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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]  thats all i know so far
    #1
    The days had begun to shorten and Areane began to keep track of them as she flew. She still had a few hours of daylight left and she meant to make the most of them before grounding herself for the night. Though she was passing her third year, she had been a late flier and then the shock of losing Loess had kept her wings firmly shut for another year. 

    She was testing her endurance today, seeing how far she could make it before returning to her nest near Tephra. Determined to make it atleast to the Meadow, Areane kept pushing herself to flap harder, to move faster through the air. It had been an easier thing to do at the beginning of her journey and as she soared (uneasily) over the landbridge that had once been part of her home, the young pegasi knew she wouldn’t make it that far. 

    Not yet. 
    Not today. 

    Her slim sides heaved and a lather of sweat had darkened her neck. She would have preferred to land in a more open spot but as her wings grew heavy, Areane decided that a small clearing near the River would have to do. Veering towards the ground, she passed through the outreaching branches of a White Oak. A few of its leaves had begun to turn a bright red and two managed to snag themselves in the wild tangle of her dark mane and one against the blue-black of her feathers. When Areane landed, she turned her spotted face and began to shake out her wing. 

    It clung there, determined, and Areane, equally as determined to preen it out, reached for it with a flash of brilliant white teeth, momentarily oblivious to everything else. 


    @Link
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    #2
    Image by Thelovelyinsane


    @Areane
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    #3
    Areane had been so focused on getting the vibrant, red leaves out her dark, shimmering wings that she hadn’t bothered to look up. She should; the young pegasus was the daughter of two horses who knew that their world could be unkind. Better to keep your guard up rather than down, and more importantly, always be aware of your surroundings.

    She knows those things, but she also knows that she wants the evidence of her less-than-graceful landing out of her feathers. The year she had spent grounded - after the Sinking of Loess - had taken its price on the young pegasus. Her first outing had been the day that her home sank, and while she knows that she is more fortunate than most (she had been reunited with her family within hours), it had taken Areane a great deal of time to get comfortable with the idea of leaving again.

    Eventually, she had. And now there was lost time to make up, experiences to be gained, and the young mare was eager for all of them. Areane just didn’t want to look like the fledgling she was; nearing her third year, she wanted the world to look at her as she gazed upon it. An adventure just beginning, instead of appearing as if she lacked the readiness for it.

    But of all the things she might have been prepared for, an approaching bear is not one of them.

    A paw tangles itself in her mane (and Areane tries her best to remember everything her parents had taught her) and while instinct tells her to pull away, there is something about the black-and-white creature that strikes her as odd. It’s the eyes, she realizes, eyes that look more downturned than any other animal she’s seen. Was this someone’s bonded? Her amethyst eyes study it’s amber ones, wondering if there was a way to communicate with a companion that wasn’t her own.

    And in the end, all that awareness does nothing for her, because the bear becomes a boy.

    "You are -,” Tarian’s daughter starts before abruptly stopping, because she was about to imply that he was not a bear. He was a shifter, she realized. The first she had ever encountered. "You’re not a bear, but you just were.” Areane marvels, looking incredulously at the young stallion that had just clawed a leaf from her windswept mane.

    "By the Winds", she blows out through her flaring nostrils and then peers curiously up at him, thrilled with this recent discovery, "that's incredible."
     


    @Link
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    #4
    Image by Thelovelyinsane


    @Areane
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    #5
    Areane’s father was a man who preferred his privacy and the grotto that the young pegasus grew up in was a reflection of that. It was well away from the other established family groups in Loess and most of the memories that the young mare can conjure are the adventures (or misadventures, depending on who was telling the tale) with her brother, Starros.

    They had been so small when their cousin, Cheri, ascended the Southern throne. So young that she doesn’t even have a proper memory of the last Queen of Loess, but she knows of her, just as she knows of her predecessor, Lady Oceane. Tarian might have wanted to keep his children away from the Court while they had been young, but he would have done his best to make sure they weren’t ignorant of it or its members.

    There were a few instances, though, where the twins had wandered. The slender female fixes her amethyst eyes on the gold-striped stallion, unable to place him and yet, there was something familiar about him. Her gaze lingers on his unusual markings before moving up towards the bright blue blaze - a lovely, vibrant color that made her think of the open sky in Loess - when he speaks again.

