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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


    that's all there is;
    #1

    that's all there is

    It feels a little funny, because they have all seen the Brilliant Pampas, but she has no clue where they have come from. Noah feels a little odd about this, and thinks she should pay a visit to the lands with whom she will soon share a border. But of course, she gathered enough from the little fun meeting they had to know that perhaps a visit to Sylva would be unwise, at this point in time But she can’t see any earthly reason not to visit Loess.

     


    The snow-covered rolling plains which she now calls home give way to rockier hills and the faint scent of saltwater amongst the fresh. Noah travels on the ground, wings tightly folded, taking in the beautiful scenery. Lovely – but not as perfect as she knows her quiet herdland will be, when the flowers bloom in the spring. But of course, they will have different purposes, Noah and the people of Loess. She just wants a home, and a family. She has no idea what Wolfbane and his people want.

     

    Her father would have said it was foolish, to make a deal with someone she knew nothing about. But Noah had liked Wolfbane, and she certainly wasn’t in any position to challenge the Loessians for anything. Making a deal was the right thing to do…she hoped. A part of her is here to look at Loess, and a part of her is here to learn about the people she’s made a deal with.

    noah

    #2

    My dreams have all come true

    They want the same thing, without either of them actually knowing it. In the calm after the storm he’d watched her leave and head north to Loess, himself contemplating the necessity of following her for a good time afterwards and then finally giving in to suspicion with the outward flourish of his wings. Wolfbane alighted the breeze and swept low to follow her tracks through the snow, veering up to broaden his view once the telltale signs of her journey faded into the frozen red earth of the borderlands. She made good time on foot, despite being a pegasus herself, but it wasn’t Noah’s penchant for new scenery or a casual stroll that interested Wolfbane. Something else altogether spurred him on into the scrubland, where streams twisted into one another like a gleaming web and the dead-brown hillocks shouldered boulders and secrets alike.

    He needed something more from her, though what that ‘more’ was he couldn’t quite yet determine. The roan female had agreed to his terms, (no doubt because of Vulgaris’ silver tongue, he thinks wickedly) and she’d been a staunch but unexpected supporter during the bickering match between himself and the remaining two Sylvians. Still he thinks there’s room for improvement, so when the dark smudge of her body comes into view on the horizon Bane zeros in to circle above, gliding softly towards the slumbering earth before clipping his heels in a high-stepping landing.

    “Come to see what all the fuss is about?” He jokes lightheartedly, wings folding atop his back and trailing out over his hindquarters as he meanders along the trail in her direction. Noah is a curiously lovely sort of mare, saccharine like the tart fruit that lends color to her fur and easy on the eyes that soak her in. “Sometimes I wonder what Loess would say about all of us, if she had a voice to speak.” He sighs gently, deeply. The crunch of his approaching steps grow quiet; he waits at a comfortable distance.

    Like all good nightmares do



    @[Noah]
    [Image: Wolfbane2.png][Image: 3bCHvj.png]
    #3

    that's all there is

    The journey is quiet, peaceful, but lonely. A shiver of apprehension rolls through her when the shadow of wings overhead makes her aware of the presence of another; she pauses and begins to unfold her own dark wings, readying to flee. Rhonen had never been big on the flight half of fight-or-flight, but he’d treated Noah as if she was made of glass, and encouraged that as the first response in her. Not his only daughter, but the one he had been left to raise. He’d been gruff on the outside, but somewhere there’d been a soft gooey middle.


    But Noah raises her head to glance upwards at the potential threat before rabbiting, and the golden body and white wings descending towards her are familiar. Perhaps he has followed her because he doesn’t quite trust her intentions, but she doesn’t think he’s planning to land and go on the attack. So she refolds her wings, pivoting gently to keep her eyes on him and face him as he approaches. His voice when it comes across the distance is friendly, light, and her eyes crinkle a little as she doesn’t quite smile in response; still, the expression is pleasant in return.


