05-28-2020, 11:03 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-28-2020, 11:07 AM by aletta.)
When the dawn wakes, so does Aletta.
She has never wasted much time lingering when a day starts. An old habit of hers, brought upon by a lifetime of patrolling and raising small children and then grandchildren. An even older one started from a beginning of wandering, of following the sun as soon as it rose.
It hadn’t been an easy choice to resume this lifestyle. The wanderer had long left her soul. Aletta had let her go the day that she had decided to let herself love. She has no doubt that her soul went east and west, north and south while her heart stayed within the ancient valley. (So many happy memories there - why would she ever have gone anywhere else?)
The gray mare is trying very hard to reacquaint herself with the soul that traveled and the heart that stayed. Rising early, leaving a still-sleeping Scorch, is something that helps.
Sunlight comes cascading through the treetops. The green that adorns them is bright and vibrant, revealing that Beqanna is in the heart of spring. These early mornings are quiet (apart from the idyll chatter of birdsong) and the air blows tepid, without the coming humidity of summer.
The silver mare wanders down a trail that is well-traveled - many scents linger and she assumes that is only the dawn that keeps travelers away. Their heads are still clouded with dreams. Aletta doesn’t mind. The pale woman walks ahead, enjoying the fact that she is very much awake while the world still sleeps.
@[Squirt] have a starter but open to anyone!
Throughout the ups and downs in Mesec’s life, his favourite time of day has shifted. He’s always felt most comfortable at night - sometimes when the moon is out, the silver light reminding him of his mother, and others when the moon is completely hidden and he can focus instead on feeling relief from her absence.
But the dawn, the bright and colourful start to a new day, has been a favourite for a while. In the sky, he sees colours that remind him of friends he has lost, of his children now grown and living scattered throughout the lands. It reminds him of that flame of hope in his heart that never quite went out, even when things were at their darkest.
He closes his silver eyes when he feels the first rays of sunlight on his face, relishing the warmth they bring and feeling all the sweeter for breaking up the shadows of the cool green forest. When he opens them again, he moves from where he had been standing towards a path he remembered seeing - and there spots a grey figure coming along the path towards him. He does not move to block the path but stays with his hooves shrouded in small green plants and the occasional flower - his voice carefully not too loud so as to not break the peaceful spell of the new day.
“Good morning.” And that’s when some of the anxiety that plagued him in his youth begins to swell up, choking off the question about whether she would mind some company on her stroll through the woods. Instead, he leaves it there, for now, giving this stranger the opportunity to pause as she passes him or, perhaps, just move on to wherever she was going.
Mesec
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@[aletta]
06-10-2020, 06:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-10-2020, 06:24 PM by aletta.)
Aletta has been as unmoving as the Mountains of her youth in regards to her habits.
There is respite to be found in the sleeping hours. However, the silver mare has spent many of them speaking with stars instead of resting. (Those twinkling sentinels have become more of companions than transients through their years together.) There had been many restless nights trying to understand their intentions - to learn about the things she never understood.
(And maybe that was the way her traveling soul made peace with staying in one place for so long. She let her mind wander where her heart could not go. Perhaps that was the way she had learned to cope with staying still when the wanderlust in her veins had told her to go.)
She has long kept vigil with the night but Aletta always looks forward to the dawn.
The dawn represents new beginnings. It represents a start where an encroaching night only speaks of an end. Dawn usually begins with luster, still gilded with all the promise of things that haven’t gone wrong. It emphasizes the inception of things that could be and haven’t yet (or won’t) become tarnished with the endless cycle of the sun.
(Oh, to be at the start again. What would that be like?)
At this moment, it's easy to pretend that she is doing another patrol. The foals and the rivers are long gone but the ghost of that lifetime still starts each day with her. It’s not the beginning she had just been contemplating but the familiarity of the habit keeps her company as she walks this trail. It’s an easy companionship, Aletta and her silence. One that has been with her since the beginning of her journey away from the Mountaintops.
Only that is not the only thing with her, not this morning.
