and when I breathed [any]

[Lagertha]

I am iron and I forge myself

Eager to do more than just stand around and chat, Lagertha falls in with the other two ladies and settles herself on the other side of Rhy. They follow a familiar trail (for her - for them), and despite her usual aversion to group, Lagertha actually finds herself relaxing and enjoying the company. All the Jungle noises blend into a beautiful cacophony that few actually find relaxing. Unless you live here, of course. Either way, she’s content to chime into the conversation every now and then with her own two cents. Until Joscelin asks how long they’ve been here.

Good lord, that’s a good question. It almost makes her pause to try and count the years.

Just how old is Lagertha? If it weren’t for the Jungle’s gift of immortality, she might not have made it this far. She might be a decrepit old crone by now, instead of the fierce woman of indefinite age that she is now. For a moment, she drops out of the conversation to think about the question, growing silent while she focuses on minding the path ahead (those roots and thorny branches were tricky sometimes), and tallying the numbers.

She finds that she can’t. And with that, she laughs out loud, a sort of “Ha! I don’t know. Somewhere between Forever and Not Long Enough. I was born right after the Valley War and came here when I was two. Quark was still Khaleesi then, though not for long... so for two reigns, and then some, it's that's the sort of answer you're looking for.” She turns her head to Rhy, inquiring because all the years seem to run together now. “Did you know Quark?” And then she directs a question back to Joscelin, finally getting to something meaty and good. “Where were you before the ‘Zons? And what brought you here?” For some it is in their blood, for others, it is a calling to be something different. She has forgotten about the promise Scorch and Tiphon made to each other, and that someone might not be here completely of their own free will.

Lagertha

warrior queen of the amazons

[Joscelin]

There's a song in your lung and a dream in your eye.

Some days she feels far too old for her skin, some days far too young. Today she feels young. Most would consider that a good thing, but she considers it only naïve. Joscelin knows little of the people and events Lagertha speaks of, and for some reason this bothers her. Though her mother is quite old by any standards, she had been absent from Beqanna for many years. As a result, Joscelin had little opportunity in her youth to learn of Beqanna’s history.

Suffice to say however, that she is quite certain these women are very familiar with the Jungle. So who better to show her around than they?

Rhy’s story is similar to hers after a fashion. She too had been born in the Dale, though she has never loved it as her mother (and her father and brother) does. She knows how disappointed her mother had been that she had chosen the Jungle over the Dale, but Elysteria is too kind, too loving, to ever hold her daughter back from something she wishes to do. When Lagertha asks her where she had come from, why she is here, her golden gaze finds the gray mare, expression quietly contemplative.

Actually, I also came from the Dale.

Her bright gaze flits briefly to the painted mare before settling back on Lagertha.

Perhaps Scorch mentioned the deal she had made with my father, Tiphon? Two of the Jungle’s children went to the Dale. In return, I came here.

She pauses for a moment, considering. She had never met the second child (though an adult now, she supposes), so she has little idea that it is Lagertha's son.

In truth, I was given a choice. Come to the Jungle and earn my place or be given a rank of honor within the Dale, alongside my brother.

She does not elaborate. It is obvious which choice she had made. She had never been one to enjoy having things simply handed to her. There is a pride in earning them. An admittedly odd notion for a princess.

Joscelin

Tiphon x Elysteria

html c insane | picture c mikanicole.deviantart.com

[Rhy]

and when i breathed

my breath was lightning

Rhy still feels young sometimes, even though she is growing older by the day. But of course, she’s at least semi-immortal. Technically, she could just switch on over to ghost and keep living just like that forever and ever. Her life could be eternal, or eventually, she could choose to let old age and death find her. She doesn’t know which she will choose, or if she will even be given the choice. There are plenty of things outside of her control. But still, in spirit and really in body, she is young. Even if she death does find her one day, in the meantime, she ages far slower than a normal horse does now.

Lagertha tells her own story, asking if Rhy had known Quark. “Barely. Less than a year.” Rhy says, and she’s pretty sure that’s about right. Quark had been Queen when Rhy came crashing through the Jungle the first time, but she handed over the throne rather soon thereafter. Which had been a shame, because Quark has known Kagerou so well. Scorch ended up as the only tie Rhy would ever have to her grandmother, and now Scorch was gone too.

Well sort of. The perk of being half dead is visiting the actually dead. No one is quite gone for Rhy anymore. It’s still strange though, to think of Scorch’s body without the fiery ex-queen’s spirit inside it anymore.

Joscelin tells her own story, mentioning that she’s from the Dale as well. Rhy smiles slightly when the girl casts a glance her way. She can understand that choice, of course. She made it herself. Though her parents were not all that tied to the Dale either. They lived there mostly because it’s where the two of them first met, and it seemed fitting. Joscelin admits to the choice she was given as well, and Rhy can’t help the smile that grows on her face just a bit. That’s the right attitude for an Amazonian.

“I think you are going to fit in here quite nicely,” she ways with that electric smile of hers on her face. Being kind comes naturally to Rhy, the smile very much a part of her. Despite her many deadly traits, despite all the things Rhy has seen, some things about her have never changed. Will never change.

rhy

the electric lioness of riagan and rayelle