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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


    [private]  remember when i broke you down to tears
    #1

    Leilan's portals are much like the Magician. They are sporadic and unpredictable (the last time Nashua used one, he had arrived in Silver Cove). But his Mentor has vanished again and Nashua doesn't mind making the journey to the mainland the traditional way. Winter has started to spread out from the Isle in icy tendrils all across Beqanna (the pegasus thought he had seen a layer of gleaming ice as he flown over the Pampas, of frost gleaming on the canyons in the morning sun the day that he left Loess after Cheri's Accord).

    Returning to the Isle would not be a warm welcome.

    But the last stop before returning to his kingdom is the most important.

    Noel hadn't been in Taiga when he landed, which wasn't unusual. She had been raised in Nerine, and when the striped stallion hadn't found his mate in the Redwoods in the past, he learned that she could be found among the granite and the moorlands. Perhaps she preferred the open sky, but it was always easiest to find her along the coast, near the many caves that had helped the former kingdom seat gain its secretive and solitary reputation.

    There is a sense of relief when he finds her (there always is), a small piece of pale heaven tucked against the drab gray of their grounded world.

    Despite how glad he is to see her, the bright green of his gaze falters when it finds the depthless black of her own. He's been away to the South - for the Coronation of his niece and to talk about the current political state of Beqanna - but he hasn't come any closer to bringing their son home or seeking retribution on Gale or Mazikeen (a death wish, he has to remind himself). It's just another reminder that when he might finally get the chance to be a good king, the price paid for it falls with his family.

    "Have you been to Hyaline?" he asks hesitantly, wondering if she had news of Bolder, wanting to reach for her and failing at that as well.

    @Noel

    NASHUA
    [Image: jCdBK6.png]
    #2

    She has been terribly restless lately. The curling mists of the redwood forest she has called home for so many years brings more of a hollow ache than a sense of contentment these days. Their children are there (the four that remain), and it is what brings her back at the end of each day. But the trees that had once been so full of promise are now teaming with ghosts.

    It might have been different, if Nashua were there to chase away the ghosts. But duty calls him from her side more often than not, and every time he goes, it feels as though a part of her goes with him.

    Sometimes she wonders if perhaps it would have been different, had she only admitted how much he meant to her sooner. It’s a foolish dream, of course. Nashua would never have abandoned his duty for her, but she has always been a little bit foolish. So she drifts, becoming a little more unmoored with each day that passes. She thinks that Bolder’s departure to Hyaline had been the thing that loosened the knots, but she knows that is not what has set her adrift.

    Their children are old enough now that they do not truly need her anymore. As she stares out at the crashing surf, something aches inside her chest. It has been days since she had last seen him. Nashua. The only other thing that anchors her to this place. She wishes she could be bitter that his duty to the kingdom takes him farther and farther away from her when she only wants to hold him closer. But the bitterness won’t come.

    Instead there is only that yawning ache. The desire for something she can’t truly have. For something she would never ask of him.

    She knows he is there before her dark gaze turns to find him. His green eyes are so familiar, and the moment they meet hers, the knot inside her chest loosens and swells. As she stares at him, she can almost pretend that everything is as it should be. That he wouldn’t leave her again in only a matter of hours (or perhaps even less). That their lives together are not lived in only these stolen snippets of time they are allowed.

    But his question brings reality crashing back down around her.

    She doesn’t answer right away. Instead she erases the distance between them and presses herself against him. Burying her face into the crook of his wing, she inhales his familiar scent. It’s a scant loop in the tether, but perhaps it would keep her from drifting farther for at least another day. Finally, with her pale head still pressed against him, she murmurs, “Yes.” She pauses, wishing for a moment they could stay like this forever. “I asked my mother to keep an eye on him too.”

    - noel



    @Nashua
    #3

    Duty calls him again and again to the Isle.

    And the only thing that could pull him from the furthest point North is the mare in front of him. The moment their eyes meet, Nashua can't stand the remaining distance. He takes a swinging step forward and then another, not allowing his restless heart to settle until he can feel Noel's faintly beating against his chest. His muscled neck lifts over hers, and the winged stallion draws her closer.

    Inhaling the scents of home, memorizing the scent of his happiness.

    She curls into him and Nash wraps around her, attempting to lose himself in the white pegasus beside him. Attempting to forget the tumultuous world that continues to batter around them, like the angry waves that beat against the cliffs of Nerine. The day is almost gone, but Nashua doesn't mind. He won't make the journey back to his kingdom tonight, and peace seeps into his bones at knowing he will have an evening to spend with his mate.

    His green eyes look to her as his blazed head glances back over the elegant arch of her neck, eager for any news that she might have.

    "Did he seem alright?" he asks quietly, wondering if Gale or Mazikeen had kept Bolder from his mother. (There would be hell to pay if they had, but Nashua won't mention it now. He won't let his anger get in the way of the limited time he has to spend with her.) It's a comfort to know that her mother - Ryatah, the white mare he met along with their stolen son - will keep an eye on him. To know that Bolder isn't completely alone in a kingdom full of monsters.

    "And you?" Nashua prompts her, using one of his wings to shield out a biting Northern wind. He had been away to the South, in Loess for more political meetings, and their time apart becomes a physical ache in his chest, only slightly eased by the knowledge that she was here now.

    That they had tonight.

    NASHUA


    @Noel
    [Image: jCdBK6.png]
    #4

    He meets her in the middle, and for a moment it is so easy to pretend that everything is okay. That they have all the time in the world to simply exist in one another’s presence. That they are not facing fear and worry and grief in the dangerous, tumultuous world in which they live. But reality is always so eager to intrude. So, though Noel tries, she is inevitably forced to return to the present.

