[private] take a look in the mirror

[Tarian]

@[Altissima] surprises him again.

Tarian hadn't been born within Beqanna's borders but even he had heard of the Alliance. But the Loessian reminds himself that had been because of Lepis, then-Queen of Loess. She had asked the silvered pegasus to represent the Southern Kingdom in the tournament and Tarian - eager to return to a life he had once understood - had agreed. But most of the contestants that had fought on behalf of their homes and glory had learned that when the Mountain had summoned magic upon the winner, something had happened and the sun had burnt out.

"A battle for prestige and honor," Tarian tells Wildling, thinking that the mention might strike something in the wandering mare. The pegasus stallion tilts his head towards the slender creature but as she draws nearer, Tarian finds it harder to focus on the Alliance. Each step closer to him that she takes makes the contest harder to recall. His blue eyes watch her and while he concentrates on Altissima, Tarian's wings relax further. "But something happened during the final round," he says softly, "and the world went dark."

The Champion finally does not attempt concealing his injury from her.

(For anyone else, he would have. Tarian had refused healing aid from the Faeries after his final round in the Alliance. He had returned to Loess and  let time and nature heal his injury as he thought it intended.)

His blue eyes move from the limb that he can't bear weight on to and back towards Altissima's deep gaze, where he has started to wonder if he might drown. "Alright," the Champion tells her. If she can heal, Tarian will permit her to try it on him. There's no guarantee that it will work but the gray finds himself leaning towards more the thoughts that if it fails, he won't mind.

If it means that she might stay longer, Tarian finds that he doesn't mind at all.

"Just don't make me glow again," he finally mutters with the ghost of a smile tracing his dark lips.