Having had spied him further down the trail. He was hard to miss, with those wings and a horn that looked like it had gone awry. (A battle scar, maybe?) In the morning light, he was all silver and glory. Like her earlier presumption of him - hard to miss. "Morning,” the former Regent replies just as carefully back to him, unsure what to make of the winged stallion.
Floundering in the early morning quiet, she tilts her head. "Care for company…?” Aletta asks, leaving the space in the question (and the trail) open if he wanted to take it.
@[Mesec]
There’s enough hesitation in the grey mare’s voice that Mesec wonders if, maybe, he’s not the only one with a bit of anxiety when starting fresh conversations with strangers. He’s making assumptions - but it’s hard to brush off assumptions that make you feel better.
Mesec has always favoured being with others over being by himself - it’s such a simple thing, having company, but it’s still a bit of a novelty for him. So when tilts her head and offers it - who is he to say no? The soft smile in his silver eyes continues to warm. “That’d be wonderful. I’m Mesec.” He moves with grace and care - the movements of someone who is mindful of the space he takes up and how it might affect others. Luckily, the trail is large enough that they can walk more-or-less side by side, though he keeps his wings tucked in tight just to be polite.
“I’m still pretty new to these lands, do you know if this trail leads anywhere in particular?” His tone is light and it hopefully conveys that he is just curious - because it doesn’t really matter either way. Whether there was a destination or not, he truly was happy just to have some company for a time. He can’t help but think of the equine’s he’s known before, with their powerful dragon companions making up for any physical adornments.
And he then chides himself, bringing up that ever-present reminder that he would do no one any favours by dwelling in memories and comparisons. He can’t cut out pieces of this land and force them into the puzzle of his past.
So focuses more on the present, even if it’s just filled with small talk for the moment. He likes small talk.
Mesec
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Image Credits
@[aletta]
06-26-2020, 11:17 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-26-2020, 11:28 AM by aletta.)
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If there is one thing she has learned from wandering, it is that paths cross.
They come together - much like the crossroad she and Mesec create - and that moment now waits to be woven into the fabric of their lives, a sentence to be written in both their stories. Aletta takes the time to study with the exact care that the pegasus had given to the tone of his voice.
Careful not to break the peace of the early morning light, quiet as the black stallion made his own decision on how he wanted to start this new day. How (and if) he wanted to meet this particular crossroad. The dark pegasus smiles - something that comes gently shining through his bright eyes - and Aletta gives a small nod of her head.
The wanderer was used to roaming alone; the Regent had done her cautionary patrols in solitude. The silence - her usual companion - had been exchanged for Mesec and the gray mare finds that she doesn’t mind. He has a peaceful presence and while her mind is still reaching for routines from a life gone, she finds that crossing paths with him might be an amicable one to walk.
"Aletta,” she offers nonchalantly, taking note as he tucked his wings closely against him. Her dark eyes linger there, curious before looking up and moving ahead.
There is some time that passes where nothing passes at all between them. The gray mare from the Mountains has spent the last few years of her adult life (and before that) with the snowfall and starlight. It’s a habit to let other things fill the silence - the sound of leaves and twigs breaking underneath their hoofsteps, the birdsong occupying the branches above them, the steady exhales of their breath as they move along - instead of conversation.
An ear flutters in his direction when @[Mesec] speaks again, mentioning that he (like her) is new to Beqanna. This isn’t her first time in the Land of the Sunrise and his confession that he comes from somewhere else does intrigue her. The traveler in Aletta (the one from the beginning) had wanted to see all the worlds she could. To prove to herself that there were many other existences that were so very different from the one of her youth.
Mesec asks her if she knows where this trail leads and the wayfarer feels a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Her idea of fun has always been learning the lay of lands; of meeting the crossroads and seeing what can be divulged. It's not always the same for others. "I don’t,” she admits. Aletta slows her stride and turns her head, considering him. "Does that change your mind?”
aletta we turned our back on ordinary from the start
photo credit to charlie---x
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