It's rare that I'm not next to Solace these nights, wrapped up in her embrace and dreaming sweetly with her. Sometimes I take one of the twins with me instead, guiding their dreams and watching their internal selves explore a land beyond their wildest imagination. And though it lends me great comfort to be so involved with my new family, something about the way the wind blows tonight simply keeps me up. Although I'd fallen in and out of a dream during twilight, as the moon rises, I find myself more and more awake.

I'm at the entrance of our grotto, having already seen Solace to sleep, when I spot the disturbance in the lake. Ripples, and then the surfacing of something rather large for our peaceful lake. Snorting gently, my ears twist to pick up any noise, but the creature is perfectly silent. Conflicted, I consider awakening my queen - but it was her turn to watch the twins today, and I know how exhausting the little balls of energy can be, firsthand. Craning my neck around to gaze upon my slumbering family, I smile to know that they are safe, and decide to investigate for myself.

As quietly as I can, I slip from the grotto and head for the grassy slope that we usually do not descend upon - but our worn rock-face path will be too noisy, it will wake them. As the mountain disperses into level ground, I hit it at an easy canter, enjoying the way the momentum of gravity sends my body forward so effortlessly. But then - the thing is dragging itself from the waters, and my attention goes to more important things.

Resisting the urge to call out immediately, I slow to a walk and carefully approach the shifting stranger. As his distinctly male scent hits me, I suddenly regret having dreamt myself more beautiful during those short spurts earlier this evening. The dish of my head is deeper, eyes wide, lips softer; my legs are finer, barrel more trim, tail more arched; and my coat gleams, not just from the dream, but because of the moonlight. As I step into view, my clouded leopard markings shimmer atop my overo coat, leaving me a feline unicorn in all her grace.

Before me, an equally and undeniably beautiful stallion stands dripping. Painted as I am, his coat shines not with markings but with scales, and I snort softly upon this revelation, ears flickering warily. His perfectly white face almost takes my breath away - never mind the slope of his muscled shoulders or the way his brown eyes seem to cut into me - but I remind myself of my duty to this kingdom, and of course my fealty to my wife, before his effects take me too far.

"We do not often get water-born visitors here in Hyaline, though I suppose we ought to expect it somewhat more than other kingdoms." My voice is low and lyrical, murmured in the night air as I take another step forward and frown, considering the stallion carefully. "Might I know your name, visitor?"

He only looks up as I begin speaking, lending him an air of supreme confidence. Cocky of him, considering that he is trespassing; even if Hyaline is a sanctuary, it doesn't mean that we just let people come and go willy nilly. Nostrils flaring as I exhale and attempt to remain patient with the good looking stud, I take a step forward at my full height - and though I am far shorter than the kelpie, I cannot help but feel like I have the upper hand here.

As his gaze slides over me with blatant hunger, my own eyes narrow, ears pressing back to my skull. "Speak," I command him, speaking through my teeth as he takes a daring step closer to me. Refusing to step back despite his advance, I hold him relentlessly in my gaze, nostrils still quivering indignantly. He smells of the sea, looks of the gods, and moves with the fluidity of a dancer; and I do not trust him.

I'm Ivar. Meeting this statement with stony silence, I allow him to finally meet my gaze as it sears into him. Though I'd taken stock of him, too, it hadn't taken me so dreadfully long - my skin itches where his eyes had been affixed so lustfully. Half wanting to call Solace from our grotto so that we might make lesbian love before his very affronted and jealous gaze, I settle for listening to his next words instead, though a dirty smile stretches my lips at the thought.

"I am Kagerus, a Queen of this land," I offer in reply, ignoring his attempt at humor, at my expense nonetheless. My eyes slide to the lake behind him contemptuously, ears still pressed back to demonstrate my displeasure at his impudence. "And you have already found what Hyaline has to offer; the lake is our gemstone."

Taking a deep breath, I decide that he doesn't need to be run off immediately - and besides, hadn't Ivar ruled Loess back when I'd first returned from the Beyond? Curiosity overcomes me as I regard the kelpie, and though my expression doesn't change, I do deign to speak first this time. "So, once-king, what are you doing here in Hyaline? Last I heard, you were off the map - AWOL, though that doesn't surprise me."

The dirty little smile is back - how fun it is to press buttons...

I'd not intended my irritation to be delightful, but with a stallion such as Ivar before me, I cannot say that I'm surprised that my no inspires his oh is that so? Luckily, I am in next to no danger - but when I consider how agile the stallion had been in the waters, I make a point remembering to moving us further from the lake's edge as soon as possible. Despite our game being fun and gawdy, I have children to raise; a wife to love.

Death by this lake has welcomed me one too many times for it to be appealing any longer.

The sea doesn't care that I'm absent without leave, comes his reply, instantly. My eyes flick to the way he rolls his shoulders, the moonlight reflecting off the wet scales that cover the impressive muscles beneath. Except wait - there - a burn mark. When I sight this scar, my brow furrows; I don't know Ivar from his time as king.

I know him as a warrior.

