"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
again you’re gone, off on a different path than mine i'm left behind wondering if i should follow
With a shared border and no need for a single resting place, Lepis’ move to Loess from Taiga has been a gradual one.
The nest that she had shared with Wolfbane is in the southern part of the hilly kingdom, but Lepis has no desire to return there. Instead, she has found a place in the northern highlands, a place that is entirely her own. Just a hollow in the rising hills, one with a lone saguro guarding the only walkable entry. Orchids rest along both arms, and golden pothos trail down the cactus’ trunk. It’s an unnatural blend of plant life, but one that is so very Loess that Lepis finds it perfect.
Early morning sun illuminates the crown of the cactus when she opens her eyes, and the blue mare yawns. Her first night back in Loess, she realizes, and pulls her wings close to her sides after stretching them. It does not feel so different, just one more small change. But her life has been full of small changes for years now. They seemed small at the time, anyway, and yet now as she looks down at the rolling hills of her homeland she hardly recognizes it. Her children are grown, with children of their own. It is her first summer in nearly a decade without a suckling foal at her side, and the first summer in recent memory without a title affixed to her name.
The future spreads out in front of her like the lowlands of Loess, growing slowly brighter with the rising sun.
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
I have never been nothing. I am the blood of a dragon.
The early morning sounds of nature are softly heard in the distance. Her ears gently quiver at their gentle awakening. It isn’t until the sun illuminates the entrance of the den that she opens her eyes to greet the beginning of a new day.
The warmth of the sun on her face is comforting. Dracarys stretches each of her limbs and then her neck and head before she rises from her slumbering position. Stretching her right wing first and then her left wing, the blue mare steps out of the den to watch the rest of the rising sun light up the rolling hills just for a few moments.
Letting the final yawn escape through her lips, the ice dragon mare steps to the edge of the cliff and spreads out her wings. With a few beats of her wings she steps out into the open air and instantly the wind takes beneath her wings. She glides gently towards the north, the summer sun caressing her with warm as she glances down to the hilly landscape beneath her.
Her silver eyes find nothing of the slightest out of place; however, it has been like that for quiet some time now. Loess was a lull, to her at least, since she returned from the mountain that imprinted her as a dragon. Her days since then had been spent learning to get a feel for her new abilities and adjusting to the quieter life she had before leaving Sylva. It has been a few years since then, but to her it only feels like yesterday she was in the never-ending autumn forest with her parents.
Dracarys pushes the thought out of her mind though. Turning to the past only brought her unwanted feelings, she had the future to look towards to. A future she isn’t quite sure what will be like for her, but for now she simple moves with it.
Looking forward, the blue mare finds herself more towards the northern highlands. Her silver gaze scans across the rising hills, quickly she spots the out of ordinary. It is the blueness of the winged mare that catches her attention first and then her curiosity second that sends her descending towards the unfamiliar mare.
Finding a clear landing near the perlino and navy pointed mare, Dracarys lands with ease and grace. Her gaze remains still on the nameless mare, but a curious smile curls on her blue lips when she closes the small distance between them in the hillside hollow with a single saguro. “Good morning,” she greets the mare. Her gaze then glances down to the lowlands of Loess, the sun now illuminating the rest of the kingdom’s hilly terrain. “Not too bad of a view from here.” Her smile increases a little more as she thinks of the view from the eastern den she sleeps in regularly now that Cyprin had told her about. Turning to face the winged mare again, Dracarys pauses for a moment as the small hints of a forest fill her nostril.
It reminds her of home once more.
Shaking the thought away, Dracarys focuses back onto the mare. “I don’t think we met before. Are you new?” Dracarys new giving her name away first was a mistake. Somewhere, long go, her father had told her to only give small amount of information and to be the only one that asks the questions.
again you’re gone, off on a different path than mine i'm left behind wondering if i should follow
Lepis takes in a deep breath. The air tastes of red earth and dew, still cool in the dawn. Within a few hours, the summer sun will turn the hills around her to an oven. By then, she plans to be safely in the shade near a coolwater spring. The pattern of days in Loess is a set and steady rhythm, far different from the stillness in Taiga.
