Some time had passed since Amet had found her waterlogged and broken body on the bank of the lake. His kindness had been overwhelming and while what she had gone through in the Underneath remained close to her heart (harbored and secret), she felt awful keeping it from him. It was too raw, too soon. Besides, even with the physical proof all over her flesh, she does not want him to think her strange or infected… Mad. It’s odd how important his opinion of her is. She had never cared before. Then again a lot of things were different now. She had never been discovered so weak, had never been so fragile.

Her body was slowly healing, the open wounds slowly beginning to knit skin back together. It was hard going as she had no magic to assist her. Sometimes on clear starry nights, her wounds seemed less painful. Her dreams were much more vivid, of history she had long forgotten. Of things only the stars could see.

Dusk was slowly falling over the peaceful lake. The winter twilight seems more crystalline with the snow, more peaceful. The smokey mare had wandered for so long, it was nice to finally reside in such a peaceful place. She tells herself that as soon as she is healed and feeling better, she will get out of Amet’s hair. He has done so much already, letting her stay. There is no way she will become a burden for him. Her dark face is turned to the highlighted sky, the swirling pinks and purples reflected in the swirling silver of her eyes. Not a hint of clouds threatening to disturb her star gazing tonight.

Ciri

Jah-Lilah

someday, we will foresee obstacles

You could be my silver spring...


The red wytch had been struggling with her dreams for weeks now. Between The Underneath and the fall of Taiga, sleep had eluded her many nights. It was one on such night that she found herself dancing along the line of the border of Hyaline. It made her anxious. The last time she was here she was plagued by a shapeless beast, one who attempted to torment her even in the safe place of her mind. She had chanted a song to keep it away, but there was no rest for the wicked. My firefly was weary and weighed down by the death of Taiga. She was wary as she trekked down to the lake of Amet, afraid to see the haunting image of her ex-lover. She steeled herself, then meandered on through the trees to the water.

Her steps are halted when she sees another, clearly haunted by sleeplessness as well. The girl was beautiful, but had a loneliness about her that Jah immediately was drawn to. Jah-Lilah allows her electric feel to announce her presence, and proceeds to light up the night. She inhales, desperately seeking the scent of the mare, but another odor reaches her flared nostrils. This creature smells of him, smells of the beast from The Underneath. Jah-Lilah all but cries out in relief, she wasn't crazy, she wasn't dreaming. What had happened to her was, in fact, real. She half rears and dances in place, overjoyed to find a kindred spirit who had experienced what she did. She had her sneaking suspicions about Crevan, but the boy was shut tight ever since his father had returned. Their once-tight bond was strained, and she couldn't find the words to ask him about his new power and the scent that trailed him as it trailed her. She tosses aside her fears about being captured by the Dragon-King and whinnies, long and loud. Her soothsayer's voice rings out in the cool winter evening, a bright but frenzied greeting to the charcoal and silver equine.


...Blue, green colors flashing.

One by one the stars begin to show, twinkling brightly in the distance. A soft smile finds her lips as she stares up at the sky, the pale light of the moon beginning to fade out the lingering color of the sky. It’s silvery light bathes her dark figure that lays close to the bank. She had yet to find her feet since she had been pulled from the lake. Her appetite waned, only able to nibble at the few lingering blades of grass that were within her reach. It was the constant pain from the many wounds (caused by talons, beaks, and the long dirty claws of the siren) that kept her dormant, folded within herself. A soft sigh as she shifts her body slightly, wincing and gasping with pain.

All of a sudden the air seems to crackle with electricity. With some surprise, she turns her head slightly to look behind her. A mare as red as fire dances and crackles behind her. Instantly she is flooded with fear, that the Underneath had not let her go. That she was still locked in it’s nightmare. The silvery strands of her iris’s begin to move more fiercely, brightening as she shrilly whinnies in her panic and struggles to stand, fails. In response the stars shine brighter, immediately called down to protect their own. A bright pale light brightens around the shadow mare, swirling like the silver of her eyes. It covers her like a blanket, protecting her. Ciri is frozen, unsure of what is happening. Of the power that had been unleashed within her.

A frenzy call reaches her and slowly she sinks backwards, allowing the comfort of the light to surround her and protect her. Knowing somehow this was a link to her ties above. The call seems friendly enough and she tries to still her racing heart as she waits for the mare to approach.

Ciri

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

Sleep has been hard to come by since Ciri's arrival in Hyaline. His desire to make sure she remains protected makes it difficult for him even to doze, and so the gilded stallion has wandered, zombie-like, around the borders of his home for the last few days. He would check on her regularly, though not too often that she would find it overwhelming. He is unsure how she would respond to the doting, anyway, considering she had been quite tight-lipped about her attacker ever since he'd found her on the lake's shore.

