Aela has a firm handle on her Magic because she would have no voice without it. Without her ability to project memories, there would be nothing to fill up the air between her and Meyer. She would simply stand there, trying to convey what she could with a glance or tilt of her head. A shake for No, a nod for Yes. She's grateful for this ability though she knows nothing of where or how it came, of who gave it to her. The yearling assumes that even the plain horses - the ones like brown Meyer - must have some sort of ability.
It never occurs to her that there might be horses without them. Aela, perhaps naively, assumes that there must be Magic in everything.
Magic might be the reason that Meyer scorns a squirrel but it is the reason that Aela found a way to speak at all. It allows her spotted mother to heal and it allows her grandmother to speak directly into her mind, to show her parts of Beqanna she has never been too and faces she has never met. Magic might serve as a source of suspicion for Meyer but Aela has come to learn that it is a portal. For a child who has been tucked away in the North and hardly allowed to leave (because she remembers nothing about the promise that Lilliana elicited from Kota, about the agreement made between the two mares in the exchange for a child), it had been her source of freedom.
She's grown up sure of Magic and her ability in it. It is why she can smile at Meyer so easily. It's why, perhaps, Heartfire's humor peaks out through this golden descendant. They could talk about the weather but why? Aela has never been able to have a conventional conversation. The sky above them - bright, vibrant, and blue - are certainly inviting but nothing about it seems interesting enough to take hold of this interaction.
Her memory and humor catches him. What Meyer does, though, is unique. When she has let her memories loose, part of Aela's fascination comes from how they are interpreted. She remembers Wherewolf and all his misplaced anger. She remembers Kensley and his fog. As she has gotten older, she has started to suspect that there is something more to the memories than just the images she reveals. The interaction with her half-brother had proved that; Aela had caught hold of his anger and the two of them battled over it, trying to lay claim to a fury that neither understood. Kensley had been a ghost and somehow her memories had colored him, taking all the gray that manifested around him and bringing it to light.
@[Meyer] is different.
It's the first time she has felt her Magic wretched from her and it startles her. She knows to expect the unexpected but this is the last thing she could ever imagine. (She has had a Magician touch her mind. She has resurrected a Ghost. She has spilled shared blood. This has never happened before.) Aela jerks her head back and the smile vanishes, evaporating into an expression that borders along indignation and shock. She feels the black hurt pierce her and the rage catches fire (because though Aela hasn't yet felt this depth of rage, she was created from the rage of a Curse that wanted Beqanna to burn with vengeance).
For a moment, she remembers the hollow sounds of hoofbeats against the sand. She remembers the fierce ache of her shoulder as she hit the hard soil in Nerine. She remembers the way that the air had fled from her lungs then as it does so now.
The bay boy bleeds emotions and Aela glares at him, her dainty ears burying into the fine strands of her pale mane, trying not to cut herself further. How was he doing that? He asks her why she is here and part of her wishes that she had use of her tongue, that her retort didn't only echo in her mind. Why not? She would have asked. Why shouldn't I be here? You have no more right to this place than I.
Instead, she projects another memory. She doubts he will feel what she did each time that she left the North but the wall of Magic keeps it sheen, even in her memories. It is a memory of slipping past the sequoia's and through a veil, something meant to keep her in and the rest of Beqanna out. She blinks when the memory fades and the accusation is clear in her blue eyes when they meet his: what would he do if he only had one place to go? Would he stay there like an animal trapped in a cage?
It never occurs to her that there might be horses without them. Aela, perhaps naively, assumes that there must be Magic in everything.
Magic might be the reason that Meyer scorns a squirrel but it is the reason that Aela found a way to speak at all. It allows her spotted mother to heal and it allows her grandmother to speak directly into her mind, to show her parts of Beqanna she has never been too and faces she has never met. Magic might serve as a source of suspicion for Meyer but Aela has come to learn that it is a portal. For a child who has been tucked away in the North and hardly allowed to leave (because she remembers nothing about the promise that Lilliana elicited from Kota, about the agreement made between the two mares in the exchange for a child), it had been her source of freedom.
She's grown up sure of Magic and her ability in it. It is why she can smile at Meyer so easily. It's why, perhaps, Heartfire's humor peaks out through this golden descendant. They could talk about the weather but why? Aela has never been able to have a conventional conversation. The sky above them - bright, vibrant, and blue - are certainly inviting but nothing about it seems interesting enough to take hold of this interaction.
Her memory and humor catches him. What Meyer does, though, is unique. When she has let her memories loose, part of Aela's fascination comes from how they are interpreted. She remembers Wherewolf and all his misplaced anger. She remembers Kensley and his fog. As she has gotten older, she has started to suspect that there is something more to the memories than just the images she reveals. The interaction with her half-brother had proved that; Aela had caught hold of his anger and the two of them battled over it, trying to lay claim to a fury that neither understood. Kensley had been a ghost and somehow her memories had colored him, taking all the gray that manifested around him and bringing it to light.
@[Meyer] is different.
It's the first time she has felt her Magic wretched from her and it startles her. She knows to expect the unexpected but this is the last thing she could ever imagine. (She has had a Magician touch her mind. She has resurrected a Ghost. She has spilled shared blood. This has never happened before.) Aela jerks her head back and the smile vanishes, evaporating into an expression that borders along indignation and shock. She feels the black hurt pierce her and the rage catches fire (because though Aela hasn't yet felt this depth of rage, she was created from the rage of a Curse that wanted Beqanna to burn with vengeance).
For a moment, she remembers the hollow sounds of hoofbeats against the sand. She remembers the fierce ache of her shoulder as she hit the hard soil in Nerine. She remembers the way that the air had fled from her lungs then as it does so now.
The bay boy bleeds emotions and Aela glares at him, her dainty ears burying into the fine strands of her pale mane, trying not to cut herself further. How was he doing that? He asks her why she is here and part of her wishes that she had use of her tongue, that her retort didn't only echo in her mind. Why not? She would have asked. Why shouldn't I be here? You have no more right to this place than I.
Instead, she projects another memory. She doubts he will feel what she did each time that she left the North but the wall of Magic keeps it sheen, even in her memories. It is a memory of slipping past the sequoia's and through a veil, something meant to keep her in and the rest of Beqanna out. She blinks when the memory fades and the accusation is clear in her blue eyes when they meet his: what would he do if he only had one place to go? Would he stay there like an animal trapped in a cage?
AELA
she had a marvelous time ruining everything
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so sorry that this took ages