"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
10-31-2018, 06:48 PM (This post was last modified: 11-03-2018, 10:53 AM by Lilitha.)
Lilitha
I watch the city burn, these dreams like ashes float away...
She had known it was only a matter of time before disaster struck again. This entire world was crossed by the stars and showed its nature on a regular basis. Lilitha wasn’t even surprised when the ground shook and the world rearranged itself again. She didn’t even blink when the voice of the gods rolled through her head, declaring a state of emergency. She just dug in her heels and took another walk through the glorious, haunted woods that had become her home.
She knew this place, every crack and crevice, had made her life here in the shadows of Beqanna’s broken kingdom. A land marred by fire and flooding, still recovering from devastation and the havoc the gods could wreak on their people when they put their minds to it. They’d worked together to ruin the forest, and the forest had survived. So had her people.
Even the ones that went unacknowledged.
She drew herself up to her full, substantial height, tossed her head to resettle her thick red mane against the dark black of her skin, and strode through the winter woods, on the lookout for anyone else who might want to stay, who might need protection. She had very little she could afford by way of such, not much more to offer than a little fire magic and the sheer force of her will. But that, at least, was substantial.
And if worse came to worst, she had her fire.
Gods or no gods, plague or no plague, Lilitha was home. She was staying in Taiga, and no one would drive her out of it. Whether Ruan lived or not, this was still the safe haven he’d fought so hard to make of it. If he couldn’t be here to ensure it stayed free even in crisis, she would do it herself.
Glaciers melting in the dead of night and the superstars sucked into the supermassive
Tentatively, he crosses the borders. Swims the icy sea, rests on sandbanks, but only briefly. He remembers how to swim the tides, used to it as he was less than a year ago in Ischia - and it’s still not hard to do so. It’s just the frigid cold of the water that he has to tackle now; but after his changes, his ice transforming, cold was something that would slide off of him as easily as the waters off his scales.
Taiga had been much farther away from Nerine before, but now it was in the North, and he wanted to make sure there would be no threats coming from this land. Not towards Nerine, not towards the icy island that besides it magic should not be worth much to any others, but him and maybe a few lucky others that could withstand it’s cold.
But the magic attracted others. And if they heard of Brennen moving, some might want to force him to heal them, mayhaps. Even if they didn’t, scouting his surroundings would not be a bad idea.
Indeed it wasn’t. The ice-attuned stallion found the fiery-red maned mare quick; the only clue to where he’d come from the dripping of his golden mane and fetlocks - the scales were all but dry, when he found her and whinnied to her. Closing the distance, though not too much because he wanted to make sure she wasn’t sick yet, he asks one question. Alright maybe two.
”Who are you, and what do you want, in all this change?” he wonders. Not in an aggressive tone, but, not too familiar either. Rather neutral, as one can never be too careful in times like these.
you set my soul alight
HTML by Vanilla Custard
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
I watch the city burn, these dreams like ashes float away...
His appearance was unusual, but she was no stranger to the odd and unlikely. Beqanna was full of strange colors, strange features, and there was something oddly lovely about the scales spread across his skin in place of hair, his sharp predatory teeth, his odd eyes. And she could appreciate his directness. She called a soft, wordless greeting back and met him partway, closing the last of the distance between them.
And she met those odd eyes with a directness of her own. “My name is Lilitha,” she answered. “My father aided in the formation of this land when the Reckoning came, and he did so to make a safe place in the chaos of a world in upheaval.” The only father she’d ever known, though she didn’t get a chance to know him well.
“When he disappeared from the land, he left my friend Ruan in charge along with his mate at the time, Reagan. They had the same goal for the land, to make it a haven, a safe place for families to raise their children, for people to coexist in peace. A land that belonged to the people, and not to a king or queen. Independent and proud and safe, until outside influences made it otherwise, trying to take power over a land that was never meant to be dominated.”