    What the panda-bear-turned-stallion says surprises her and Areane’s head lifts a little as she steps back to look at the young male again, completely abandoning her quest to remove the rest of the leaves from her blue-sheened wings. "I am,” she says in the proud, clear lilt of a noble; though, there is something cautious on her dark face. Who he is is still unknown to her and it feels wrong that he should know her by sight when she does not.

    But the vivid blue of his blaze tugs at her mind again, and then something clicks.

    "Link,” she says, just as startled to find another Loessian as she is that she actually remembered the son of Oceane and Ledger. There is a momentary silence as shock begins to set in - because Areane had been looking for any trace she could find of her once-home - and here it was, as unexpected as a fair day in the bleak of winter. "What are you doing here?”

     


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    #6
    Image by Thelovelyinsane


    @Areane
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    #7

    Areane was still young, and therefore, prone to strong ideas. Perhaps that would be something she carried with her all her life. Her upbringing hadn’t been that much different from Link’s. From her mother, the young pegasus had learned a love of the wind and the freedom that came from soaring with it. She reveled in places undiscovered, and there was a certain thrill from learning something new. From her father, who most of the time was stoic and unmoving, Areane learned the stories of ancestors who did their part to make the world they left behind a better one.

    And perhaps there was a touch of Tarian’s pride in her, because when she gazed at the sky at night, she dreamed of having a place of her own amongst the stars. It was where the truly brilliant souls went to rest, he had told her. It was the place where those who had sacrificed and struggled and endured truly got to shine.

    Someday, she tells herself. Someday, she will earn her place there.

    It’s what drives her so far to find the remaining the Loessians. It’s what keeps her going, long after her wings are tired and her muscles are sore. The promise that she might be able to actually help someone keeps her moving.

    For a minute, it feels like she has done that. Link’s smile broadens and her own grows in confidence. She has vowed to find them, and while he is only one, he is a start. The first in a series of dead-ends that she has encountered time and time again. But the moment - like happiness itself - is a fleeting one and Areane goes chasing it, stubbornly refusing to allow either of them to sink into sorrow.

    "My parents are in Tepra,” she tells him gently, hoping that he might understand her meaning. It is where they live; Areane considers herself a resident of the wider world. "And I’ve flown over the outer islands, several times. I haven’t had any luck at finding any Loessians there, nor the Common Lands.”

    Her dark wings tighten around her lean sides, reflecting their blue sheen in the sunlight. Her mind races, trying to formulate a plan. She glances quickly back to the young shifter. "Have you tried any of the kingdoms?” It's only after that he tugs another leaf from them that she remembers her manners, and tries to shake out the remaining ones by fluttering them. "I'm never going to get them all out," she laments softly to her companion with a far more girlish expression than the sharp look that Areane had just given him a moment ago (making her look so like her Champion sire, a former Commander and once-heir to a proud kingdom), "but thank you for trying."

    @Link

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    #8
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    @Areane
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    #9

    Areane nods again as Link tells her that he has been in the Common Lands, trying to listen for any passing piece of information. She had begun to spend days out here as well, just trying to catch a stray word or rumor that might provide insight to those she was still searching for. But her journeys had so far proved unsuccessful and it was causing her to think that the other survivors (because she refuses to consider the alternative) had moved on to other kingdoms and herds by now.

    It causes her to frown in concentration, as she tries to imagine all the places that they haven’t spoken or thought of yet. It’s the sound of his laughter and the young pegasus has the grace to laugh with him. ”I look like a wild thing,” she tells him, aware that the father Link was speaking of had once been a diplomat. She doubted either of his parents had been caught with leaves in their manes or twigs in their tails.

    But she’s never minded being an outlier, and Link’s compliment is received with a small grin. The wing nearest to him reaches out to playfully brush against his lilac-colored shoulder, an attempt to keep his spirits up. When his brown eyes seek her amethyst ones, Areane doesn’t look away. She can see his unease, and so she doesn’t hesitate to offer her assistance. ”I can go to the Isle,” Areane starts. The wings on her back flutter, as if already anticipating the journey.

    She’s never gone so far North before or flown so far over the ocean.

    It sounds exciting and exhilarating, two adjectives that the adventure-seeker is dearly coming to love.

    "What about Hyaline?” she quickly asks, trying to formulate a plan between them. "or Silver Cove?”

    @Link

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    #10


    @Areane
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