"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
08-09-2019, 12:23 AM (This post was last modified: 08-09-2019, 01:09 AM by Kensa.)
KENSA
KENSA
How long has it been since she set foot in the Cove? Oh, she recalls… it was the coronation. There is laughter in her heart recalling that memory, watching the friend she so loves being made Queen. The end of Ilma’s reign, the end of the last vestiges of The Sanctuary.
Marbled and glorious, Kensa stands atop a gentle swell in the earth where the wind lays over the grass around her into waves of green and gold. Her flaxen mane is manipulated by the gusts, whipping against her skin or streaming back from her neck like a platinum flag.
The Cove is silent.
It is the silence of a fabled battlefield, an unconsecrated graveyard where only ghosts should walk. The silence of ballroom in the wee hours, the invitations dated for a distant tomorrow. An arena where a gladiator stands on bloodless sands and savors the silence of an empty Colosseum.
It pleases her endlessly to see it so.
They ought to perhaps have an event of some kind soon. She should mention it to that husband of hers, he can set his crown to a jaunty angle and invite the other kingdoms to a fête or perhaps something more befitting a prince of shadow. However that is not why she is here.
Rumors reach her. As always she appreciates them just as much as she is annoyed by the idea of them. So frequently people pretend they know so much about her based on rumor, as if they should have her name in their mouths without knowing anything for themselves. She seeks to verify a particular rumor for herself. An old friend is back in the Cove.
Of course she is aware of the odd handful of horses hanging on to the Cove, perhaps not understanding the shift in the Kingdom or too traumatized by the plague to abandon the old retreat easily, but they will. Choose a faction of the East, or leave… she would say. That is of course up to Litotes and Dawn, and they are likely forced to be more diplomatic. Kensa is today only interested in seeing if what she has heard is true. The wind that blows across her face brings her a promising scent and the Primarch lopes forward to investigate.
He is here after all. Bay and verdant green, his horns spiraling skyward and her smile is as radiant as the sun that lies smothered behind the dense cloud cover. “Clayton.” Her voice is honey smooth and clear and she reaches out to greet him with calm relief. “You really are here. I’m happy to see you again.” She wonders a little at the anger or perhaps sadness she feels from him and so very softly says. “It’s time to come home.”
His life was flipped upside down, his heart ripped from his chest and crushed before him. The stag had returned to beqanna, but his first visit forced him into hiding. The stag was filled with rage and sadness, he couldn't decide which one was more relevant.
There were friends he wanted to visit, but he knew his mood was not right and he would probably end up burning any relationship more than building. He couldn't be happy for everyone else when he was in so much pain.
The bay and green stag always had a gentle heart, he always looked for a lover, one that could be all his...but it seemed that fate had not had it in store for him, and quite frankly the stag has been discouraged that love is even a true thing. Perhaps that is why father never stayed around, or even mother.
He traveled in the shadows of the Cove, but he hears his name and the familiar voice sends his head swirling. Kensa, the sabino mare comes to his mind and for some reason all of his anger had melted away. He wanted to visit her, but he wasn't sure what would come from it, a release of his pent up anger?
She stands just out from the trees and he slowly removes himself from hiding. Kensa, he says her name again but this time loud enough for her to here him. She greets him and for the first time it was an equine happy to see him, for the first time a smile grows on his maw.
The two had known each other since they were children and some how they had always found each other in desperate times of need. it's time to come home, she says and the words seep into his mind...he had always been busy promised a crown for a land he loved...but now he had nothing, why shouldn't he move to Hyaline with her?
The bay stag moves to press his body against hers, the comfort exactly what he was seeking. She always had a way of pulling him from his delusional thoughts. Did it hurt you too? He knows that her and Lie had a relationship of sorts, did it hurt her just as much to see him standing beside Dawn?
His eyes seek hers, in the moment he wishes he had tried harder to win her over. Why did he let her go so easily? But it was too late to kick himself, and now wasn't the time to discuss the past. His eyes scan the horizon and the departing words of Dawn seep into his mind. A queen who threatend his position in a kingdom he was raised in, one he should he ruling. It was almost comical, the Cove members falling under Pangea and if that was the case moving to Hyaline was all that easier.
They embrace as they have many times before, though Clayton is made in some ways of gentler things than she. Kensa could take a dozen lovers and never feel a thing more than desire and friendship for any of them, unless of course one of them was completely unsuitable and dangerous. She seems to get caught on those ones, or at least has caught on one.
