• Logout
  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "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


    [private]  for every king that died, they would crown another
    #1

    When word had finally reached Nashua that there was another family member within the Taiga, he promised himself that he would seek her out as soon as he could.

    (Because his mother had smiled - really smiled - at the mention of her name and it had gladdened Nashua's heart. It had brought a lightness to it, like the newly returned sunlight to their world.)

    But his duties as Hersir demand his presence on the Isle and much of his time. His responsibilities as a father to two adolescent daughters take up more of it. The daylight returns and while Nashua will never get enough of it again, night always come too soon and there is always more left for the young pegasus to do.

    There is something to look forward to. While Nash's mother has yet to return from the Mountain (he's heard the rumors and he battles daily with the knot in his gut that there is truth to what his nieces have claimed, that his mother had been swallowed by the darkness), others had and one of them had been the Dragon King. And with Leilan's return as well as the return of the light, he had decreed that there should be a festival to celebrate it and the winged stallion had heartily agreed.

    It could be the thing to bring them together after the darkness had separated them.

    She is easy to find. He has grown up in Taiga - this has been the only home he had known when his father left and his mother was stolen - and Nashua knows almost every face that dwells beneath the Redwoods. (It helps that most of them are related to him, somehow.) Hers is an unfamiliar one but as soon as his lopsided grin (so like Malachi, his mother had once told him, and yet it is a wilder version of his uncle's smile) emerges, he knows that the champagne mare the moment he spies her. It's just like what Lilliana had told all her children - about the family that came before and dwelled in Paraiso. "There are so many shades of gold there," she had said with a gentle laugh (and Nash remembers this with a memory so vivid that Yan could have seen the echo from it). "It was said that that they were descended from the sun," she had murmured after one of her stories.

    Now that he sees this relation in broad daylight, Nash thinks he can see why that legend might have emerged. She is as gold as any summer day that he can recall. Almost as gold as the stripes that adorn his legs.

    Coming to a respectful stop, the pegasus stops and dips his blazed head in greeting.

    "@[Ori]?" he asks. His green eyes - the color of spring - brighten and the smile warms his gaze. "I thought I might accompany you to the Isle for the Solstice." Nash says  with that same grin before hastily adding, "so long as you don't mind the company." Lifting his head, the chestnut stallion introduces himself. "I am Nashua."

    NASHUA
    [Image: jCdBK6.png]
    Reply
    #2

    And if you're homesick, give me your hand and I'll hold it.

    Summer. The sun pierced through whatever gaps it could find in the large redwood guardians of Taiga to give its light to the many denizens of Beqanna. Its prior absence, of course, making its presence all the sweeter. Although Ori herself had not been around for all of the eclipse, she had been guided by Lilli to her home in its shade, and in seeing all of Taiga’s form and glory for herself, she could understand why Lilli loved it. The feeling was similar to Paraiso, but also distinctly different. There was family, but it wasn’t the ancient valley, nor was it the river-crossed flatlands that she had known growing up.

    It was a bit chillier than she was used to, but the sense of adventure, of seeing new faces and getting to know those around her that she had never met before was simply intoxicating. The champagne maiden found each day just as filled with newness as the last, and adored every aspect of the land that she was coming to know.

    There was a tinge of sorrow at that thought. It was Lilli’s home where she had invited Ori, but the chestnut had been nowhere to be seen. She had no idea where Lilli had gone off to, but she tried to tell herself that it was alright. Lilli would come back. Ori was used to waiting and hoping for others to return, and in the meantime she tried to occupy herself with another rumor she had heard: The festival.

    She had overhead some talk of a festival that the leader was holding in honor of the sun’s return, and the way her head reeled with anticipation and her heart accelerated at the notion left her with a very strict answer. She would definitely go. It would be a great opportunity to meet new faces and introduce herself in an environment where everyone was having fun, and maybe she could find some form of familiarity there (she told herself not to get over eager. If she hadn’t seen Lilli at all, it was unlikely that she would be at the festival, either.).

    Today was that day, and Ori softly hummed one of the songs her mother had taught her as she trotted in the direction that she had been told she could find the festivities. (Or at the very least, she sincerely hoped this was the right way) In the midst of her joviality, it took her a moment to realize there was someone else near her, but once she saw him, she came to a stop, and, for once, it took a moment for a smile to present itself on her face and for her to return his greeting.

