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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 Dark Light [Solace, Kagerus, Castile, any]
    #1
    do you ever wonder...
    ...do you ever dream?

    Day-by-day, the charcoal and alabaster lad feels himself growing stronger. He had outgrown the awkward proportions of colt-hood and now, Velk saw himself as a youthful stallion. Yet, he did not quite feel as though he belonged in this mature form. He wanted to find his place in the world of Beqanna. And, now that he is coming of age, he felt obligated to get his ducks in a row. He teetered between wanting to follow in the diplomatic footfalls of his mother but, fantasized about being a free-range soldier like his sire. Perhaps, he could master qualities of both roles though, the two-toned male was unsure how he would fit into Hyaline's hierarchy as such.

    Striped hooves are the base of four gently sloping pasterns. Large fetlocks, knees and hocks permit sturdy limbs to move with ease beneath chassis. Quad pillars support well-muscled shoulders amd stifles. Haunches are lean, but toned. His croup angles gently into a short back and a relatively level topline. Well-sprung barrel indicates desert-bred lineage though the foliage in Hyaline is far more abundant than an arid land. Thus, his ribs are hidden well beneath his pelt. Broad shoulders slope into a thick, arched neck which balances steed's short-coupled frame. Sapphire dyed tresses cascade from crest and poll, down his nape and forehead, respectively.

    Azure orbs survey the scene of spring in Hyaline. The land has been and continues to thrive. The same could be said for the inhabitants, here. Although the same could not be said for every corner of Beqanna, Velk considered himself quite blessed. Not much in the way of drama had effected him and, he would rather keep it that way. However, he was curious what his mother - the golden queen - had been up to as of late. As the queens' son, he did his best to stay out of her way and, allow her to fulfill her duties. He is content on his own though, given his earlier monologue, he very much sought their counsel. So, Velk abandons his grazing - there should be plenty left for his return - to search for her. Perhaps, he might run into the tricolored queen, Kagerus, as well. Both are desireable company and, maybe even could offer insight to his persistent musings of a torn sense of belonging.

    Velk
    #2



    For days Solace had been debating; should she tell the twins of her encounter with their sire? Would it do more harm than good for them to know Castile was close but still unknown to them? In the end, she had decided to wait. Her children's father would appear in his own time, and she didn't want them worrying about something that could be weeks off yet.

    Her eldest son is too good, too respectful of her time.
    He held himself above the clamoring litter of his siblings, and it was too easy to let him stand stoically in the background while the other bickered and took illicit adventures. It was easy to trust him. To know that he, if none of the others, will keep himself out of trouble. 

    It is lucky, that they are both seeking each other on this summer afternoon.  

    The wisteria blossoms cast a lavender glow across the trail as Solace walk, washing the cream of her pelt in cool light. "Velk," she calls his lightly as he appears ahead of her, her walk finding a new energy. She cherished hopes that her firstborn would find his place within her Kingdom, and she would do anything to facilitate that - if it was his wish. With his thoughtful demeanor and quiet strength, the gold-splashed mare believed there was no position or rank beyond his grasp. But she knows these thoughts are partially selfish, as she tries her best not to project them onto the young stallion. 

    This sight of him drives away her recent musings (her own fathers illness and politics) because he deserves this, his mother full attention and care, before he is too old to not want it anymore. 

    As she reaches her eldest son, Solace buries her muzzle in the mass of his sapphire mane, drawing in the scents her carries, unconsciously checking for what he had been up tp, who he had been with. She can no longer easily pull him to her chest with her chin, draping her neck across the little colt's form. No, somehow, suddenly he had become a stallion, and the sleeping power coiled in his well-made shoulders and haunches is both a source of pride and sadness for the young mother. He has left behind the quiet colt who nestled under her wing for warmth on frigid Hyalinean nights, but he would always be her baby. 

    "You've been thinking too much," she gently quips, stepping back to allow the young stallion his space. "I can always tell."

    S
    olace
        we're reeling through an endless fall
    we are the ever-living ghost of what once was


    @[Aeris] @[Kagerus]
    Solghostdoll2

    #3
    do you ever wonder...
    ...do you ever dream?

    Ebony lobes swivel forwards as the gentle breeze carries his own name, in her sweet tone, to him. He would recognize her soothing voice anywhere. Immediately, his poll lifts and his eyebrows soften from their previous arc of concentration. A smile pulls labrums up and back and his steps become lighter, more animated. He offers a nicker as she buries her muzzle into his crest and traces his own whiskered lips across the fine bone of her mandible, down her nape, and along the slope of her shoulder. A deep inhale is drawn into lungs as Velk takes a moment to reflect on the comforts associated with her perfume.

