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  • 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


    The moon, the stars and all their light // Cheri
    #1




    I'll taste the sky and feel alive again



    "Congratulations, your Highness," Reynard thrummed in the back of his throat, eyes gleaming golden when they landed on his twin. He had made his appearance in Loess to watch the crown be placed on her jeweled head, and returned to the redwood trees when it was done. 

    She was busy, a queen stretching to fill out the mantle on her back and he watched her do it with style. Wasn't that how they'd always been? @Cheri, shining and brilliant wherever she went, while he blended into the background and did his best to fill shoes he hadn't been expecting to wear. Ever, let alone now. 

    It didn't change the fact that he was now running the patrols his sire had. Walking through the trees, wondering where his parents had gone and if they'd ever come back. Quietly and without fuss, he picked up the dropped thread and followed it as best he could. 

    Today that brought him back to his twin, the shining girl who looked so much like their mother. It hurt to look at her, if he was being honest. Still, he smiled and moved to brush his nose to hers. A scent as familiar as his own infiltrated his mind. 

    "I've missed seeing you around the forest," he said as he pulled away, knowing that it had been so much longer than this last year that they had been apart. Life had been pulling them in opposite directions for as long as he could remember now.

    Reynard

    Image by Calcifer
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    #2
    “My heart still beats for the fog and forest, trust me brother.” Cheri drove her nose into the crook of her twin’s, hoping he could feel the mingled bitterness of her return home. She wanted him to know how she truly felt, tired of the constant nonchalance royal life had forced her to feel instead. “I haven’t nor will I ever forget the herd.” Her eyes flashed deadly green, winking in the low light at him as Rey pulled away.

    Family first, her father had emphasized. Always.

    Without being prodded, without concern for his own dreams and goals, her brother had assumed the role left empty in their sire’s absence in spirit - to make it official would be to acknowledge the loss of Amarine, Yanhua, and so many others who’d once fleshed out the now-quiet stretch of redwoods. Cheri knew why he’d done it: for Saturnelle and Cerf, for the clans who kept to the shadows, and for the honor of a legacy passed down to them through the generations. Once Lilliana, then Yanhua, now..?

    “Rey,” Cheri spoke softly, “is this what you want?”

    Staying in Taiga, she meant. To be stuck here like their father, who’d become one of those ghosts he claimed haunted these woods. For Yanhua it’d always seemed to make sense; the tall chestnut stallion had loved these spirited grounds with an almost reverent sort of devotion. It defied Cheri’s understanding nearly as much as his disappearance, and for a long time she considered that link unjust because it meant the rest of them all came second to his worship. These days, she related more than ever. But she would never wish that lifestyle pressed upon an unwilling participant.

    “You, Nell and Cerf can always migrate south and live with me.” Cheri tempted him, trying to swallow the feeling of betrayal and her father’s memory altogether. “We could be together, be happy.”


    @Reynard
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    #3



    I'll taste the sky and feel alive again


    He smiled faintly at his twin's assertion, at the emerald fire in her eyes. There was so much the casual observer would never know about Cheri. The fairy-like exterior (so similar to their mother's) was a pretty container for a burning soul. Sometimes he wondered how the forest didn't catch fire from the force of her. Maybe it would have, if she hadn't moved on when she did. 

    "I know you won't," he assured her truthfully. As eclectic as their family was, he'd never doubted the love in it, the commitment. They were characteristics seemingly embedded in the bloodline. Why he was lingering in a forest that housed more shadows and ghosts than anything these days. 

    Sorrow pinched at his heart, and he knew it was felt by the both of them. All, if he took the younger two into account. The air of mourning had taken them all, and even that much had felt like a confession, an admission of defeat. Like giving up. If they were morning, then it meant that they had really lost something. 

    He looked off into the depths of the forest, the towering silvergreens roaring in a way that would always remind him of Amarine. "I can't leave." He admitted finally, still not meeting his twin's eye. "Not while there's a chance they'll return. There needs to be a home for them to return to." He shrugged, belying the determination that kept him rooted. 

    "The little ones are welcome to move with you, but you know I'll keep an eye on them if they want to stay here." It was the least he could do. The four of them had been born in these woods. If their younger siblings wanted to keep living here, it seemed only right in his mind. Even if it meant they'd be divided by space. 

    Her almost-pleading tugged at him though. Gilded with the night sky, the dark stallion sighed while the weight of the world sat heavy on their paired shoulders. "You're my sister and my queen," he acknowledged with pride and gentle brightness. "If you want me in Loess, I will follow you happily. And if you think I can do more good here, I'll trust your judgment in that too." 

    This was, he thought, perhaps a bigger decision than it felt in the moment. A choice in kingdoms, and leadership, and family. It was never as easy as you wished it would be.

    Reynard

    Image by Calcifer

    @Cheri
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    #4
    She understood what he meant about making sure their parents had a home to return to. After all, this place and its mystic wonders was their lovechild in a way. A shared dream between the yellow-gold goaticorn and his butterfly-winged wife, cultivated by the others who’d joined in and looked over by the horses that’d been here long before. Yan and Ama had wanted to build a bountiful haven by picking up the pieces left behind to them; they’d wanted to honor the guardianship and what it meant to be a truly neutral homeland. Anyone and everyone had been welcome, and when the world was darkest this place had been a center for hope.

    It felt wrong, asking Reynard to leave it all behind.

    At least he was willing to openly compromise, considering Saturnelle and Cerf’s welfare. With her twin here, it would still be mostly safe for the younger two horses to grow up well-fostered. Nelle actually reminded Cheri of herself, so she doubted that anything could really stand in the way of her sister’s success. Cerf had been different from birth, though - she faintly remembered their dam mentioning something about him never wanting (or needing) much of anything. With the both of them having relations in either direction, Cheri felt a little easier thinking about their uncertain futures.

    She promised to keep up with them, and to locate each one before her duties spirited her away again. They needed to hear her offer and feel her comfort, too.

    “I know you can judge fairly for yourself.” She nosed his cheek, humbled by such outspoken support. “I just wanted you to have options. If something ever happened to you or the babes…”

    Best to stop there, she thought. Saying anything else would feel like she was asking for horrible things to come true. “I would be empty. Hollow.” The worst thing to be for an empath. He could understand that, couldn’t he? The fear of losing them was the worst thing she could imagine now. Nothing else really came close to the nightmare, since their parents and protectors disappeared.

    “Uncle Nash and Reave are coming south for a visit, you know.” She spoke up shortly thereafter, taking a walk along the familiar trails while they chatted. “At the very least you could think about doing the same.”


    @Reynard
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