    He represented everything that Taiga was, in a way, similar and different to everything Ori had ever known. In the instant before she processed that this was someone else, the flaxen locks, gold streaks, and wings had reminded her of her mother, for a second, but the more brownish hue of his coat, broad blaze, green eyes, and the way he smiled (reminiscent of Malachi, but very much this stallion’s own) had reminded her that this wasn’t Paraiso, and although he most certainly was family, he was someone new, someone that Ori hadn’t met.

    He spoke her name, and she nodded. “Yup!”

    “I thought I might accompany you to the Isle for the Solstice - so long as you don’t mind the company.” He spoke, his grin reaching to his eyes as they glittered. Even if she had been planning on saying no, after that there was absolutely no way she could.
    “Of course! I’d love the company!” Her smile broadened. First a festival, and now an offer to go alongside someone and get to know them on the way? This day was already shaping up to be incredible.

    He lifted his head and introduced himself, “I am Nashua.” Ori, on program, opened her mouth to introduce herself in return before managing to remember that he already knew her name, and laughing at the almost-embarrassment that just happened.

    “Sorry! It’s a pleasure to meet you, @[Nashua]!” She managed to get out, although the apology got interrupted midway through by the laughter. “I seriously almost introduced myself to you, even though you already know my name! Anyways,” she refocused her attention towards Nashua, smiling as she met his gaze, “would you like to lead the way? I think I’ve got an idea where I’m supposed to go, but I think I’d feel a bit better following someone who knows where everything is.”

    -- ori

    Image by Mark Hougaard Jensen
    Reply
    #3

    Nashua and Yanhua had both been reared on the old stories.

    When he and his twin had been small and dusk gave way to darkness, Lilliana would murmur the tales about Paraiso. She used her magic - many times - to show them her favorite places in Murmuring Rivers, her favorite memories of the faces that she had loved so much. Elena, Malachi, Jay and Brielle, Marcelo and Ori, Ruth, even Aletta (that was how Nashua would come to recognize the silver wanderer when she eventually passed through Taiga again) and Valerio - they had all been faces that their mother had been keen on them knowing.

    That they understood that while they might be a small band in Beqanna (or at least, they had been then), they were part of something much bigger.

    It's still a little unsettling for Nash to see one of them here. Those tales that his mother had told had always seemed so surreal - whimsical in their setting - and the Hersir had always focused on his family here. He has plenty of half-siblings on both sides and Nashua has never made a secret of wishing to meet them. That had seemed like something reminiscent of Lilliana's stories - tales of a valley where the Legacies resided, where the roots of the family went even deeper.

    He's glad that his traveling companion is so friendly. She has a shining personality and whatever shadows of doubt that Nash had of this meeting, they evaporate like Taigan fog when it rises to meet the sun. His grin tugs towards one side of his pale lips as she nearly bursts with laughter. The Hersir reciprocated the feeling - the Darkness had ended and the sun had returned. His mate and children were safe. And today, Yanhua would take on their mother's mantle. A bittersweet day, but one that Nash had found himself eagerly awaiting.

    The Hersir starts to move, leaving enough space that the champagne mare to walk alongside him.

    Nash smiles at Ori again, "I wouldn't mind meeting you twice." Nashua jokes with his cousin. His expression warms towards her when he turns to look at her from over his winged shoulder. "But I'll settle for leading the way to the Festival." The pegasus tosses his head, moving his flaxen forelock to the side of his face. Leilan had placed multiple portals around Taiga and Nerine for those journeying to the Isle; it wouldn't take them long to reach one. Noel had gone ahead - with help from Elegance and Luminesce - with the younger three and the Hersir would join them as soon as he was able.

    But he doesn't mind spending a few moments with Ori and the striped pegasus purposefully takes a longer route in hopes to get to know her a little better.

    "My mother spoke of you," Nashua offers as an explanation, his voice softening at the mention of the former Guardian. There was little that Lilliana missed within Taiga and Ori's arrival was anything but little. It had stirred something in his dam and while she had answered Nash's questions as best he could, Lilliana's son sensed that she was still hiding something. Could it have something to do with her death?

    "So how what do you think about our corner of the world?" Nashua asks good-naturedly.

    NASHUA



    @Ori
    [Image: jCdBK6.png]
    Reply




    Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)