    He lingers in the moment until her tender words draw him back to the present. The two-toned lad offers a guilty smile before he steps back to allow his light blue gaze to match hers. Poll dips in agreement before he finds his maturing voice. "Guilty as charged." Normally, he would have waited until she prodded a bit more. However, in these last few months, a confidence had settled in that pushes Velk to continue. "I feel torn, mother. I would like to learn more about both castes. I do not know where I fit in but, I intend to serve Hyaline to the best of my ability." The young man waits for her response; waits for what feels like an eternity. He can hear both of their breaths: his mother's calm and steady while his expels in a rather large whuff since he had been holding it in.

    Velk


    @[Solace]
    #4
    And in the darkened underpass I thought,
    "Oh Satan, my chance has come at last!"


    Valdis returned – of course she would. There is family in Hyaline, more closely knit than the loose tether of cousins.

    Although Hyaline has lacked excitement – her opinion is finicky – she is lured by the sense of comfort and familiarity that Velk and mother can provide. Their voices echoed in the far remnants of her memories when she had been away with Lepis. As stubborn and proud as she is, Valdis’ heart still craves their attention. She wants independence but, seemingly, only in spurts while she tries to still determine her place in this chaotic world.

    Her flight from Loess was long and scenic. There had been no immediate rush as she watched the world unravel from underneath a cover of clouds. From here, she realizes how little she – and Hyaline – actually are in the scope of things. Naturally, however, she wants to be more than just a child lost in her mother’s shadow. One day, she tells herself, she will be known. She will become something because she doesn’t allow obstacles to block her.

    For a long while, Valdis is lost in her musings but is drawn from its grip when a chilled gust nips at her skin. Blinking, her molten eyes cast down and see the familiar lake of her home. Gradually, she descends, but her pace is lackadaisical until she glimpses her mother and brother. An electrifying excitement shocks her into acceleration until she has alighted and is between them with a beaming expression. Unfortunately, she missed the former of their conversation, grabbing only Velk’s confused admission. With a raised brow, she quips, ”Don’t be a pansy. Learn to fight.” Her sharp humor is punctuated by a playful nip to the curve of his shoulder before Valdis turns her attention to Solace. ”I met a cousin of ours.” The knowledge makes her proud, her ignorance making the realization blissful and intriguing.

    VALDIS
    But then a strange fear gripped me and I just couldn't ask.
    #5
    Castile hesitated. Of course he did. There was limited joy for him here in Hyaline. Solace’s skin is drenched with the scent of another lover, albeit female, and his children likely hold a grudge against him for having been absent for so long. They will reject him as Santana had; they will sneer at his shortcomings and failures. The father figure he aspired to be has crumbled in his palms, a figment of his imagination lost long ago. He is a shadow of what he pictured himself to be as a boy.

    Failure. Failure. Failure.

    Although his mind shies from the expectation, his heart continues to guide him toward Hyaline with the wind at his back. He glimpses the young girl below him soaring among the clouds, and he drinks in the scent of Lepis on her skin, but he doesn’t yet assume. Instead, he casually follows and descends a few heartbeats after her once he has also tasted Solace on his tongue. She is the glue binding them all together; he can only hope she will not weaken and come undone. No matter how desperately he wants to rectify his mistakes, it’s up to her whether he can be forgiven or play a part – finally – in their children’s lives.

    Castile’s assumption proves correct as he makes landfall only feet away from Solace. A swift overlook of her azure wings and splashed coat provide him enough courage to step forward among the small group. His mismatched, metallic eyes flicker across their faces, admiring their features and seeing so much of their mother in them. They aren’t monsters like him; they are beautiful. With a lift of his lips, he placidly greets them all while swallowing down his internal fears. ”Hello.”

    #6

     

    "Don't let it worry you, embrace it," Solace reassures her son. "Practicing your skills in both areas will only be helpful later on,"She adds, shooting Valdis a look which had lost most of its power before the girl had even been a yearling. But there is no true force behind it, for Hyaline's Caretaker had always admired her eldest daughter's fire. She had never attempted to curb her daughter's pride for fear of weakening her natural born self-confidence - even when those admirable traits had taxed her sanity. 

    "You will know which suits you better in time, Velk. Hyaline needs both, and always will." 

    With a final nudge to his cheek, Solace turns toward Valdis to greet her and groom a misplaced twig from her mane. Valdis speaks again (mentioning something which concerns Solace) but the young mother halts before she has a chance to reach her pegasus daughter, and all thoughts of unruly neighbors vanishing.

    The wind from Castile's wings rustles the trees around them, lifting Solaces tricolor mane. His scent - dragonfire and musk - clashes with Hyaline's lake basin garden, and she knows it can only be Castile before she even sees him. The is a rustle behind her as he lands and she closes her eyes, taking a second to pull a deep breath into her lungs. Her children's gazes will be most likely be magnetically drawn to the flesh-and-blood version of a father who was little more than a name to them. She can afford the brief moment to steady herself, she needed this to go well. 