    “It’s lovely,” she responds, warmly; she looks away from him and lets her hazel eyes drift across his home. The strawberry mare doesn’t answer the second statement, because she doesn’t have an opinion yet, of how Wolfbane runs his home. And she doesn’t have a feeling for Loess. She walks a few steps away from him on a tangent, lifting her head to inhale the salty-sweet air again; she likes it. It wouldn’t be a hardship to come here occasionally and visit, to maintain a relationship between Brilliant Pampas and Loess.


    Turning back to Wolfbane, her expression is flickering between simple pleasure at enjoying Loess or solemnity. “What is Loess all about, Wolfbane? What do you believe in?”

    noah

    #4

    My dreams have all come true

    In a way that seems uniquely her own, Noah doesn’t bend to the idea of his ‘kingship’ like most would. Some grew rigid, others fell willingingly beneath a smile or a joke, but true to a nature all her own the strawberry-tinted mare is simply polite. Good, He reasons to himself, mimicking her initiative and turning a pleased eye toward the undulating hills. Her interest is focused, singular … it would make their tentative cease-fire that much easier to maintain, unlike his suspicions when it came to Sylva and Sinner.

    At the turn of her head, Bane mutely regards her questions with something of a side eye, tilting his chin in a curious fashion. He wasn’t aware that this rendezvous would put him into a spotlight, so to speak, and the somber indifference of Noah’s inquiry doesn’t take away from the fact that her examination of himself and his territory was weighted. There was a good chance she might not like the answers provided, but after a few seconds of quiet deliberation the male pegasus sees no reason to gloss the truth. “Before I came around, Loess was all about keeping to herself. Quiet, inconspicuous. My predecessor - the old gray who challenged my command in your Pampas - tried his best but failed to make anything out of her. His own subjects and the Loess reputation were soiled because of it.” He summed, mind drifting to Lepis as it often did.

    Shifting, his dark-colored hooves displaced the frozen soil beneath him before Wolfbane could find a more comfortable stance. “When the burden of leadership passed to me, I changed the dynamic of things. We became a mercenary group, using our powers and traits to fulfill contracts with other kingdoms. It worked better than I could’ve imagined, which led to our eventual claim over Sylva. I instated Arthas as a ruler there and we enjoyed open borders and surging numbers for a while.” He smiled wistfully, omitting the eventual reason for their falling out which, ironically, was also due to Lepis. Bane’s winged Cleric seemed to have a knack for causing unrest wherever she went, and despite how that sounded her mate had yet to see a real problem arise from it.

    She was outspoken and not one to be oppressed, which was one of the reasons he’d fallen for her.

    “Maybe things worked because I believe in this place, and so do the others who’ve decided to stay. The versatility, married to our position on a map, makes Loess rich with possibilities. I believe in her - along with her ability to adapt to change - and my intent is to keep that idea going long after I’m gone.” The striped palomino laughs, booming in the empty quiet around them. A proposition like the dreams he held seemed insurmountable when compared to those of the powerhouses everyone knew: Tephra, Nerine, Hyaline. Still, he laughed at the antiquated ideas the other horses clung to. Laughed and then fell silent, before turning his face to view Noah fully with both eyes and ears trained on her.

    “And what do you believe in? Eternal peace? A solution to every problem? I’m curious to know what an outsider like yourself dreams of, since you’ve jumped head-first into the deep unknown of this place.”

    Like all good nightmares do



    @[Noah]
    [Image: Wolfbane2.png][Image: 3bCHvj.png]
    #5

    that's all there is

    He doesn’t hesitate to respond, not exactly, but he treats the question with the gravitas it deserves. They are, after all, virtually strangers. Something has led Noah to trust him, to take him at his word that he will leave the Brilliant Pampas to her when they have finished sheltering in it, to stand beside him against Arthas even when her own insides quaked with fear. But it’s a tentative trust, not much stronger than the gossamer strength of a spider’s web or a butterfly’s wing, and they are careful yet around each other.