This early in the morning, Leis would have been guaranteed solitude at least another hour or two, at least until the thickest fog burnt off. But there is no fog in Loess. Here, she is spotted easily, though she has been watching the soaring blue mare for some time before the other sees finds her in the hollow. The dragon-winged are not uncommon in Loess, and she assumes there is more to the taller – but younger – mare than meets the eye. The other – Dracarys – is probably even a relative of sorts, but Lepis has not kept track of her former guardian’s brood that closely. There are other dragons too, the former Comtesse knows; not all of them are to be trusted immediately.
Her bright smile shows none of this internal caution, and instead her navy mouth forms a welcoming smile as she nods her agreement to the assessment that Dracarys has made. The view here is certainly a good one. “One of my favorites, ” the dun admits, before answering the question that follows.
“Recently returned,” she tells the younger woman (though with the way immortality is inherited these days, perhaps the girl is centuries old). “From far too long away. I was born and raised here. My name is Lepis.” The adage of not giving too much away is one that she knows well, and the scarred woman tosses her navy mane while wondering in some disaffected part of her mind if the other woman’s admission is purposeful. She’s left behind the diplomats she knows in Taiga; learning those loyal to Loess will take some time. The prospect of something to fill her time brings a convincing amount of sincerity to the curious tilt of her head when she inquires of the dragon-mare.
“And you? How long have you been in Loess?”
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
01-08-2020, 07:24 PM (This post was last modified: 01-08-2020, 07:54 PM by Dracarys.)
DRACARYS
I have never been nothing. I am the blood of a dragon.
Met with a bright and welcoming smile, the blue winged mare finds no detest from the other towards interrupting the quite hours of the coming day. Dracarys often, especially of late, has found herself less interested in befriending others. She prefers the silence for now. Although her quiet habit of late does not keep her from learning and gathering information. The young mare may be another face that calls Loess home, another dragon in the den, but she has a deeper ambition than she allows herself to show.
Her smile increases a little more at the mention of this being one of the mare’s favorite places. It was more or so the perfect view to see all of Loess, Dracarys would not deny that. Listening further to the mare answering her questions, particularly when the dun mare mentions who she is, a flicker of curiosity and mischief appear in her silver-blue eyes for a quick moment of time. Lepis certainly needed no further explanation of who she was, by reputation it was known enough who and what the perlino and navy pointed mare was capable of.
As far as anything though, Dracarys can only speculate. Her father had once upon a time informed her of names and events that took place. Never did her hellhound-father leave anything out, especially after his failure to secure the crown from Castile. It was with such knowledge that would help equip her ascending to higher grounds. However, it was who you knew than what you know that took you places.
“I am sure you are happy to be back then.” There was nothing more comforting than living in the place you know so well. For a moment the dragon mare wonders what it would be like to return to the never-ending autumn forest. Would she feel the same as she did when only a filly? Truthfully it brings a warmness to her heart, but she remembers it would never be the same. Those who she knows would not be there if she did return.
Turning away from her childish thoughts, Dracarys considers the inquire from Lepis. “Family brought me here.” She mentions first because within Loess family meant everything, especially to her grandfather. “I have lived in Loess for only a few years now.” Simple years it all really had been, but she does not mention that. Instead, she moves forward, giving another piece of who she was to Lepis. “My name is Dracarys.” However, it truly meant nothing. She was not known by reputation, only by the blood that had created her.
again you’re gone, off on a different path than mine i'm left behind wondering if i should follow
A shadow passes overhead, and Lepis glances up to see a pair of dragon wings silhouette against the sky. The creature above them looks (mostly) equine, and uninterested in the meeting of the blue mares beneath for it soars higher and higher until it disappears. Lepis looks away long before it vanishes, back down to Dracarys in front of her, in time to see and hear the reaction to her name.
So the mare knows of her, Lepis realizes with a warm glow of pride. She does like being recognized by reputation alone. Her recent exploits have had sub-par results, Lepis feels, but she has time to correct that still. She’d not gained as much ground in the North as she had intended to, but she had gained ground nonetheless. The lack of response from Nerine regarding her absence in Taiga is all the reassurance that Lepis has needed that she’d bested the all-seeing queen. There will inevitably be a reckoning, she knows, but it will not be soon and it will not be to her disadvantage.
“Very happy,” she agrees, but does not expound on that, instead pricking her ears forward to catch the answer to her own question. Family, the other woman answers, which could mean anything. A few years she’s lived here, and her name is Dracarys.