Clayton was the kind of man who should have someone to love him, who needed devotion that someone like Kensa could not give him. She tries to remember to be careful with him, his heart is wounded and it would be so easy for her to pick it up, capture it entirely but he deserves better than that. Old warm feelings might be a comfort for him though and so she nibbles softly at his strong dark neck until he asks his question.
The Primarch lifts her eyes to his, leveling a calm honesty on her friend. “Yes, of course...but not like it must hurt you.” Pressing her muzzle softly against his bay cheek. “I’m sorry Clay. You love her, don’t you?” Kensa knows Litotes doesn’t love Dawn romantically, thought the two of them ruling side by side chafes her. She ignores them for the most part. Clayton could too, in Hyaline. The cove has been given to one of their Princesses, this is no place to hide from his old love.
Her touch was exactly what he needed, affection, even if it was just from a friend. They had shared moments of romance together, but he knew that Kensa was never his, and he was not a mare who could be claimed. He instead just enjoyed the moment with Kensa, she understood the pain he was feeling, she took the time to listen to him which is more than there queen was willing to do.
He asks if it had hurt her, and as her eyes find his she admits that it had, but not like it hurts him. It was probably because Kensa did not give her heart out as easily as Clayton did, and that was his problem. Was love even a real thing? Kensa had many 'lovers' and yet she had never had her heart broken, where Clayton continues to have just that.
She asks if he loves her and the pain of the question stabs his hear once again. Dawn, he loved her.....at least he thought he did but in the end he was left heartbroken. Was love even a real thing? Or was it some fantasy that parents instill in there children, setting them out into the world to find some made up emotion. Perhaps Clayton sought this 'love' too much, and that was what left him so heart broken.
But no more, Clayton couldn't go through the pain another time. I'm not sure, his eyes falter from hers. He thought he had loved her, he bore children with her...but when presented with one mistake Dawn had turned her back on him, and even fled to an enemy. He wasn't sure if her abandonment for there relationship hurt the most, or if it was her running to Litotes. I thought I did, but maybe love isn't a real thing. How could it be? She didn't even give him an opportunity to make up for his mistakes.
His eyes find hers once again, a familiar feeling of peace that he has with Kensa overwhelms him. I can't stay her Kensa, let me live in Hyaline with you.... It was his last resort, He loved his home in the Cove...or should he say Pangea. But he couldn't bare staying under the rule of Dawn and Litotes child, he was loyal to the home, and could even be loyal to Kensa. This was his last hope, before he would flee to another kingdom, and perhaps become just the enemy that Dawn saw him has.
...maybe love isn’t a real thing. Says her dear friend and the words and their heartbreaking disillusionment make her frown. The chestnut has never thought the world empty of love. She loves her children, Litotes, Brigade, the parents she left behind, Clayton, Dawn, dozens of others. Even when she ruins her relationships she can look back and find love in all the memories. Sometimes that hurts, but it’s proof that this thing he thinks is just farce is in fact far from it. Without hesitation the Primarch embraces Clayton, resting her chin against his bay shoulder. “Oh Clay. It is real.” Her words are muffled against his skin so she pulls back to look into his eyes. “It is real.” Sighing, Kensa does not try to push away the painful topic with one of her megawatt smiles. His pain is real too, no matter what she or any of their old group might think about the circumstances that brought it about. “Love is very real, sometimes it breaks, or is flawed or misplaced, or just can’t survive. ”Sometimes we kill it—but she doesn’t say that, because she doesn’t want the hazel-eyed stallion to misunderstand her meaning.
“Of course my friend, I came here to ask you to come home.” She brushes his deep green forelock off of his unmarked face. “So shut up and come home.” Kensa’s voice takes on a grave, pleading tone but she smiles hand gives him a light nip on the side of his neck. She is playful but gentle with him, knowing he is floundering in this new reality he’s returned to.
He was defrated, his soul had been crushed, over and over. He continued to look for love, dedicating himself to each girl, only to be pushed away. Each one rejected him, but Dawn...Dawn hurt the most. The light that always burned has finally gone out,
Even though Kensa had been one he hoped to fill a life with at one point, they had blossomed into one of his closest friendships. She always knew what to say, and this was no different.
She embraces him, her maw settled onto his shoulder and he happily leans into her. His ears turn towards her when her voice enters his ear. She tells him that love is real, but admits that it is not always a fantasy, and that heartbreak comes with it.
I guess you're right, he admits back, he had no energy to argue it. But of course, if anyone could pull him from his depreesive state, it was Kensa. She plays with his forelock, and asks him to come home. He gently bumps her maw with his own, I wouldn't have it any other way. He quickly moves towards Hyaline, his original home that ached for his return.
@[Kensa] I assumed we could finish this and start a new one in Hyaline if you want<3