Smirking as I roll this factoid over in my mind and upon my tongue, I listen with a keener twinkle in my eyes to what he has to say. His own eyes blink with a feigned innocence that leaves a smirk trailing across the dark edges of my lips; of course sweet boy, let me show you everything! Not. At his last comment, the smirk grows into an unabashed grin, a brow quirked as she considered his attempt at unsettling her further than he had before. Now that she's recognized him, well...

"Mark my words when I tell you that no word of man will ever define my value," comes my reply, more biting than the smile before it may have predicted. Stepping back, I lower my black horn towards his chest - and then, after a long moment, I swing it away from the lake and towards the grassy channels that weave between the mountains this far inland. "But come; I will show you the western coast. Something tells me that the sea is more your speed than any lake, kelpie."

Waiting for him to come alongside, we walk at first in silence, but that itch behind my skull that twitches my lips into a smile cannot be ignored forever. Tossing him a knowing sideglance, I wait a moment more before finally speaking. "So, top four hey?" I ask. "Brennen whooped your ass. As a spectator, I hated wasting the trip to have seen nothing impressive."

As his expression changes from frown to smile to smirk, I can only guess at what on earth he's imagining. Despite having contended together in the alliance, I know next to nothing about Ivar. His fantasies (especially domestic ones, his poor wife be pitied) are his alone to admire, leaving me with my own quizzical expression at the tilt of his head and lilt of his lips. But no matter; I'd had my own little fantasy about three seconds ago, so if I did know, then I wouldn't even be able to say anything, anyways.

He offers to give me a reevaluation at a later time, suave in the face of my horn presented to his chest. Ah, men. Exhaling billowingly, I turn and allow him to come alongside with no harm done. "If I ever change my mind, it will be after I have mourned the death of my wife." I glance to him. "And she's only seven, so, you've got some waiting to do." I don't explicitly state that I'm immortal, but it's implied; the seventeen years under my belt certainly don't show by any means. To the untrained eye, I appear as youthful as any mare in her prime, sleek and muscled and new.

As the conversation shifts to the alliance, I make a surprised face at the grumbling, frowning Ivar. As a curse slips past the kelpie's bescaled lips, it softens into more one of understanding and humour. I can at least relate to such anger; I've been known to have quite the eccentric streak to say the least. I'm about to speak when the daggers sheathed by his lips are suddenly revealed as he grins, and the words get caught in my throat; but I quickly recover with a little cough and then a chuckle, rolling my eyes at his unwarranted complaints.

"Well," I begin after considering the final question he slipped in. "I have an invisible trait that manifests physically." The bases of mountains flow past us as we wander westward together, to wraiths in the moonlight, on scaled as a dragon and the other spotted as a leopard. "Dream manipulation, it's called. For a short time after I awaken, any physical changes I have dreamt will come to be." I blink towards him, wondering if this will spark any interest for the stallion - any hunger.

The crashing of the waves along the coast slowly becomes more apparent - we will be there, and soon. "And, I can take one other person with me."

Isobell may not be here to warm the sides of her wayward lover, but Solace is. Even as we walk and speak, nuances aloft between us, my mind reaches out to my sleeping wife. I am safe and well my love, I say, although the words won't reach her exactly: just the sensation of comfort, one that she ought to immediately recognize as my signal that all is well. I sometimes wish that she could reassure me in the same way; but when I am sleeping, she rarely finds herself elsewhere.

I am the wanderer of the relationship, just like Ivar; but my faith remains hellbent.

His eyes find their way back to me despite the crescendo of the ocean not far ahead. A chuckle tilts his lips charmingly as my explanation of my trait concludes, but his eyes are deeply thoughtful; curious, perhaps. The sight of such curiosity in the eyes of a creature as breathtaking and mythological as he renders my own face intrigued, wanting to know what he thinks. Luckily, he does not keep me waiting, and I blink my nutmeg eyes, continuously wondering at the strange appearance of this stallion on a night of such little regard.

"I wish I had a simple answer, Ivar," I answer with a deep sigh, using his name with more than a slight significance. The grass underhoof shifts slowly to sand, and as I am gathering my thoughts, the lapping of the ocean's tide against this sandbar eventually meets our hocks. I wonder momentarily if the kelpie will accompany me, despite the ocean's whisperings in his mind. Like him, a voice whispers in my mind, too.

(Unsuspecting)

"It has proven to be quite dangerous for me. I've been close to death more times than I care to admit," I begin, interrupting the beguiling voice inside my head before its word become my own actions. "Once because of my own ignorance, and once because of a force that wielded a magic stronger than mine." I look from the dark edges of the ocean back to Ivar, the wind whipping my forelock across my eyes, though they do not stray from his own honey-brown gaze. I wonder if he will press farther, will ask - what do you mean? But unless he does, there is no reason for me to continue.

The strange birth of my son and the strange rape-birth of a demon are stories that I needn't share flippantly; especially with handsome ex-kings whose words oft leave no doubt in the mind of what's on theirs.

"And yes also to your second question; when I take them with me, I can either guide their dreams or release control and allow them to experience complete lucidity in a realm where anything is possible." Hephaestus had relived his attempted murder, Svedka had flown and been gay, and Solace - well, her dreams tend towards the erotic more oft than not. "It can be healing - but it can also be life-ending."

My eyes, glued to him, narrow.

"Does that interest you?"