"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
She’d hardly left the Dale since its return, more out of habit than anything else. Ea had been a homebody since birth, only leaving her homes out of obligation, ingrained in her by her mother. She no longer feels that obligation.
She especially loves to explore this version of the Dale — most of it is the same, really, and she can’t quite tell if there are parts of it that are new or if it had been too long since she was here last. Both could be true, she supposes. What a thing, for her to be comfortable not knowing.
She wakes early, just before the sun starts to rise. She’s always felt at home in the twilight — the magic of the sun peeking into the darkness, the moon and stars and planets still illuminated, blinking — but recently, she’s felt different. Stronger. She feels the twilight in her bones, pulsing with every heartbeat. She isn’t quite sure what to do with the feeling; will it someday swell and crash over her, merely a tide to the moon?
And then she hears a familiar voice, and pushes the thought away. “Beyza,” she says, softly, a smile forming on her face as she turns towards the other mare.
“Yes,” she says, simply, “the Dale needs a protector.” It seems odd that Ea wouldn’t feel the need to be in competition with Beyza, to prove herself and lead the Dale once again, but she simply doesn’t want to. She feels content. What does she have left to prove, after all?
“It should be yours, if you want it.”
AND I KNOW NONE OF THIS WILL MATTER IN THE LONG RUN,
BUT I KNOW A SOUND IS STILL A SOUND AROUND NO ONE
[so I know we need to think of a crown too, and while I’m not the best at any kind of design, here are some ideas: maybe some chunky rocks kind of like this but not crystals, twigs + rocks kind of like this, or maybe the rocks in these examples could be pebbles from the lake? idk obviously very open to ideas]
Ea
