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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


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    LEILAN
    #1
    She hadn’t fallen back into the shadows, into the unknown. She hadn’t exactly went out and been a social butterfly either but she was trying, she was relearning herself. She was learning what it meant to be who she was all over again. For instance, she was finding out she did not much like the cold, but she expects that is because of her long time amongst the Amazons in the Jungle. But her friend was here, she had sniffed him out through the wandering trail. And getting over here had not been that pleasant either.

    She was still dripping water.

    She had traveled up the edges of Nerine until the island looked much closer. Of course this also meant it was much colder. She scoots back down along the south side of the island, working her way back to where it was warmer. Not much, but at this point she will take whatever she can get.

    She huffs softly when she finds a place that seems like it would be the more populated area of this frozen wasteland. She shivers, feeling a bit of a chill as the cold air works its way through her body, but she is stronger than before. She can feel it, both in body and in her mind. So she waits, releasing a soft call out to let Leilan know she was lingering around.
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    #2
    We got older and I should have known
    that I’d feel colder when I walk alone
    Actually, he'd never expected her to go this far; to take the swim to where your coat forms icicles upon stepping out of the sea, to visit beyond the northernmost kingdom, to take any step beyond the safety of a kingdom filled with other women - who more or less weren't as much as a possible threat than he might present - but she calls from the Isle and not from the mainland, and his head rises from the small patch of spring grass he's grazing on.

    Aziz had been a wonderful help in constructing a few walls to shield the southernmost tip of the icy land from the cold sea wind, and small domes to shelter in for visitors who weren't accustomed to the cold. But those who came from Nerine never passed by those little horse-made caves, and the main structure wasn't finished yet either.

    When it was done though, that would be a good time for recruiting, or even just inviting visitors.

    It doesn't take him long to cross the distance towards her (she's done most of the work), and he greets her with a smile. "Aren't you full of surprises? Coming all this way to the cold island," he smiles a bit, then moves around. The circle is bigger than he might choose to take with others, but he's developing the habit of being the one standing in the worst of the wind - being immune to most extreme cold, he never knows exactly if it's too cold or not, and precautions like these are easily made. "So ehm, should I start worrying about you following me around?"
    Leilan
    no. 7 | ice forged in fire
    Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
    |
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    #3
    Indeed, she jingled a bit when she walked, icicles frozen along her mane and tail in her journey. It would be easy she knew to get sick with the wet and the cold. But she would take a little cough and runny nose to being confined to a place she didn’t know, nor had she made much of an effort yet. She would, once she found that right spot. Strangers still were wary decisions to be made depending on the stranger and how she felt around them but for now she was quite a bit more content with her life.

    So when she sees him, there is a small smile curling her lips. His smile in response is enough to make her heart happier than she had been in years. No, not that way. She wasn’t in love with him, but she was fond of him. Fond of him for making her see what she had been too afraid to step out of her box of fear to find. His words made her smile a bit larger, just a bit, more than just a slight curling of the corners of her lips.

    “Mm, I’m working on it.” She says, and perhaps those are words that only he would understand exactly what they meant and how far she had come in the last few months...years? She had no concept of time anymore. The seasons passed and she reveled in what she saw, but for the most part her vision was more focused inwards. She was working, talking herself up, doing whatever she could to make herself better. To feel like she was more.

    When he circles to stand in the brunt of the cold wind she gives him another smile. “Thanks, although at this point how helpful will that be?” She says with a small laugh as she takes in the water along her coat. Her ears flicker towards his words again and she can only smile. “No, I just haven’t found my way to Eilidh yet and you’re a constant steady presence wherever you go.” Although she suspected she should find her way to meeting someone other than the two she met at the River so long ago. “How have you been? Things easing for you?” She refers to the last time that they had spoken, so briefly in Nerine.
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    #4
    We got older and I should have known
    that I’d feel colder when I walk alone
    It’s nearly summer but the northern half of the island hardly ever gives. Much like those who insist on living here despite the cold and therefore the relative lack of food. He tries to encourage them to go to Nerine, too, or even to the meadows although that’s a half day’s travel at walking pace. But lile the cold, like him, they are icicles in one way or another; unchanging and unfaltering, never really bending except perhaps when one melts.

    But perhaps he’s too philosophical in that aspect, and surely Willa does most of her thinkingjust fine on her own.

    She mentions his move is not necessary, and he chuckles lightly. ”A habit, I guess.” Looking her over he knows he doesn’t know much about her after all this time, and would honestly be relieved to hear she just saw him as a friend - after all he has more than enough trouble keeping one girl happy, at times. In fact he’d failed rather miserably already with one, the only thing he could do to make her safe being to ask a fairy. But that’s a story from another time and not something he thinks to discuss with this mare.

    He grins at her mention of a steady presence. ”I have to burst your bubble there I’m afraid, but for you I will try.” A shake of his neck follows, loosening a knot forming in his mane by the wind that now desperately tries to pull it in every wrong direction. ”Steadying, I suppose. Your predictions may yet prove true in the end.” Taking in her stance, her form - eyes gleaming, coat no longer obviously dull, bones no longer visible - he nods to her. ”You’re doing well. Eilidh might not even recognize you when you find her.” he offers, then wonders where the other mare might be. Would she still live in the meadow, he wonders. Perhaps she’s found a herd or something - who knew, these days so many things were changing.
    Leilan
    no. 7 | ice forged in fire
    Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
    |
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    #5
    If she has learned anything about life in all her years it has been that the only constant thing is change. Even now years after all the things that had happened to her, she is still changing. Everything around her is changing. Living was to change. She exhales a breath with a small amused look as it explodes in a cloud from her lips. She is listening to him, her dark eyes turning towards him. There is something there, something different that lingers there briefly in those eyes as she watches him. A knowing perhaps.

    Because she can know all of his secrets if he were to just think about them. She had been practicing, using those in the Meadow or the River that could not see her to test her boundaries. To work with it until she mastered it and controlled it. To keep anyone from ever hurting her again like she had been hurt with Tarnished.

    She wanted to believe him, to trust him, but she doubted she ever would trust anyone fully again. She wanted too. She ached too. But to trust was to give others power. So she was working on playing the part. On being someone that others would trust.

    She needed to feel in control, needed to feel the power that would keep her safe. She blinks, turning her face out towards the ice, away from where he could see the surprise that bubbles there briefly. She smoothes it out, surprised at how vehemently she had felt that need to abuse her new powers. She locks it down, tightens control on it until she can only hear a general whisper of emotion from his mind.

    “I did not miss the fact where you never answered my question, Leilan.” She says with a small smile as she turns back. “Are things well with you?” A touch of concern lingers there in her eyes when she turns back to him.
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