This was extremely stupid, Altissima knew, but now that her strength had returned - she found her thoughts straying to Loess and their damned Champion. Who maybe had helped keep her alive during the eclipse, even if it had been by annoying her into staying conscious.

Now that she could think clearly she was very much hoping to prove him wrong.

So she was going to try to sneak into Loess.

Having never previously invaded a kingdom, she’s not sure what the best approach is so she follows her gut. She’ll stand out no matter what, unless it’s the dead of winter, but the night provides some cover - even with a brilliant full moon occasionally showing its wide white face between some thin clouds.

While she regained her strength, she had some time to think about it, and Altissima ultimately decides against the land borders, thinking they’ll be watched a little more carefully. When she sets her hooves on the rocky soil of Loess it is via the bay that connects it to the Pampas. Her wings disappear into her sides, her silver hair picked up by the sea breeze and her eyes a bright shade of happy violet. Until the air around her begins to twinkle - and then annoyance seeps in and turns those eyes pink. This has been a new thing, this twinkling air, and it came and went infrequently. At first, she thought it was a hallucination but now it is a nuisance.

Still, she’s in the kingdom, technically, so perhaps she’s already won? The second part of her plan had been to sneak up on him wherever he might be - but she supposes arriving with a little bit of fanfare might work too.

altissima

Tarian is a creature of habit.

And he's grateful for the one that he had formed in his youth - patrolling the dark with his sire and grandsire. Those nightly patrols had proved beneficial during the Endless Night when the Eclipse had swallowed everything in shadows. The silver pegasus was fortunate because both of his mentors had taught him how to be sure-footed when he might have otherwise stumbled; they taught him how to step without being heard and the difference between an intruder and a predator.

What his father and grandfather had not prepared him for was this. He's glad to be away from the majority of Loess and apart from Ashhal or anyone else that might recognize him because this damned glow is something that he can't control. It had come one night after the moon (like the sun) had returned and then for every evening that came after, Tarian just became brighter and brighter, like the moon that illuminates the canyons and cacti above him.

He thinks it's dimmed - this new ability of his - but the sound of someone approaching makes the pegasus lose hold of his focus and with it, so goes the control of this ... discovery. The moon above him is bright and beaming but Tarian is clearly scowling when he turns to face the opposite direction. There is the faint scent of salt on the breeze and it's not a scent that he equates with the pale mare. It makes him that much more surprised when it's her face that greets him; he doesn't know what's worse. That she's proven him wrong or that she had stumbled upon him like this.

"Wildling," he nearly growls the word at her, frustrated that she has broken his concentration. Tarian is almost as radiant as the moon itself and he had wanted to keep this magic to himself, at least until he knew how to hide it. His blue eyes narrow, caught off guard by the way that she has changed. The air around her twinkles and the gray snorts softly, eyeing the twinkling aura that surrounds the nearly-white woman. "How the hell did I miss you?"

At first, Altissima isn’t quite sure it’s Tarian though she approaches just to be sure. The glow throws her off from the scent at the same time that it draws her in, her fondness for light has only increased since the eclipse ended. The glow subtle at first - like it’s being dimmed - but as she approaches, whatever was dampening it dissipates and the winged stallion shines so brightly he nearly puts the moon herself to shame.

It’s beautiful, though she’s just thinking that she would never tell him that when Tarian turns to her and is so obviously flustered that she grins as a reflex. Her own annoyance at the twinkling air that surrounds her disappears just like that and her eyes return to a happy shade of violet.

She’d snuck up on him, in his own home, this Champion of Loess - and Altissima is definitely not above enjoying the feeling of victory that settles on her. Or gloating.

She is still not the strong mare she had been when they first met, but she is also not the near-dead wraith that she had been the second time either. Her strength is returning to her, the edges of her ribs not as prominent on her sides that are no longer hidden by wings. This return of strength aids, she thinks, in the haughty pose she strikes with her head held a little higher - those violet eyes dancing with a mocking mirth.  “That’s Champion Wildling to you, Glow Worm. I’m not sure you deserve the title anymore.” Her head tilts, and she’s pretty sure her twinkling aura brightens a little when she purrs out. “I was right, it is fun to see your face after I managed to sneak in.”

altissima

His face goes as dark as a thundercloud.