    Did he seem alright? he asks, and Noel nods against his shoulder. He can’t see her, pressed as she is against him, but for a moment, she forgets. When she recalls however, the soft affirmation slips from her lips. “Yes.” She sucks in a breath, taking in his familiarity and holding it in her lungs as long as she can. “They don’t appear to be harming him.”

    She pulls back slightly. As much as she wants nothing more than to stay curled against him forever, she knows that she cannot. She knows that the world would never be that kind. Lifting her head, she finds his gaze, dark eyes expressive. She does not try to shield herself from him. Does not try to hide the worry she feels. Does not try to hide the fear.

    Not fear for her son. He is as well as she could ensure, and she knows she cannot protect him forever. No, it is for him she worries and fears. Even if he does not like to express it, she knows the strain he is under. Knows the weight he carries. And she fears she will not be enough.

    He asks after her, and she cannot respond immediately. She does not want to place her burdens onto his already overburdened shoulders. Instead, she brushes her lips over the corner of his mouth. “I’m okay now that you are here.”

    “How was Loess?” she continues quickly, unwilling to give him the opportunity to pry further. The weight she carries is so slight in comparison to his, it would be unfair to give it to him. But perhaps she could take some of his. She is no politician, nor is she a warrior, but she can be here to support him. And perhaps, that would be enough to keep him from slipping farther away.

    - noel



    @Nashua
    #5

    He breathes easier - because of her comforting presence and news of their son - and the copper pegasus exhales gently, making the inhale of his mate's pale mane that much sweeter. Nashua holds her to him, and begins to relax with his neck wrapped over her slender one. He agonized over the absence of their youngest - much like his missing twin - but there is still a kingdom to rule and the rest of Beqanna to consider against the machinations of evil beings like Mazikeen and Gale.

    (And he keeps seeming to forget that he is only one man.)

    The information that Noel provides grants him a small moment of peace, one that he won't waste. Nash tucks away the mention that they didn't appear to be harming Bolder (marking it as one more difference in the stories of the Curse that he had heard and the one that roams now). The thought doesn't even crease his blazed brow, as he manages to keep it smooth to offer her some peace of mind. She steps back and he knows what she is searching for; he knows that she worries for him more than their wayward son and he is determined to shoulder both their burdens.

    Nashua attempts to ease them by smiling softly, and losing himself in the intensity of her dark eyes.

    There is lightning in her touch, and he can feel it sparking against his auburn-hued skin. The winged stallion settles his rustling wings, turning his head towards Noel's electric caress. "I wish I could be with you more," he murmurs, with longing softening the edges of his hoarse voice. If he was, Nash might know more know of her struggles. He might know more of other worries, but for now, he can only attempt to ease them by loosening the tight knots in her neck and shoulders.

    "Full of ideas," Nashua tells her, mulling over the discussions that took place in the Southern kingdom. Cheri had wanted to join North and South. The creation of an Empire was no small feat, and the more time passed that the entity that wore Gale roamed, Nashua considered the merits of it more and more. Wolfbane had wreaked considerable havoc on the North; this Curse was rumoredly much stronger than the monster had been and so the North would have to match. Reave had a strong argument against it - favoring a traditional alliance instead - and his thoughts were heavy, weighted down by the points both made. He shares them quietly with Noel, considering them carefully.

    This brings him back to the topic of his youngest brother, the one he hopes that he can turn away from Aela's influence. Nash had known that Noel had gone to Reave when Bolder first went missing. That had been no secret and the Freyr had assumed that the young Guardian had helped her because they were family. Because that was what family did in times of trouble.

    Now, he wasn't so sure.

    "When you spoke with Reave about Bolder," Nashua asks, "did he say anything to you? Ask anything of you?"

    NASHUA


    @Noel
    [Image: jCdBK6.png]
    #6

    He tries so hard to keep his burdens from her. His way of protecting her, she knows, and for a moment, she wishes he would not. She does not press him however. Perhaps, in his own time, he would learn how to share it with her. Perhaps he would not.

    Either way, she would hold him as close as he would allow.

    His touch eases the jagged edges of worry carving through her heart. She leans into him, clinging to the moments they would have together. If her touch is electric, his is a storm that batters against her skin. Alive yet somehow comforting. She would bask in it for eternity if she could.

    But they do not have eternity.

    His words whisper against her, causing her heart to squeeze painfully inside her chest. They loosen the ache she has been trying so hard to keep contained. Breathing out a gentle sigh, Noel moves closer, dark eyes closing against reality. There is a note of desperation in her voice when she replies, “I wish that too.”

    It cannot be of course, no matter how much she wants it. So she eases back, eyes opening as he tells her of his visit to the south, his voice soft in the slim space between them. She could listen to him speak forever, even if it is of things that inevitably drag him away from her. When he is done, she considers him quietly for a moment before murmuring, “It seems like a… large undertaking.”

    She does not say - cannot say - the obvious: that it must mean he would be away from her even more often because of it. Noel would never burden him with the selfish weight of her own foolish wants.

    Then he asks about Reave, the strange Guardian of Nerine. She hadn’t been quite sure what to make of him when she had gone to him for help. He had seemed willing enough to give it, but his smiles had been too quick, his curiosity too cryptic. She shakes her head briefly, eyes dropping to the ground before rising to meet Nashua’s. “He seemed willing to help.” She pauses thoughtfully before adding. “He only asked for a favor should he ever need one. He was… pleasant enough, I suppose.”

    - noel



    @Nashua




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