Saved, the black queen follows the little brown mare and Bean makes sure to stay right by her side in case she turns back to the cliffs. As the fog envelopes them, the queen is stolen from her side as another vision plays out so very real before her plain brown eyes: black and gold, the sands at their backs and love in their eyes.
She understands; lovers and rulers, together and meant to be, like a fairytale and Bean smiles. How could she not? Her mama told her about this kind of thing, that once in a lifetime kind of love that is so hard to find but worth so much. She sees it here in the flesh, knows it to be as real as the air she breathes.
It chokes her up and brings big fat tears to her eyes as she looks to her side and finds the black queen there once more. “You two are meant to be,” she murmurs as she hears the sound of something coming asunder, like a tear, a rip in the fabric of time.
“Knew it wasn’t going to get any easier,” she mutters under her breath, putting the tears aside as she blinks them off her eyelashes repeatedly and squares her small self up. “I think we need to go that way,” she gestures in the direction the sound had come from either a flip of her nose. The black queen is neither agreeable or disagreeable, and Bean just sighs.
“Well come on, you don’t want to keep Aida waiting for you, do you?” her question is met by that regal green stare and a slow nod of acknowledgement is made by that black head. Bean swallows and leads the way, careful to make certain that the queen follows her every step. Which she does, despite an occasional wayward stride in the opposite direction that leaves Bean snaking behind her like a stallion, herding her back to the right path ahead.
She is tired, and imagines the queen must be so too. Tired and thirsty and there is nothing but sand all around. She sighed again, careful to stay against the black like a bit of brown glue - Bean isn’t going anywhere, until they reach the portal and the black balks at it. “Oh bother!” she huffs before turning to face the other mare.
“Look, I think we have to go through on account of our own free will. That’s usually how these things work in the stories. I’ll bet Aida is just in the other side, and if she’s not that pretty gold partner of yours, then I’ll bet she’s waiting over there too.” Bean falls quiet for a moment, nervous as evidenced by the sudden swish of her tail.
“That’s not Aida. That is Craft, my queen and lover. Aida is my daughter.” the voice is as imperious as the eyes, but instead of sounding wild and frantic as Bean expected her to still be, the mare is calm and collected - the picture of what a queen ought to be, she supposed. Can’t be all that sure, since she’s never met a queen before and doesn’t know how they should act. Stories say that some are good like sunshine and apples, and others are as bad as a bee sting.
Bean though, is stunned to hear her speak at all. “Will you walk on then? Please?” and for her sake, she tries to look like she is curtsying or bowing or showing as much respect as she can to the great black mare. Whatever it takes, she tells herself as the black takes a step forward then hesitates, so very close!
The little brown mare is growing exasperated but tries not to let it show on her face. “How do you know they’re waiting on the other side?” asks Anatomy, pinning Bean with a suspicious stare that almost makes the brown squirm. She chews her lip for a second before shaking her head, tasting bitter defeat in her mouth.
“I… I don’t. You just have to trust and take that step. I don’t know what waits for us on the other side, just that it feels right to go through there.” Bean isn’t sure how she knows that, but it feels right and sounds right. Apparently Anatomy agrees too, and walks on into the portal as Bean trots afterwards to keep up with her.
She has no idea why the queen would even trust her, a relative stranger that appeared out of thin air, but it seems she has as they are caught in the portal’s embrace.
ooc: edited for paragraph spacing.