    'Hello'

    Solace turns to Castile, her wings held close to her sides as the wisteria grove suddenly feels crowded. Cerulean eyes lift to rest on his face and a light, undecided smile softens her features without fully forming on her lips.  

    "Velk, Valdis," She begins, "This is Castile." 

     

    S
    olace
        we're reeling through an endless fall
    we are the ever-living ghost of what once was


    @[Velk]
    Solghostdoll2

    #7
    do you ever wonder...
    ...do you ever dream?

    His mother's reassurance hit his accoustics and softened his facial features. Velk finds himself more comfortable now. More confident. When the whoosh of Valdis' wings come from above, young stallion shifts his weight between all fours with excitement. There is no telling where she had been or, what stories she may bring home. The snarky comment elicits a chuckle from male before ears pin against poll when her teeth graze his shoulder. He extends his parted maw to playfully return the gesture. His dentition grasps only air; however, Velk could feel the spark of his inner warrior ignite with her instigation. Valdis' next comment does little to spark his curiosity. Solace gave it little heed and, while it indicates that family extends beyond the mountain valley's borders, it does not insinuate anything more.

    He rocks back and realizes that their dam's attention is caught by something which draws close. Velk permits his light blue orbs to wander away from the pair of ladies. The flutter of another pair of wings causes him to glance up and catch the descent of a two-toned equine, marked in colors much like his own and, a pattern that is quite similar. As the musky stranger's cologne enters nares, Velk flares his nostrils to expose the moist salmon lining. His widened olfactory channels draw the scent in so that thinker-box may process it fully. While Valdis continues to watch the mature stallion meet solid ground, ink-and-milk hued steed glances briefly towards Solace. He notes that she seems composed and comfortable and thus, Velk, too, remains calm for now. The stranger offers a greeting in a tentative tone and then, his lobes catch the reserved tone of their mother. He listens and, processes completely before his light blue gaze rests again on the larger male, his father. When their eyes make contact, Velk offers a genuine smile. He next steps forward and extends his whiskered muzzle towards that of his sire's. Softly, he finds his voice. "Hello, Castile. I am Velk."

    Velk

    @[Castile] @[Valdis] @[Solace]
    #8
    Castile had once been formidable, but Solace’s frigidity has since reduced him to a shadow of the former. When he spares her a glance, ripping his adoring gaze from their children, he is met with a coolness that he hoped would have melted by now. He blinks once, twice, as he holds onto the vision of her face before dropping his attention again to the twins. They aren’t hostile, not yet at least. Velk, his son, steps forward confidently and Castile sees no trace of a monster lurking beneath the boy’s placid surface. ”I’ve waited so long for this moment,” he admits in the most tender of voices, far sweeter than anything Solace has ever heard. Inside his chest, his heart patters excitedly while a great heat fans from deep within his core. Fatherhood, he muses. This is what he has yearned for and what he has missed. A smile softens the sharp edges of his face as his eyes slip to the young girl. ”Valdis,” she quips while inching forward with a suspicious expression. ”You left before we were even born,” there is a sharpness in her voice, one that reminds Castile greatly of his own mother, ”… but you came back.” Valdis wants to be angry, but she is paralyzed standing and facing him. He could have just as easily skipped over Hyaline and meeting them, but here he is.

    ”I’m so sorry,” the tenderness of his confession emanates with unreined sincerity while his vision sweeps back and forth between his – their – children. It swallows him entirely as he gives himself to them, waiting for their rejection or acceptance. Truly, it is up to them.

    As long as he can remember, staring out across the ocean’s waves in Nerine, Castile yearned for the reward of being a father. He can recall Lior’s smiles when they connected, and he wanted that. The opportunity is here, even if he let time slip through his fingers like sand. All he can do is begin anew and learn from his mistakes. They are within his reach, peering up at him curiously even as Solace remains standoffish to observe and calculate. He wants so badly to pull them in and to hold them, but he resists with a greater strength and distracts himself by once again peering up at the woman who triggered so much within him. ”Solace,” even now, he quakes with temptation when her name spreads across his tongue. He smiles, unable to hold back because the image he had always wanted to see is slowly coming to fruition. The only flaw is the walled distance between them.

    A playful smirk brightens his face as he edges toward her, unable to keep away from her (as is always the case). He doesn’t force her against his side as he remembers how easily she phased through it. He doesn’t want that again, not ever. So, he instead rubs his lips on the crest of her neck before planting a gentle and playful nip. Castile immediately reels away as black smoke coils from his nostrils.

    Piqued, Valdis reaches forward and stares at the plume sprouting from father’s muzzle. ”Fire,” she mumbles to herself under her breath, connecting where her own fire stems from. It elicits a smile from her before she merrily twirls in a circle then watches for mother’s reaction.