    Noah is bemused to hear that Loess had been Arthas’s, before it was Wolfbane’s, but that the intriguing gold stallion had eventually become more than the old silver one, but not exactly surprised. Arthas had not struck her as a powerful creature, nor one worthy to be followed, but yet she had instinctively trusted Wolfbane. It makes sense that others would have felt the same. She hesitates on the thought of mercenaries, but turns the idea over and over in her head, considering. She supposes there was a freedom in being fighters-for-hire, a freedom in knowing that you never had to join a fight unless you wanted to, unless you believed in it. It could be a dangerous group, under a leader with no honor, but she does not feel that is who Wolfbane is. And he speaks with love for his Kingdom, she can hear it in his voice.


    He laughs, and she turns from her thoughts to watch him, slightly startled because she hadn’t thought he’d said anything funny. But whatever it is that amuses him, the laugh brightens his face and she admires the way it lightens his whole façade before it fades, and he turns to her to bounce the inquiry back. She was preparing for this, because it is only fair she be willing to answer the question she’s asked of him. But what does Noah want? She’s not sure how to put the feeling into words, so she takes her time, shaping the softly spoken words with care.


    “I’ve never had a home,” she begins. “I just had my father, and now they’ve killed him.” There’s no anger at that, no spite, as one might expect. Just a deep sadness, a bone-deep weariness that speaks of an expectation of loneliness to come. She doesn’t speak of Pangea – of the nightmare quest she’d done for her grandfather, or the way she’d been drawn to the sick land in some unnatural way. That magic longing had ended, the spell broken when she was forced to watch her father beaten to death before her eyes by an angry mobbed summoned by that same grandfather. She had dreamed of bringing life back to Pangea, of calling it home for them both, and now the mere thought of the dark land makes her shiver and brings the nightmares back. “He used to speak of the land where he was born, where he was a child before he was separated from his family. It was a beautiful land, with green fields and a laughing river and a waterfall. But more than that, it meant family to him. Somehow his family was tied inescapably to the land, and when it was destroyed when Beqanna changed, he lost all hope of finding his family again.”


    There had been many things driving Rhonen to live, but just as many things that made him want to not live. Noah suspected if he hadn’t stumbled across her mother and then had Noah foisted on him to raise, he may not have walked amongst the living even as long as he did. “That’s all I want. I understand eternal peace is unrealistic, and there will never be a solution to every problem. But I want to build a family, and I want to be able to give them a home.” Perhaps compared to his dreams, hers are simple. But they are honest.

    noah



    @[Wolfbane]
    #6

    My dreams have all come true

    Loess had seemed so quiet before they came and now their voices fill the empty air like wishes. Noah is red and rust, all things opposite but somehow blending together perfectly, an anomaly of a character. When she speaks, the duality in her words and their meaning hint at a deeper strength. He finds it unnecessary to look away so he doesn’t, softening his olive-toned eyes at the first hint of conversation from his female partner. There’s the tepid warmth of a winter sun above them, remnants of snow beneath them, and the puzzling, alluring shape of Noah’s mouth in front of him. Not a single syllable goes unheard.

    They’ve both lost their fathers, tragically. He listens intently, focusing on the similarities that further tie them together despite the fact they’re complete strangers; how her sire, just like his, was torn apart from his family and home as well, never to return or see the faces he loved in childhood. The primal anguish, the history that can never be recovered is what his father had called it. A past unworthy of revisiting. Looking at her, maybe even glimpsing past her outer layers for a moment, Wolfbane feels his throat constrict and his jaw tighten. What he wouldn’t give to help ease that bone-deep pain, because he knows it as well as he knows the stripes barring his own skin.

    Noah gives her account until the silence follows after her. Bane allows it to linger between them, preferring the emptiness in favor of talking. The weight of her story trickles like silt through his mind, coming to rest in a fine layer over his thoughts and feelings before the drake eventually speaks up. “I’m glad you found us.” He admits softly, slowly. “The sick need you, the homeless need you. Me? I’m just the lucky bastard who agreed to it all.” Wolfbane sighs humorously, a knee-jerk attempt to cover the memories she’s brought back to him. He tries his best never to feel this way - it clouds his heart - but he’s appreciative that she’s opened up that familiar wound.

