DAWN
i just killed off what was left of the optimist in me
Her ascension was just days ago, and already there is war looming on the horizon. Not that the golden queen is surprised – Loess has been stirring up trouble since the day Vulgaris took over, and then handed the reins over to the dragon, Castile. She has maintained a semblance of calm since they stole away her mother, and then her daughter, but now that the throne has been passed on to her, she isn’t so sure she can keep up with the flagging façade of belonging to a sanctuary any longer. It is long past time for the East to pick a side, and though she knows Ilma and her successors would not approve, she has to do what is best for her allies.
She heads towards Tephra today with no more thought than to make sure their alliance with Leliana is secure, leaving her children safely within the foothills of the Cove. Isilme and Austra want to come, of course, but a hard glance from their mother and they quell in their tracks, their companion animals ushering them back to the safety of the inner Cove. Ilma had warned her of the things to come and of the betrayals ahead of her as the newly crowned Queen, and she doesn’t want her girls to see this. She doesn’t want them to experience any of this.
Her gait falters as she sees the flames beginning to flicker on the horizon; even from so far away, the heat of them caress her face and her ears flatten as she picks up the pace, rushing to reach the Tephran border. Is she too late; has the war already begun? As soon as the flames appear they die again, and Dawn realizes that an eerie darkness has fallen over the volcanic kingdom. Gritting her teeth, she searches for the magician who must have conjured this darkness – certainly he is on no side other than Loess’s - and her gut tightens as a familiar cremello form takes shape on the Tephran and Sylvan border. Litotes.
Without thinking, she leaps into action towards him, shifting mid-stride into an enormous bear. She lets the polar bear take over her thoughts, and a rage she hadn’t thought possible flows through her, strengthening her resolve as a roar breaks from her lips. “Litotes!” she screams, sense fleeing her and instinct taking over. “Traitor!” With that she launches herself at him, claws flying and teeth snapping at any part of him she can find, hoping to distract him long enough to break his hold on his darkness.