Dracarys?
It is not a name that Lepis knows, and in an attempt to place it, she asks: “Who is your family here? ” Some link to Castile, she assumes. Not a daughter though – or at least not a daughter he shares with his consort. Infidelity is no longer a foreign concept to the dun mare, though she has assumed her noble Uncle above such weakness. With a somewhat wry twist to her smile, Lepis reminds herself that no one is above such things. “Castile?”
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
I have never been nothing. I am the blood of a dragon.
Dracarys continues to hold a small and soft content smile on her blue splashed lips. A smile that is genuine but enough to give away her calculating thoughts. Her silver-blue gaze remains on Lepis, watching as the other mare considers her answers. For now, Dracarys is considerate for what she tells and gives to the other mare. She has yet to decide if someone like Lepis, with such a fierce reputation, could be a welcome opportunity for her to take. It certainly wouldn’t be a bad idea to become friends with someone like her.
She isn’t surprised when Lepis asks her who her family might be here. The blue dragon mare could be the daughter of any of the dragon families that lived within Loess. However, her smile increases just a little when Lepis mentions her grandfather. A gleam sparkles in her silver-blue eyes for a moment, confirming the mare’s answer.
“Yes, Castile is my grandfather,” Dracarys states with a warm tone. She might not have a close relationship with her grandfather like she would have like; however, she can only blame herself for not getting over the events that happened between her father and grandfather. After all, she had decided to come to Loess when she could have gone anywhere else in the world.
“My mother is Valdis. I don’t think you would know her though. She was born and raised in Hyaline. ” She pauses for a moment to consider if the other mare might. It was unlikely, but she isn’t exactly sure how intertwined her mother was with her other siblings. She only truly ever had met her great-aunt Cyprin. “But I never been there before. I grew up in Sylva before coming here,” she adds.
again you’re gone, off on a different path than mine i'm left behind wondering if i should follow
Castile is her grandfather, the blue mare says. Lepis nods, clearly pleased with this revelation. It’s nice to see that another resident of Loess is tied to the royalty by blood. That’ll make her at least a little less likely to cause trouble. It takes her a moment to react to the name Valdis, but she does. An amused smile pulls tugs at her lips, the memory of the light blue filly with the bronze hair and a moonlit run down the Hyaline mountains and into Loess.
“I had the chance to meet you mother,” she tells Dracarys, “But it was when she was younger than you are, and we only met the once.” Lepis had seen the princess more than that, of course, the royal family of Hyaline was often seen publicly in those days. The two besotted queens and their plethora of children. Valdis had been the one she’d chosen to take back to Loess though, at least until she was persuaded otherwise when they crossed the border. The memory of being stopped in what she is still sure had been the right choice follows the image of Valdis, but Lepis cuts it short with a blink of her shadowed eyes.
The mention of Sylva is accompanied by the same chill as ever, even in the spring sunshine. Lepis doesn’t react to the touch of ice along her spine – the only reaction is a brief twitch of her ears: back and then forward again. The dun mare’s residence in Sylva had ended long before this girl was even a thought in her mother’s mind; the Sylva she grew up in was not the same one that Lepis remembers. Still, the thought of the firey forest makes her as uncomfortable as always, and she does her best to steer the conversation away from it. “And do you like it here?”
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
I have never been nothing. I am the blood of a dragon.
Unlikely to cause trouble would certainly be an understatement. Dracarys was fashioned and shaped to accept nothing less than what she wanted. She was dangerously determined to get it by any means necessarily. Although at one time that had come at a cost she particularly did not like. She had almost lost the first friend she had made. Felicitey, thankfully, had a forgiving and graceful heart to let her betrayal go. That day had taught Dracarys that some friendships would be worth holding onto—perhaps she would not always be willing to cross another so easily as her father was able to.
When the amused smile appears on the other winged mare’s lips, Dracarys is surprised. She is surprised to even know that their one meeting goes so far back. It was much farther than she would have imagined. However, Dracarys knows times had seemed much simpler than—at least before the war between Tephra and Loess. “I would have never thought,” she says with a smile after Lepis speaks. She cannot help but wonder now where her mother might be. Even her father too. Her life was surely different than she had ever imagined.