She looked around, golden eyes lingering on old scars on the towering trees, a land strong and proud even through disaster, recovering from the nightmare of gods unleashing their wrath on their people. “This land has survived devastation from the fairies and the Dark God himself, stood free and independent for long years since. I would see it remain as it was meant to be.”
She met his gaze again, standing proud and tall like Taiga deserved. “This is my home. I want to honor its spirit, its nature, its purpose. I won’t let it be subjugated by strangers, I won’t let it be taken over by someone who just wants a land to rule. Taiga is free, and I will keep it that way.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly and she asked, “And you? Who are you, and what do you want here?”
Glaciers melting in the dead of night and the superstars sucked into the supermassive
She gives more than her name, and he tilts his head a little but doesn’t interrupt; she’d taken his question to a much deeper level but perhaps this was good - it told her a little of her history but also of her plans for the place, which was what he needed to know.
She didn’t seem to want to lay a claim to this land other than to just live here, he figured. Nodding to her when she finished, he hadn’t much else to add. Yet she asks a question and she deserves a better answer than just a name.
”Leilan. My father wasn’t all that important in terms of kingdom matters, but my mother was. An Amazonian queen, and a Leviathan now, so I guess you’ll understand where that leaves a colt, as the culture was then.” He shrugs, it wasn’t important nowadays with things changing so much.
He looks around the redwoods briefly, and nods to her. ”There’s people claiming land all around, but they seem to focus on the safe islands for now.” He shakes his head. It was nonsense. No-one would eventually escape this plague until the magicians and fairies had worked something out, unless they literally isolated themselves from everyone. ”If your claim holds, I’d like to talk to you again soon, either on Icicle Isle or Nerine. We don’t need panicking horses to start a war over something nobody knows how to fix yet, but if they do and you need backup, let us know. We could use a herdland like the one you have in mind, for those who just want a home and nothing more. Perhaps in due time, we’ll be able to offer you more. You are, after all, the first-most Northern land our visitors need to pass through.”
He wonders if she had thought that through, but, the thing is she is not a threat and if she continues not to be, then an alliance would be useful. With Taiga as a buffer between Nerine and the other lands, the Northern kingdoms would be one very strategically set-up stronghold. They’d want and need Nerine’s protection, and, if this business with the newcomers was worked out in Nerine’s favour, the Isle’s also, in return.
Perhaps he’d learned something from Brennen after all, in terms of war. But he supposes that he has to ask the man what he wants to, and can, do, in due time.
”Good luck out here, Lilitha. I hope your visions will come true.” He turns back north, back towards the island, unhappy with the developments there but hopefully it will be clear what to do with Cam and Phasus, soon.
you set my soul alight
HTML by Vanilla Custard
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
I watch the city burn, these dreams like ashes float away...
Lilitha had very little knowledge of kingdom politics, but she nodded politely as Leilan told her of his childhood, filing the information away in case the subject came up again in the future. “They put more faith than I do in the fairies and their benevolence. I won’t be chased out of my home, not on a flimsy promise of safety.”
She listened to his invitation, head tilting slightly as he spoke. “To clarify. This may not be a kingdom, but we would not belong to either Icicle Isle or Nerine. Taiga offers your lands no allegiance. I would be open to continued discussions and a positive relationship, but we would not function as Nerine’s or Icicle Isle’s herd land. Unless the we you meant was Beqanna at large, I need that to be very clear. We may lie in the same direction, but Taiga belongs to no kingdom.”
She felt no need to point out that there were other ways to reach Nerine than by land. After all, he was right. Most people would need to travel through Taiga to reach Nerine. She’d walked the new perimeters, and they stretched from coast to coast, with Nerine bordering them to the North as he’d mentioned, and four other distinct lands and a river sprawling across Taiga’s southern bounds.
She merely nodded and added, “I suppose we’ll see in time what the future holds. In the meantime, I intend to keep my land and her people safe to the best of my ability. I wish you well in doing the same.” And watched him leave, returning to the north from where he’d come.
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