    The misery in remembering could only be countered by the comfort those memories brought as well. “My father was murdered defending justice, defying a magician.” The odd stallion mutters, breaking his steady gaze and turning his masked face aside. “I wake up every day and go to sleep every night hungry for revenge. For my sister Sawtooth, who watched my mother die of heartbreak when he left us. For myself.” The pegasus rumbles, casting the resentment free of its chains just for a second. Possibly just for her.

    “You coming here … seems like fate to me.” He shrugs, inhaling the clean, cold air and unfurling his wings for flight. As much as he doesn’t want to turn back and see the face he’s afraid will be there (one of pity, or soft remorse) he does so anyways, jerking his chin around with both ears upturned. “Brilliant Pampas is your place now, and forever. Welcome home Noah.” Wolfbane murmurs deeply.

    Like all good nightmares do



    @[Noah]
    [Image: Wolfbane2.png][Image: 3bCHvj.png]
    #7

    that's all there is

    It’s almost a relief, to have named the things she wants and needs. A weight lifted off of her chest, or perhaps fog lifted from her future. Noah has been living day-to-day, moment-to-moment, with little care or real regard for what the future might hold. Now she can see it, the possibilities of the future, stretching out before her glowing with…something. With hope, she realizes a moment later when she examines the feelings. Someday, there will be a bright new future for all of them. “I’m glad I found you also. I need them, need something to do, as much as they could ever need me.” She gives him a quick, shy smile. Helping people, pushing away the disease, cultivating the Pampas to hold those seeking sanctuary, has given Noah a reason to wake from her nightmares every morning and go on.


    Maybe someday, that reason will be her own family. She listens quietly to his own troubled past, and can feel the connection between them. Perhaps these deeper things is why she felt so instantly able to trust him, even though she has every reason not to trust anyone anymore. She can feel his anger at what had happened and she risks a touch, reaching out to press a soothing touch to his tense shoulder, just under where his wings begin. “I have had moments where I thought about revenge,” she admits, even though she isn’t sure she likes that about herself. Such lawless violence as revenge reminds Noah of her volatile and very un-maternal dam, who isn’t someone she ever wants to emulate. “But then again, they have brought this plague on themselves, in addition to making the rest of us suffer its consequences, so I think perhaps the world has already taken revenge for me.”


    Or at least she’s convinced herself of this, because she has no way to find and take her revenge on any of them. She has only the indelible memory of their faces as they kill her father, in her dreams every night. But there are so many of them.


    “Fate,” she tastes the word, finds she likes it in this positive light. When Rhonen had spoken of fate and curses and his responsibility as a seal holder, Noah had always felt it was dark and depressing, something that chased you inescapably until you died. But the way Wolfbane speaks of it, it’s something that gives them a purpose and a path to follow. So the face he seens when he turns back to Noah is one of gentle hope, despite the pain that lingers underneath. “A good fate to have.” She looks once more around Loess, and considers the ramifications of being here – not for her, she is immune, but he is not. He is already unfurling his wings, thinking forward to his next steps. “You will have to go many unprotected places, to do your duties for Loess. At some point you’ll be exposed.” Even in her whisper-soft voice, it’s more fact that speculation. “Will you be careful? And come see me sooner, rather than later, if you don’t feel well. It’s easier to arrest the disease early, than to drive it out later.”


    Noah has been conserving her strength, treating only those from Loess or the Pampas, or those in desperate need outside of their realms. It takes something out of her, and she knows her resources are not infinite – but he cannot lead them to a better future, Loess and the Pampas with it, unless he is well. She does not want anything – masculine pride, unwillingness to show weakness, or belief that others are more important – to interfere with the future she can see now.

    noah



    @[Wolfbane]




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