Tarian doesn't pin his ears or throw his head up - it never occurs to him to react that way towards Altissima. He's furious that she's found him this way, that not only has she somehow manage to get into Loess without his knowledge (where are those scouting talents of his now?) but she found him. The pegasus whips around and takes a step towards her.

And then another.

He comes close enough that he can see the speckled spots on her forehead. The Loessian can certainly see her eyes changing color. The violet shade was striking and it sparks something in the pegasus. "Perhaps I want to be called Moonbeam," he says to her. "Or what about Silver, for originality?" Tarian thinks of drawing out the words slower and putting the polish back on his speech, just to remind the pale woman of her common lilt. Oh, he's tempted.

But he doesn't think that @[Altissima] would care. She doesn't strike him as a mare insecure about the way she talks or what she says. The white woman certainly hasn't held back with him. It's an admirable trait, one that he might find more so if she wasn't presently gloating before him.

"Forgive me," Tarian states while he continues to look at the brightening aura surrounding her. Was she actually ... sparkling? "I thought Pangea would freeze over before you would ever come here." He might have said something more but then the thin control that the Champion had on his glowing slips again and he grows brighter, causing him to curse underneath his breath. "My face. My back. My legs. You can see every damn thing because there is no - ," he clenches his jaw, suddenly ending his rant, and Tarian lifts his head, directing the attention away from himself.

The nickname she had bestowed upon him earlier settles instead (because it is easier to think of that, because the light surrounding them reveals that his companion is far prettier than he remembers). An ear pricks towards her and the pegasus mutters, "Glow Worm?" His tone is almost disbelieving, "I've been called plenty of things before but you're the first to call me an insect."

Every instinct in Altissima tells her to back away from him when he steps closer but she assumes he’d find some satisfaction in seeing her retreat, even just a step, so she remains where she is. She’s not afraid of the stormy look on his face, she just… isn’t particularly sure she wants to be that close to Tarian.

He was right, for once - she had absolutely intended on never coming here. And had things turned out differently she would have regretted this impulsive choice. As it is, Altissima is glad. It is good to see Tarian knocked off his game, good to be able to enjoy it.

There should be a thanks for him somewhere, maybe, but not yet.

“How could I resist the chance to prove you wrong?” She quips back instead, her eyes still shining - though they don’t shine as brightly as he does. She can store light and use it to glow under normal circumstances (when she’s not recovering from almost-death). She could recycle sunlight to use at night but what Tarian is doing is something else.

He seems bothered with it, though she can’t understand why - curiosity bleeding into her smug expression when he rants. She could see everything as if they were under a noon sun and she knew that his light was illuminating her in kind.

She might have said something about it, had he not then muttered about her choice of nickname and comparing him to an insect. Her silver tail flicks behind her and she grins - replying cooly. “I’m probably just the first to say it to your face.” The spark is still there in her gaze, and it is very obvious that Altissima is absolutely enjoying herself. “And I believe the terms of our bet were that I would be choosing the nickname if I won, not you. Though Moonbeam is certainly accurate.”

altissima

Tarian's biggest flaw is his pride. He thinks that after a decade of years and then some, he has seen it all. The gray had assumed that there would be little to surprise him after the losses they suffered in Beyond, the battles he fought in Liridon, and the time he spent considering his next years in the Sacred Cove of Starlight. As he glances down to @[Altissima], he wonders why he thought that there was little left to surprise him.

Because here she was, proving him wrong and smiling smugly about it.

She quips back this time. For whatever retort Tarian has, she is quick to match him. Quicker than she had been at their last meeting and its while he is still looking down at her that he notices the way her ribs no longer show as they had, that her eyes are shining in a way that hadn't before. She glitters and gleams in the moonlight and his glow certainly doesn't help the situation. The Loessian stallion arches his neck to look up at the stars, as if they might provide some assistance. They twinkle silently, as helpful as his current companion.

