corner to their own little corner of Chamber's forest only to see Siba and Nikita fly by in what appeared to be a foot race. A laugh escaped his throat, as he called to both of them, "I like to think she gets it from me!" The necromancer was made for speed, so he took the opportunity to boast about his traits in the filly. "Been dragging your mother around all morning, Siba?" He threw a wink to Nikita, figuring she would understand the jest.
Sibs's ears turned to the right as she heard the familiar voice of her sire. The yearling smiled, laughing good-naturedly as she listened to him boast to Nitika about his superior speed, and it was through him Siba inherited hers.
The painted yearling rolled her eyes a bit; now she knew where she also got her slightly egotistical tone, given she often bragged to her dam as well about her achievements. For example, she had just done so, saying she'd beaten Nitika in that race and laughing about it afterwards.
Scampering up to her sire, the yearling gave a little buck of joy before replying to his question, "No, I haven't been dragging her around! I have been making her race me though..." Siba trailed off, shuffling one hoof sheepishly on the ground.
Nitika, like her daughter, rolled her eyes as she listened to Nymphetamine brag about how Siba inherited her speed from him. The mare took a moment to regain her breath, her sides heaving from the exertion; it'd been a while since she'd had a good run like that. Silently envying Raxa for what seemed to be her never-ending stamina, the painted mare walked over to join her daughter and the blood colored stallion.
Listening to Siba answer her sire's question, Nitika laughed, "That's basically the same thing darling," she said, nudging the yearling with her muzzle. Laughing again, the paint mare looked at Siba, "Darling, go play on your own for a moment, I'd like to speak with your father."
After Siba trailed off to go explore the field grass, Nitika looked at Nymphetamine, momentarily admiring the healthy color of his coat and his well-conditioned muscles before speaking, "Nymphetamine, I know it was a little hard with your place in the kingdom, but I know Siba has enjoyed her time here. She seems happy getting to be with you, perhaps because she's a lot like you in many ways. Because of that, well..."
Nitika trailed off a moment. She looked down and took a deep breath before continuing, determined to get it out, "I've been speaking with her about her future, where she wishes to live when she's old enough to leave me. I think a year old is fine, but if you don't think so, then I'll agree. I've been thinking about asking her if she wishes to remain with me, or come to live in the Chamber with you. I wish to know, would you take her in here, take care of her until she is ready to head out on her own?"
Her eyes are always so innocent, they hadn't known war, they haven't known loss or pain beyond scrapes and bruises. Nymphetamine wished he could keep that way always, but he knew someday Siba would understand pain, and loss. The little Pintabian would grow and have pain but he would protect that as long as possible. So when once again when her innocence gleamed from her eyes and her words fell in a way that made her statement more of a tentative question he laughed and lipped her mane softly. Her mother was first to reply, and sent her away so they could talk.
Nikita had been away from the Falls for a long time, Siba would no longer need her mother around all the time, and Nikita would leave soon. Nikita waited a moment before getting on with what she needed to discuss. Nymphetamine listened quietly, nodding a little as he took in her words, he waited until she finished before adding his piece. He smiled lightly as he spoke, hoping to ease her worries. "I'm sure it has been hard being away from Falls so long. I am so grateful for the time you gave me." Nymphetamine paused a moment, letting the sincerity of his words sink in. "Of course Siba would be welcomed, Killdare would be glad to have her and she would be trained in war or peace if she wanted. I would continue to keep an eye on her as well. The choice is with Siba of course, and I will visit no matter what she chooses." He waited a moment for Nikita to respond of ask questions before he asked the question he knew was on both their minds, "When will you leave? I'm sure you have a plan in mind, given the conversation we are having."
Like a thorn to the Holy Ones
ooc: ugh i ran out of time to finish this... sorry its choppy!
"It hasn't been the hardest time; I've rather enjoyed my time here in the Chamber. It took time, adjusting to being away from home, but I got used to it. Siba seems to enjoy it here as well, and I'm glad about that."
As Nymphetamine assured Nitika that Siba would be well-looked after in the Chamber, trained either as a warrior, like the medicine hat paint mare, or a diplomat if she preferred words as a weapon. He said that he would visit no matter what Siba chose, something that puzzled Nitika. Why would he want to continue to visit if Siba was here? Wasn't she the only reason he'd been visiting the Falls before Nitika had come here so Siba could grow up with her sire around?
"I thank you for that Nymphetamine. I know she will be well looked after here."
Then, he asked of her plans for her own future, when she would return to the Falls. For a moment, Nitika didn't know what to say, genuinely unsure. "I'm... I really don't know. I've enjoyed it here, it's a nice place to live. I know Siba will be safe here if she chose to stay, but at the same time... I'm not sure if its her, or something else, but I don't want to leave."
OOC: Oh don't worry about it, it's not a big deal at all.
![[Image: nymphetamine_zpsmlx48otf.gif]](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/dsl_devin/nymphetamine_zpsmlx48otf.gif)