"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
Just like that...in one day there lives were turned upside down. She was Queen, and just like that she was dethroned. He was in shock, and surely she was too. He had no words to console her, he could not believe that after all her years of dedication to that island the members all turned on her. He gritted his teeth in anger, and his ears pinned to his dome. The bay winged stallion came to mind and he his body grew warm with fury.
There were few kingdoms he wanted to be apart of, Nerine was part of the problem. Hyaline was not fitting for them. His beloved Taiga was no more, but Tephra....Tephra seemed to be safe. The bay and green mare was traveling with him, she was quiet and rightfully so.
They finally made it to the Tephra boarder, surely there Ischia scent would linger through the kingdom and others would come flying. He turns to Krone and nuzzles her reassuringly Krone....we can build our family here...in Tephra. He looks around, it was warm here, like Ischia was but less humid. It was beautiful scenery, he would miss the parrots that chirped overhead but surely he would adjust. I do not know what to say to make this better. But I will still be by your side, through everything.
One minute she was a queen, and the next she was a refuge with no obvious place to go, no plan for what lie ahead. She was still in shock of it all, and ultimately she just felt numb. Who was she, if she wasn't a leader? Who was she, if she didn't have a home?
Durotan followed her, thank god. She walked by his side, both of them deathly silent. She kept replaying the day over and over in her head - the hurt, the betrayal, the guilt. It all came back to her in waves. She had failed them (Durotan, Circinae, Kylin, Klaudius, her children), left them with no home.
She cannot go anywhere else. They cross the borders into Tephra, the climate similar to her (stop, it's not yours anymore) island home. She lets out an unsteady breath, then looks over to Durotan as he speaks. His words don't make her feel anything...she feels raw. "There isn't anything you can say, Duro," She murmurs, her voice low and quiet. She didn't have the strength to speak as she normally would. "I'm so sorry. I failed you all..." She turns her head away, fighting back the tears that were threatening to pour out.
he finds them on the shore, ragged and tossed-together. Although Wound has never been to Ischia, she can identify the deeply-rooted scents that rest upon their skin from her many trips to the Field. They are slathered with the aromas of their home and fear and grief and thus the quickening of concern finds her belly.
She comes to them from a thinly-weaving trail out of the jungle foliage, skin just drying from a dip in a small cove not far away. It’s a ghostly cry of her first time to Tephra’s shores (looking just as unsettled and dismantled as them) when Longclaw had appeared from the shadows as though he were a blue mirage. She is not blue, but rather drawn with colors of silvery umber, and no carefree smile dazzles her face.
Instead, Wound’s face is already approaching a comforting structure. She can see suffering a mile away (she’d grown up around it, hidden in the dark corners of Beqanna with the sorrowful crying and angry gnashing of teeth) and her heart aches to soothe their hearts. It is as she gets closer that her memory is jogged and she remembers the bay appy stallion who stands beside the colorful mare.
“Durotan?” They had met in a commonplace of Beqanna briefly one day not long ago, but ultimately departed ways. Still, Wound hadn’t forgotten his handsome face nor the shy filly he brought along with him. “Welcome to Tephra.” Although her voice is welcoming, it is tender with the underlying question of their presence. Turning to the green and bay mare, the silver mare introduces herself. “I’m Wound. How can I help all of you?”
credit to nat of adoxography.
@[Durotan] @[Krone] @[Warrick] (if he wants to join)
04-13-2018, 08:31 PM (This post was last modified: 04-13-2018, 08:43 PM by Durotan.)
Durotan
Krones family trailed with them, the young twins ripped from the only home they knew. His gaze shifts to her as she speaks There is nothing you can say he knew that, but it still stung to hear. Only time will heal the pain she felt, but he hoped he could pull her out of the state of depression she was in. I'm sorry I failed you she tried with all her might to hold the tears in.
He presses against her, reach his neck out to nudge her cheek Krone, you did not fail anyone. Your residents failed you, they betrayed you. They know no loyalty. He wanted to say so much to her, he wanted to take away her pain but he did not know what he could do to fix this situation. We will rebuild Krone, your family is here and that is all that matters.
His attention quickly flicks to another that approaches, to his suprise it was Wound, a mare he met before residing in Ischia. He remembers the greying mare with an unproportioned front leg Wound his voice was cheery. She introduces herself to Krone and her children, she then asks why they are here. It was surely an odd sight to see, a large clan of horses traveling to a kingdom. Wound....I will spare all the details, surely the rumors will spread soon enough. He glances to Krone before looking back to Wound We are hoping to find a permanent home here in Tephra. He smiles at her, happy to have a familiar face in a strange land.
Durotan tells her as she allows him to pull her into his chest. She figures this is true - everyone she had thought would be there for her had turned against her, and for what? A brotherhood. She couldn't believe it...Brennen was seriously trying to turn Ischia into a new Tundra, and there was nothing she could do about it. They took the land as if the island was theirs to begin with, but Krone knows that underlying truth. Ischia couldn't be tamed by politics, and soon enough the Brotherhood would learn that.
When the dis-proportioned mare approaches, Krone cannot give her so much as a smile. The former Keeper feels the pain throughout her body, from her brain, trailing to the ends of her nerves. Durotan knows this mare, however, and that makes her feel a little bit better - maybe they would be welcomed afterall.
