06-12-2020, 04:11 PM
The soft glowing woman seems lost in thought for a moment, but she comes up with an answer before he has decided if he should react or comment on it in any way, which helps him decide not to. Why bother a lovely looking mare if she’s not? And yet, when she speaks of love for Taiga and its inhabitants, there’s something that his dragon eyes don’t miss; hesitation maybe? In an attempt to reassure, he shakes his crest and comments rather monotonous. ”Love’s a dangerous thing, Izora.” It should be a warning, or a rebellious statement perhaps, but he feels deflated by the subject - or rather what it means to him personally, and the train of thoughts he’d rather derail.
Instead, he listens to the woman as she speaks. For once, he’s quiet, absorbing the information about her not wanting to exist any more, but being saved - for him, it was a fairy that rather harshly put him back on track during his own attempt, which made him one of the few horses to actually know he’s immortal - and his love for Chryseis that had kept him going after that. For her it seemed much the same, though the difference was that she had adopted so many, instead of sharing nights with so many he’d almost forgotten and never knew for sure how many nights had been fruitful. All that, because of love - love for a woman who in the end had so many communication issues, he shouldn’t have been surprised that she of all mares had been the one he wanted. Still wanted, in a way, but he wanted the memory of her, the thing she used to be - not the woman she was now, who had gone with the other male without question at the time. He’d better forget. He’d rather erase, but no, that would mean erasing Oisin, who they’d named after her, and Eurwen, the twin who actually had taken after her mother; the boys too. No, he couldn’t erase her nor forget her, and that was his burden to bear. She had her own burdens, he could tell - she was avoiding a certain someone in her story, too.
He decided he wouldn’t ask.
She offered the food of Taiga, and he nodded - it’d still be a swim, but the residents would be pleased to know that there were places they could officially go to in times of need. He didn’t want to raid Loessian territory while Alcinder was in the north, or bother Brennen’s protégé again - if it became too many, the magician would probably put an end to it in a way Leilan wouldn’t like.
But when they reach the top, freeing him from the humid heat below, his world starts to tumble again.
”I.... it’s a long story.” for a moment he closes up, the way he clammed when he’d slipped in front of Lilli. But back then he had not been the leader of the Isle, and she not been a leader of Taiga. Now, their roles meant that he should share, even if it was painful for him because of the spotted woman whom he’d hoped to have erased from his mind by now - and found that while he’d locked her away, she slipped back into his mind with full force - strong enough to make breathing difficult, to make his treacherous eyes swirl colours of red, blue, and the inbetween purple. There was nothing as bad as this - not even throwing himself off the mountain and hitting nearly every rock present. ”I mean... there was a Plague. Breckin was pregnant. Carnage had revived Pangea, so the fairies gave us islands - safe spots. I went to claim it, for her, for Nerine, for the baby.” he shakes his head. ”Others came, willing to throw Heartfire out, as she was sick - which is ridiculous, safe is safe.” he frowns, replaying the images of that day when everything turned into one chaotic mess of horses, shouting left and right, Heartfire sick and seeing things, the stranger with his fear aura, the magician peeking into his mind, the demon sending flies - the literal explosion of Heartfire’s emotions, the whole in the granite she’d blown which had also accidentally cracked his skull. For a moment, he is silent, remembering he always had a reason to come back to the land of the living, to not be taken in by the ghosts in the Afterlife had been such a blessing - now, he had nothing else to cling to, and he’d given his heart to that same piece of land.
He takes a staggering breath, realizing he had been silent for too long. ”Long story short, we won, and for a time we had peace.” - and four children - ”When I became tired of ruling, I gave up leadership to Jesper, my Brother under Brennen - but that’s another story.” he muses a bit, thinking where to start again. Ah, the Isle itself - she wasn’t interested in his broken life, surely. ”Icicle Isle has always been frozen up north, with a heart-shaped lake that never freezes between the never-melting snow and ice. The south made it habitable to the grass-eaters, with the pine forest in the west and the meadows of tough grass on rock, and for most of Nerine it was a safe haven until the Plague got Cured. After that, peaceful but silent, not bothering anyone, and a place to live for those with abilities like mine, horses with a tendency to love the cold. It was like that when I came back, and spent a year in the northern half of the Isle while Jesper still ruled it. That’s what gave me the ability to choose my shape,” he smiles a bit, not sure if she knows what he’s talking about here, but honestly it’d break the story to do so, questions could come later. ”I claimed it back when Jesper had gotten stolen and Castile sacked the place. I was... a bit fed up with no-one stepping up. So the new policy is to not stay silent, to not wait for things to come to us, for things to happen - but to act out before they do. I believe Beqanna owes us that much.” he shrugs a little, forgetting about the hardest part of the story as quickly as he can muster; that is, if she doesn’t ask yet another question that might unknowingly drill directly to his core.
