Talulah;

[Talulah]

This time when they find each other, everything is different. They are more than they’ve been before, a wholesome triad eager for each other’s company. A family. Maybe she shouldn’t hold it in higher regards than her Dale family, maybe it’s wrong that she cherishes these interactions above all, but she does. When Tiphon finds them (and specifically finds the crook of her shoulder) it doesn’t feel wrong, though. Where their skin meets – his bright and warm and hers dark and cool – it feels like a promise being upheld. He said he’d protect her, had told her as much as she stood swathed in his wing. How can she doubt the angel who’s become her guardian? Talulah presses her soft muzzle (one of the last refuges of soft on her glinting, metal body) to the space just below his ear. In some ways, ways that are new to her, she wishes her son was elsewhere, off playing so they can share this moment alone. But he’s there, just behind her, watching their greeting with that luminous, curious gaze that is all his. And if that isn’t reason enough, she’s come to accept that he’s no longer a little boy. Ramiel has seen more than a year to his life already; he’s growing up at a speed that is bittersweet. Reluctantly, the silver mare pulls away from Tiphon just as he does the same. The stallion looks to his son who draws closer in response. He seems to glow under his father’s praise (and even though he’s young, he realizes he has done little to deserve it – such is the way of father’s, he supposes). Strong is all he aspires to. Strong in his body and mind. Strong as the river that cuts the land, the granite that frames the mountains. He wants to be strong in everything but defeat – youth has leant him aspirations and naivety equally. The black yearling grins when his sire stirs his forelock, feeling too old for the gesture but grateful for it nonetheless. He doesn’t know the man like he knows his mother, and he will allow just about anything in order to do so. But his next words confuse even him. “What sort of power, Father?” Ramiel looks at his dam who in turn, looks back to Tiphon. The thought that she is raising a prince has crossed her mind a few times. And though she’s never treated him as such, never given Ramiel a reason to hold himself above anyone, the fact rings clear now. But the gold stallion has also never brought up the matter to her. Her eyes are a soft, unspoken question when they find his. When he asks another, she is smiling. “How do you think I’m doing now that we’re all together again?” She bumps his shoulder with hers, emphasizing her point. “What about you? Did you learn of anything while you were away?” t a l u l a h lady of the Dale

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