"Krone..." She finally manages to say to the mare called Wound. "Keeper -" She stops herself. For years that is how she introduced herself...but that wasn't her title anymore. " - Krone. And my children, Karat and Kromium, and Kwartz." She looks back to the twins who trail behind, to the former Sylvan prince, all scared and confused. Their entire life had been ripped out from under them. The poor things...another burden of guilt she would have to bare.
The air in Tephra is thick and though it is summer, Warrick feels that it is not because of the season.
The grasslands of Tephra or the ashened shoreline are the best areas to stay during the summer - there is no lack of sea breeze spilling through the air, keeping the heat away. But as the winged Overseer comes from the jungle-like foliage that just surrounds the beach, the heat hungrily wraps around the auburn of his skin, loosely coiling into his flesh and leaving it with a dampened sheen, especially beneath the heaviness of his wings. The dark tendrils of his mane and forelock press lightly against his face and neck, damp with the humidity that clings to him. There is a soft exhale of breath as the cool sea breeze comes to meet him, lifting his mane from his neck and filtering through the thickness of his cobalt feathers.
As his eyes scan the entirety of their blackened beach, he sees the unfamiliar figures in the short distance. His wings unfurl for a moment, allowing the coolness of the salted and smoke-laden wind to cool him, before fluttering them quickly into his mahogany sides. His lips twitch thoughtfully, his ears flicking forward and back, before he moves towards them at a choppy trot, made so by the disheveled sand beneath his hooves.
He is not surprised to find that Wound is already investigating - besides her loyalty to him and to Tephra, her heart would not let her ignore any visitor. This brings a slight smile to the corners of his indigo lips, but as he comes to halt beside the silvered bay, he knows that there is too much seriousness here for a light-hearted greeting. With a soft snort he halts beside Wound, his head lowered and his ears tipped back slightly, listening to the tail-end of the conversation. He had never seen these two before - but from what he had just stumbled upon, he infers that he is standing before the once-Queen Krone, and one of her compatriots. Amorette and Valensia had struck out to visit Ischia not too long ago, but their arrival was not one of business, nor is it of pleasure.
It did not ease him to see the two on his shores (there is a stoicness in his face that sets his jawline into a hard clench, and his lips into a thin line), but there is also empathy dancing in his blue eyes, especially when Krone motions to the children that play on the distant shoreline, knowing of their displacement but unsure of what it truly means.
Something has happened, and they have come here for sanctuary; and the bay Overseer will turn away no one who has done no harm.
“Krone,” Warrick begins, a tiny nod towards her as he speaks her name, “Durotan. I am Warrick, the Overseer. Tephra will be open to you and your family for as long as you desire.” He pauses, imploring her with his steady gaze that his words are his truth. He gives them a moment to let his words sink in, his gaze shifting to the children, but the concern on his face does not fade. “We will be stronger together,” he adds quietly, for he did not know the reasons that they had come to him for sanctuary, but whatever the reason, he is glad that they have come to Tephra. His gaze shifts to Wound, sadness in his gaze, brows coming together with concern - before turning his eyes back towards Durotan and Krone.
He glances to Krone, she was still in a state of shock, so much so that she could not bare a smile for the Tephra member. She can barely spit out her name, but when she does she almost includes her title and his stomach drops, she catches herself and he feels the pain she has. Salt in her wound, just another reminder that they are here because Brennen. Krone introduces her twins, gazing off as they trail behind them, there own look of fear shows.
It was not long before they were in the company of another, a bay stallion with navy points. Durotan suspects he is the ruler of the kingdom because he looks at Durotan and Krone as if he already knows. His eyes showed sympathy for the four horses. He introduces himself as Warrick and confirms he is the overseer of Tephra. He notes that all four of them are allowed to stay in Tephra, as long as they need . Durotan dips his head to the winged stallion, he could not be more grateful. Thank you Warrick, we appreciate your offer more than you know. They words the bay stag spoke sticks with Durotan We will be stronger together he already is growing attached to this ruler. At least they have one less thing to worry about, they have found a kingdom that welcomed them all. Now Krone and Durotan can pick up the pieces and build there family together...in Tephra.
hey are clearly upset, looking as though the world has shifted under their feet. Wound wants to soothe them with whatever resources she might have. She’s always been one to comfort the hurt and protect the weak. As Durotan speaks of his family (at least what she assumes is his family) her eyes turn toward the young children playing nearby. Her heart aches for them — for the sudden loss of their home, for the sudden uprooting of their lives, for the sudden dissonance they must feel.
She forces her eyes away from the petite violet children just as Warrick lands nearby. The tension in her shoulders melts away, glad for his presence. The situation is tense, thick in the air around them, but Wound finds a moment to lightly press a touch of her lips to her companion’s bay shoulder.
She’s glad to have Warrick’s own words come out to soothe the once-Queen and her family. Wound knows her Overseer well enough to figure he wouldn’t be one to turn down those in need, but a piece of her had still wondered. Although Beqanna’s political climate has been peaceful and quiet for some time now, there have also been thunderclouds in the distance which now have seemed to open above their heads.
A gentle smile finds her mouth. Wound wouldn’t turn down refugees from times of despair. “Rest assured your children will be safe in Tephra… Though I would remind them to be cautious of lava-streams spread sporadically throughout the island. I know my daughter’s been subject to quite a few singed heels from her carelessness.” It’s a word of wisdom straight from a mother’s mouth. Her eyes turn to meet Warrick’s at the mentioning of their daughter, a sensation of brief sadness gripping her chest. Nonetheless, she meets Durotan and Krone’s faces with another comforting smile, looking over their forlorn expressions.