If Dracarys had known the emotional and physical abuse Lepis went through when living in Sylva she would have never brought it up. She simply could never imagine the autumn forest being a living hell for others. It always brought a warm feeling to her heart and a smile on her face when she thought about the memories she made there. Then again, it was such information that she innately tucked away, but with no obvious reaction to Sylva, Dracarys does not know the turmoil Lepis has gone through.
As the conversation moves forward, the dragon mare considers the question. Loess certainly has been pleasant since she arrived here. She was simply another member of the family—not the special dragon and hellhound daughter she was raised to be. Perhaps it had been her quietness and choice to be left alone that didn’t bring others to bother her. There had been a few others she met, but mostly just casual conversation.
She wanted more now though.
“I do like it here,” she admits, not hiding the fact since Lepis also seemed to share a love for her home too she recalls. “It has everything my father said it would have.” Loess was the key to her success he had told her, but Dracarys did not know exactly what that meant. At least not yet she didn’t. “I think I have spent too much time enjoying it though,” she laughs softly and falls silent for a moment before she considers her next step. Certainly, there was more than just enjoying life in Loess. “I want more though,” she says only.
again you’re gone, off on a different path than mine i'm left behind wondering if i should follow
The younger mare voices her surprise at the long-ago encounter of Lepis and Valdis, which Lepis smiles at. The dun rarely allows herself to linger of thoughts of what might have be, but she does not for just a moment. If Valdis had stayed in Loess rather than returning to her mother in Hyaline, would the blue mare in front of Lepis even exist? It’s an interesting thought, but not enough to keep her attention for long, especially not when Dracarys answers her other query.
She does like it, Dracarys says, which surprises Lepis not at all. Of course she likes Loess – only a fool would not. The unnamed father that the blue mare seems to have spoken well of the place, which is something of a surprise to Lepis given the identity of the stallion she’d assumed to be Dracarys’ father. She has made no detailed list of Castile’s offspring, but she is fairly certain that Valdis is the one who’d taken up with the Hellhound of Sylva.
She is even more sure now, as Dracarys admits to wanting more.
“Don’t we all,” Lepis murmurs with a smile. She is quiet for a moment then, her blue-grey eyes flicking curiously over the mare’s face. She seems to be looking for something, and it’s not quite clear if she finds it when she says: “Your grandfather desires a bit of chaos. Perhaps you might find your something more in helping him achieve his goals?” The last is a question, complete with a raised brow that clearly is waiting for an answer before she continues.
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
I have never been nothing. I am the blood of a dragon.
She tries to not allow herself to think of what could have been. Truthfully, she had found them to always be full of false promises. Dracarys never wanted to fill her head with such wishful thinking. However, she could never help herself to think of what if her father had taken the crown from her grandfather.
What would her life be like then?
Would she still have her parents? Would her mother still be with them?
What about Erio?
Erio, she thinks suddenly. She had forgotten about him almost. Her little baby brother—a disgrace her mother had thought of him. Erio was perfect to her though. Even if he had been born a little small and awkward, Dracarys knew he could have been someone strong, someone like her even. She didn’t have to be the only perfect child her mother thought she had.
No. It was for the best, she decides silently.
It was meant to be this way.
Her blue ear flickers curiously, waiting quietly to hear what Lepis has to say. There was more for Dracarys out there surely. She was in the perfect place to find herself to excel. Her ability and skill were untested for, but Dracarys was determined to make a path for herself more than ever now. It was not by chance she came to meet Lepis after all—she was determined herself in many ways.
The smile on her blue lips curls up a little at her comment. Yes, everyone wanted more but not everyone was so willing to go the extra mile for it. However, she isn’t certain what to make about the schemes her grandfather is wanting to achieve. The war, she remembers being told about, between Tephra and Loess had occurred because of him. What had the war achieve though? She knows little of his success, perhaps simply because her father had always criticized Castile’s leadership. Then again, all this time her grandfather had kept the crown, and her father faded away into the forest.
Focusing back on Lepis, who is waiting with a raised brow, she holds her gaze steadily. “What sort of chaos?” Anyone can stir up chaos but what did her grandfather really want. “I might be able to, but maybe you can tell me what he wants to achieve. What are his intentions?” She asks curiously with a flick of her white-silver tail.
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