While she grins, he glances back down with his usually stoic expression. Her eyes are still bright and his blues ones study her a moment more. She appeared to be enjoying herself. Whats even worse is that she's right, again. The terms of their bet had been a name of her choosing, if she had managed to win it. Tarian has always been a stallion of his word so there is no arguing with her on that point.

Glow worm it is. He nearly (visibly) grimaces at the thought.

The pegasus manages to dim his glow again (it helps when the moon goes to hide behind some more passing clouds) and the moment allows him to make a short retort: "Bet you didn't realize that you'd find such a spectacle tonight, did you?"

The feeling of being absolutely pleased with herself does not diminish, but it is a little less enjoyable to rub it in his face when he looks away from her and then back with a stoic expression. It is difficult to banter with yourself and she had been expecting a few more quips but they seemed to have dried up rather suddenly.

Where was the Tarian that had needled her with nonsense in the forest? He’s oddly quiet now, and Altissima is just starting to wonder why she cares when the light around him dims and he makes a remark about it.

If she had eyebrows they would have flown clear off of her face. Was he being a stick in the mud because she had surprised him and he had lost the bet, or was it because of the glow?

She tilts her head to regard him, her eyes trailing over the now-dim glow surrounding him. She had certainly not expected anything to have changed about him, but then she had changed too. After the sun had burned so brightly for that brief moment and then the air around her had continued to twinkle. “I didn’t.” She replies honestly to his question and when her eyes return to his face, Altissima asks in her blunt manner - “Why does it bother you so much?”

altissima

It’s a little annoying to understand what Tarian means, and then like he’s reading her mind she sees Tarian’s eyes shift to the twinkling air around her. She shifts a little, uncomfortable with this change of focus, and feels her shining mood begin to dwindle even before he asks about it. “Ridiculous, isn’t it. But yes, it’s new.” And though Altissima had at first thought it strange that Tarian was annoyed with his glow, her ears flattening back and her eyes shifting to a more irritated blue are both signs that she’s not pleased with this new trick of hers either.

Her silver tail flicks and she oh-so-subtly changes the subject away from her twinkling.

“And I wasn’t dying I was…" Well okay that’s exactly what had been likely to happen if the darkness had extended any further but she’s not about to actually admit Tarian was right so soon after so thoroughly enjoying him being wrong. “At the very worst I was going to pass out and miss your witty comments. And since that was all I was at risk of, for the life of me I can’t remember why I was trying so hard to stay awake."

Despite the edge to her voice, the exaggerated indifference, there's a shine in her eye that has nothing to do with the sparkling air around her.

altissima

His eyes narrow a little as Tarian studies @[Altissima]. He's perceptive enough to see it, even in this darkness (though the full moon hides little). The pale woman shifts, like the weight of his gaze was tangible enough to be felt and so he moves his head. Tarian focuses on a small patch of shimmering light though he keeps an ear flicked towards her, a sign that his attention was still there, waiting for her voice to break through the shadows.

"Absolutely," he agrees with her, that whatever these changes or whatever brings them about, is certainly ridiculous.

But still, there is something on his face that looks a little like fascination as he watches her lights. Tarian doesn't see her eyes change color (this time) but he spies the delicate curves of her ears flick back into the fine hairs of her mane. Sometimes he imagines that the natives of Beqanna wake up in the morning a different color, with wings or extra legs, and never ask why. Something to do with the Mountain, or so he's been told. It makes him appreciate her company, just a little.

There is a rough sound of laughter that comes from somewhere deep within the gray stallion and he turns his head to look at Altissima again. "Was that how it was?" He quips back to her and the retort manages to tug a small smirk forward. "There were probably a hundred of those beasts surrounding us," he tells her. (There wasn't and while they both know that, Tarian can't help but imagine her reaction to this tall tale.) Tarian shrugs his broad shoulders and his wings settle gently against his pale sides as he grows more comfortable.

"I managed to fight them all off so you could die in peace," Tarian states and his blue eyes warm, despite the fact that he is beginning to glow again. The Champion has to fight off a grin, "Even though you lived, I'll still accept a 'thank you"'.