Instead, he listens to the woman as she speaks. For once, he’s quiet, absorbing the information about her not wanting to exist any more, but being saved - for him, it was a fairy that rather harshly put him back on track during his own attempt, which made him one of the few horses to actually know he’s immortal - and his love for Chryseis that had kept him going after that. For her it seemed much the same, though the difference was that she had adopted so many, instead of sharing nights with so many he’d almost forgotten and never knew for sure how many nights had been fruitful. All that, because of love - love for a woman who in the end had so many communication issues, he shouldn’t have been surprised that she of all mares had been the one he wanted. Still wanted, in a way, but he wanted the memory of her, the thing she used to be - not the woman she was now, who had gone with the other male without question at the time. He’d better forget. He’d rather erase, but no, that would mean erasing Oisin, who they’d named after her, and Eurwen, the twin who actually had taken after her mother; the boys too. No, he couldn’t erase her nor forget her, and that was his burden to bear. She had her own burdens, he could tell - she was avoiding a certain someone in her story, too.
He decided he wouldn’t ask.
She offered the food of Taiga, and he nodded - it’d still be a swim, but the residents would be pleased to know that there were places they could officially go to in times of need. He didn’t want to raid Loessian territory while Alcinder was in the north, or bother Brennen’s protégé again - if it became too many, the magician would probably put an end to it in a way Leilan wouldn’t like.
But when they reach the top, freeing him from the humid heat below, his world starts to tumble again.
”I.... it’s a long story.” for a moment he closes up, the way he clammed when he’d slipped in front of Lilli. But back then he had not been the leader of the Isle, and she not been a leader of Taiga. Now, their roles meant that he should share, even if it was painful for him because of the spotted woman whom he’d hoped to have erased from his mind by now - and found that while he’d locked her away, she slipped back into his mind with full force - strong enough to make breathing difficult, to make his treacherous eyes swirl colours of red, blue, and the inbetween purple. There was nothing as bad as this - not even throwing himself off the mountain and hitting nearly every rock present. ”I mean... there was a Plague. Breckin was pregnant. Carnage had revived Pangea, so the fairies gave us islands - safe spots. I went to claim it, for her, for Nerine, for the baby.” he shakes his head. ”Others came, willing to throw Heartfire out, as she was sick - which is ridiculous, safe is safe.” he frowns, replaying the images of that day when everything turned into one chaotic mess of horses, shouting left and right, Heartfire sick and seeing things, the stranger with his fear aura, the magician peeking into his mind, the demon sending flies - the literal explosion of Heartfire’s emotions, the whole in the granite she’d blown which had also accidentally cracked his skull. For a moment, he is silent, remembering he always had a reason to come back to the land of the living, to not be taken in by the ghosts in the Afterlife had been such a blessing - now, he had nothing else to cling to, and he’d given his heart to that same piece of land.
He takes a staggering breath, realizing he had been silent for too long. ”Long story short, we won, and for a time we had peace.” - and four children - ”When I became tired of ruling, I gave up leadership to Jesper, my Brother under Brennen - but that’s another story.” he muses a bit, thinking where to start again. Ah, the Isle itself - she wasn’t interested in his broken life, surely. ”Icicle Isle has always been frozen up north, with a heart-shaped lake that never freezes between the never-melting snow and ice. The south made it habitable to the grass-eaters, with the pine forest in the west and the meadows of tough grass on rock, and for most of Nerine it was a safe haven until the Plague got Cured. After that, peaceful but silent, not bothering anyone, and a place to live for those with abilities like mine, horses with a tendency to love the cold. It was like that when I came back, and spent a year in the northern half of the Isle while Jesper still ruled it. That’s what gave me the ability to choose my shape,” he smiles a bit, not sure if she knows what he’s talking about here, but honestly it’d break the story to do so, questions could come later. ”I claimed it back when Jesper had gotten stolen and Castile sacked the place. I was... a bit fed up with no-one stepping up. So the new policy is to not stay silent, to not wait for things to come to us, for things to happen - but to act out before they do. I believe Beqanna owes us that much.” he shrugs a little, forgetting about the hardest part of the story as quickly as he can muster; that is, if she doesn’t ask yet another question that might unknowingly drill directly to his core.
nothing burns like the cold
Leilan
@[Izora Lethia]
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
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