and I discovered that my castles stand
upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand
The trail along the border is free of snow and full of Texas’ hoofprints. He patrols for something to do rather than any innate sense of watchfulness, and had intended to spend the entirety of the day walking circles around the kingdom. Those plans are waylaid by an unexpected summons from an unfamiliar voice, and Texas leaves his monotonous task with something akin to hope.
Perhaps today will not be terribly boring after all.
The summons – though royal – are not from Shatter Me, and Texas more closely inspects the scarred stallion as he makes his way to their kingdom gathering (currently a party of two). He knows that this is the father of Shatter Me’s children, and it seems that their queen has finally made the (very wise) choice to put the running of the kingdom into a man’s hands. Since Texas hasn’t ever followed orders that weren’t in his own best interest given by Shatter Me, he’s not at all inclined to argue with the appointment of another ruler that will give orders that he may or may not decide to follow.
He gives them a rather lovely speech about preserving the kingdom. Everyone has always been so concerned about that, as if the geographical place itself will shrivel up and disappear if they stop recruiting and politicking. They won’t; they never have, but perhaps the worry gives their lives meaning. It only gives Texas a headache, and so he has learned not to care.
“Does this new council have any actual power?” He asks, tone bored but eyes bright. The answer needs to be a resounding No, of course, because if they have any real say in the running of the kingdom the Falls might as well volunteer to be a subkingdom to their council members. In addition, if they give an Amazon power in the Falls, Texas will have to dispose of her, and he will admit to liking the little green bird that flits around the Falls. He doesn’t like it enough not to kill it if he has to, but he’d prefer not to if it could be avoided.
Tiberios then promotes him to General, which Texas thinks he should have been several years ago, so he only nods in acceptance. He’ll have to think about the horns. Interesting, but they might make him look odd, and he’d rather avoid that. That is followed by the usual talk of things they must do. Boring things, things that even the Queen doesn’t do anymore. Will Tiberios be content to let her continue to sit back and do nothing? Perhaps not – she does seem to be rather good at child-rearing, and that’s an invaluable quality in a child. Perhaps now she’ll take the backseat and let someone more qualified make the decisions.
He mentions his son being missing, and since Texas doesn’t much care about children, especially those that aren’t his own, he just nods in response. The nod looks identical to a sympathetic gesture, a “good luck”, but Texas is actually already considering the best way back to the woods – one that will involve the least amount of walking through the snow. He’s already turning to go when he hears the question “Dad?”. He assumes it’s going to be Khalis, pupping up from wherever he’s been hiding, but he turns his head just enough to see a bay and white mare at the edge of the water.
It takes him a while, as it always does, memories going back several decades. The emotions he associates with Piety come to him before her name does (Prague had named the twins, Texas would have named them The Paint One and The Not Paint One), and he’s stepping toward her with a truly genuine smile on his grizzled face before he’s even fully processed her arrival. “Piety!” He says finally, the exclamation quiet and full of emotions he’s not bothered to feel in the last several years. “Where have you been?” The cave, obviously, but why? Had she been hiding? Had Prague been hiding her?
texas