    @[Solace]
    @[Velk]
    #9


    Their children step forward, unafraid and eager to meet their sire, to solve the mystery for themselves. Solace runs her muzzle along her daughter's golden shoulder as the girl approaches him, encouraging her forward. But Velk is the first to speak; already a gentleman, the colt greets his father with calm sincerity. Valdis has a little more to say. Strong-willed and always the critical thinker, working out the problem before her and concluding that it is good, that he should be here. Solace's cerulean gaze lifts again of Castile's face as his tender apology is offered to his children.

    She would not sway her children's reactions, they were far too old to be told how to feel, and so she had kept her face carefully neutral, carved from marble. But marble can be delicate, light and artfully composed by a master hand.

    She had got what she wanted, and although she holds back, she is glad they have so easily accepted him, forgiven him. The trio in front of her look back and forth to each other, enamored, delighting in the sight of the others, and Solace is content to observe. But it is not long before all the power of Castile's mismatched gaze lands on her. Her name crosses his lips, laced with intimacy known and want, uprooting the comfortable feeling which had settled over her.

    She knows that he hates the way fate has played them. She could feel it in their first meeting, hear the sincerity of his apology, see it in his eyes as he drinks in the sight of his son and daughter. The way he reaches for her in a too familiar way, so bold and sure of himself, only confirms it. But before she can protest, he is gone and she gives her crest a light shake. She didn't see harmless flirting as harmless, especially in front of her children. They knew of her oath sworn to her fellow Caretaker, of her love for her wife, and she doesn't want to compromise that. But this meeting wasn't about her and didn't want to draw the attention away from them.

    Smoke curls from his nostrils, as he laughs at his own boyish playfulness and Solace sees something else has captured Valdis' attention. Her daughter's joy cracks finally cracks Solace's calm yet neutral facade, and as Valdis spins and looks to her mother for affirmation Solace smiles, a genuine, heartfelt smile. 

    "Valdis may have inherited a little of your Dragonfire," she says to the man of the hour, hinting at what could be much more than she suggested, but only time would tell.  "And Velk," she adds as she takes a step in his direction, "Velk will begin studying diplomacy and battle soon." There is warmth and pride in her voice as she speaks of both twins, Solace was never one to miss a chance to compliment her children. 

    S
    olace
        we're reeling through an endless fall
    we are the ever-living ghost of what once was


    Edited to clean up my rambling a little <3
    Solghostdoll2

    #10
    do you ever wonder...
    ...do you ever dream?

    The exchange between sire and son feels soft, even tender, to the young steed. Velk's own lobes fall back, in a relaxed, rear-facing position and his long-lashed eyelids close gently over his blue gaze. The lad is content to embrace this moment for as long as it existed. Velk retracts his muzzle slowly as the solid steps of his twin are heard approaching. He steps back and permits them their space, all the while, listening to their words. At last, Castile offers an apology. The black-and-white had not been explicitly waiting for such words; however, they certainly held the power to heal some of the colt's awkward reserve. Velk offers a soft smile out of acceptance. He certainly held nothing against his father and, as Valdis already said, he came back. In a gesture of gratitude and respect, the younger male bobs his poll. He was never truly angry with their sire and so, had very few red, hot sparks to contain. Sure, over the years, Velk grew disappointed and, felt a lack of respect and trust for the man. But, with him standing before them today, Velk found those feelings quickly dissipating.

    A brief glance upon Solace captures the light dancing in her soft blue orbs as their father acknowledges her. In his silent study, Velk notes the lingering warmth and comfort in Castile's touch. Velk observes his mother's poised response and, while a past clearly lingers between his parents, his dam seems to have moved on. For a fleeting moment, Velk considers what Kagerus would have to say as this reunion unfolds. Alas, the decisions made to bring the four of them together were in the past. Already done. There was nothing that would, or could, change this.

    Velk's attention is caught by the wisps of smoke floating from Castile's nostrils and captivating Valdis. The maturing male also found himself intrigued though, in a less exciteable manner. To his knowledge, he did not possess any such exhilarating traits. Valdis, on the other hoof, was ecstatic to learn of shared similarities with her sire. Velk always felt as though his purpose just had not been revealed to him yet. Beqanna would introduce him when he was ready. In the meantime, he would serve Hyaline and, in effect, Beqanna, just as Solace had stated. Velk shifts his weight to stand a little more squarely as his light blue gaze levels with his father's. If Castile offered any advice or, training, Velk would leap at the chance. However, he was also content to wait for Kagerus' and Ilma's consult. The two-toned lad stands before his sire, eager to spend more time with him and, learn more from him.

    Velk

    @[Solace] @[Castile]

    Ermagherd, I am so sorry for the delay and, for the poor quality of this post. Love you both <3




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