[private] we were the first that ever burst into that silent sea

[Lepis]

again you’re gone, off on a different path than mine i'm left behind wondering if i should follow Dragons in the Kings Guard, Oceane says, and Lepis briefly wonders how powerful a king must be to have dragons content to be his guard. The dun mare’s experience with dragons is not especially expansive, but they seem to be a proud and often-grating lot, as interested in power and their next meal as they are in friendship. Most are loyal to a fault though, or perhaps that is simply to their family, and Lepis is fortunate to be considered such. She does wonder that Castile hadn’t shared that part of his nature with the opalescent mare. He has never made a secret of it in the past, Lepis thinks, why not reveal it to a mare that clearly spends much time in his company? That question and a dozen others dash through the dun mare’s mind as Oceane whispers a confession. It is Lepis’ time to be quiet now. Her blue-grey eyes search for something beneath a puzzled brow, but in the end she only shakes her head with a sigh. What is that, her mother had said? History is bound to repeat itself. Lepis hadn’t expected history to happen again so quickly, nor so close to her. Why couldn’t this have happened to a family in Tephra or the Icicle Island? Why did it have to be someone she knows? Oceane asks about Sochi, about what she looks like, and a final piece of the tale clicks into place. Perhaps she only wants to believe this newest friend, but she does not think herself already biased. There is nothing about the purple mare that suggests she’d known of the existence of a consort before this meeting. Oceane had not joined the family and then destroyed it – she hadn’t known there was anything to break at all. Not quite a historical repetition, Lepis thinks. The only one guilty of betrayal here is the dragon they’d discussed. Lepis takes a breath to replace the sigh she’d exhaled, and while she doesn’t manage to form a smile, her voice is calm when she replies. “She is a black mare with an unmistakable blue blaze. She is often a tigress.” And as dangerous as a dragon, Lepis does not add, though she suspects Oceane will understand. The dun mare’s golden face doesn’t show emotion, even when she suggests that the other mare should seek out Sochi. “This is something you should address before your child is born, then.” That time is growing short, they both know. There is also likely no way to repair what’s been broken, and Lepis knows that too well. “I have been in Sochi’s shoes.” Lepis admits, though she does not share the worst of it, that the admission of a lack of love hurt far worse than anything her former husband might have physically done. “It is not something I would wish on anyone.” “But if you did not know…” Here she pauses, again searching Oceane’s face, for some confirmation that this is true. “Then blame for this is not on your shoulders.” Lepis nods to herself, reminded once more of the folly of men. This is what her mother has always told her – they are weak and unfaithful and a wife’s duty is to bear it with a smile. But Lepis is not the smiling type, and she doubts that the Loessian Consort is either. LEPIS i’m the one who sees you home-- but now i’m lost in the woods and i don’t know what path you are on

@[Oceane]