It's times like these, just at the cusp of twilight, that Amet longs for Tangerine's company. It's been a long spring, summer, and now autumn without her or her kind soul gracing their presence. A gentle sigh falls from the Dragon King's lips as he turns away from the border and begins his descent from the small mountain and towards the inner sanctum of his home, where the crystalline lake sits shimmering beneath moon and stars.

The stallion's steps are lazy and slow as he picks his footing down, down, down... he's lost in his own head, barely notiving the trees or the dirt beneath his hooves until suddenly Ciri's voice breaks through the night time silence. His legs have collected beneath him and shot him forward towards the sound even before he realizes where he is heading. Amet goes without fear, his lanky Akhal-Teke appendages eating up the ground as he weaves beneath trees and shrubs to make it to the lake.

His mind reaches out ahead of him, the internal dampener searching for any use of magic or traits. He can feel the electric crackling and, just beyond that, a concentration of light so intense that his mind nearly recoils, but he lets it reach farther and soothe the two abnormalities as his galloping frame emerges from the treeline. The Fairy had been kind to grant him nihilism - he knows that he need not fear the traits of Beqanna any longer.

Amet comes quickly to Ciri's side and brings himself to a tentative halt when he sees that she isn't under attack, and when he can see that the approaching electrical force seems pleasant and nonthreatening. He doesn't let go of his hold just yet, instead opting to keep his mental stopper on the powers of Ciri (curious) and the flame-kissed intruder lest any of them had been in danger.

"Are you okay?" he asks the silver-eyed girl, blatant worry etched across his face.

Amet

Jah-Lilah

someday, we will foresee obstacles

I would be your only dream...


Jah-Lilah's excitement had got the best of her again, and she had spooked the mysterious maiden. The silver-fringed mare spooked at her boisterous greeting, quite the opposite reaction she was going for. Her eyes lit up like the moon and she cried out. My flower child slid to a halt, pulling up sharply. The youth scrambles and falls, but Jah-Lilah holds fast so as not to upset her anymore. She calls out again, a cawing sound, bobbing her head in a non-threatening way. The other female is suddenly lit bright like the night sky, and Jah-Lilah is captivated. Her jaw is slack and grinning, eyes wide with mirth. She moves and sways her own electricity, trying to mimic the look of the girl's stars. She breathes heavily, excitedly, then finally speaks in her soothing midwife tone.

"Hushhhh then, Daughter-of-the-Stars. It's alright. I know you, I know that burden you carry. We are sisters, you and I, consumed by the dark and reborn into light." The weight of The Underneath still crushes the onyx mare, and Jah-Lilah can feel it. She can see how the girl's legs bow, how her hunger consumes her, how slumber is always just out of reach. Jah-Lilah was this child, but Jah-Lilah had Circinae, Crevan, Corvus. And now she has the winged wanderer, Canaan. Ciri has no one so share her load with. "Come, put the weight on me. I can bear it." She reaches a dark lipped muzzle out to exchange breath with.

Their introduction is interrupted suddenly by the abrupt dropping of electricity and stardust around them. My firefly peers about curiously, then hears him coming. Her eyes catch a glint of scales, metallic and shiny, and she doesn't even bother trying to reboot her electric field. The red wytch dips her head slightly in greeting, neck arching as she paws the soft ground. She shakes herself, his power feels stifling, like a cave in the hot humid summer. She nickers, eyeing him as he speaks to the girl. 


...your shining autumn ocean crashing.

Her panic quickly dissipates even though her heart continues to thunder in her chest. She sees now that there is no threat, cursing her foolishness. She knows that it’s to be expected but can’t help but feel ashamed nonetheless. The stars continue to float protectively about her and she gazes at them curiously, wondering what exactly they could do. It takes her a moment to see that the fiery mare is attempting to imitate her stars with her electricity. What kind of world had she come back to? Had it always been this way?

The mare speaks in a strange way and Ciri slowly swivels her ears forward from where they had been hiding beneath her tangled ebony tresses. Daughter of the Stars? How did she know... Her silvery orbs narrow on the feathered mane mare, swirling with confusion as she tries to make sense of what she is saying. She attempts to stand again, her forelegs bracing against the earth weakly before sinking quickly back to the ground, her barrel heaving with the strain of the pain.

The invitation to share her burden. Ciri hesitates, uncertain. It takes her a moment as she inhales deeply with her eyes closed, the scent of the Underneath, the eternal strange suffocating thickness. They snap open, the silver strands seeming to glow in the falling darkness. ”You were there…” Looking at her with wonder.

Another sound from behind her makes her lose focus, not seeing that her light has dimmed around her or noticing the stardust crumbling about her figure. Her gaze is filled with relief as the familiar face of Amet appears at her side, looking at her with concern. Nobody had ever worried about her before and the attention is awkward as much as it is pleasant. ”Amet” She breathes softly, reaching for him with her charcoal muzzle. ”I’m sorry…” She apologizes quickly, realizing that he must have heard her cry of terror. ”I was only startled….”

Ciri

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

His heart aches to see Ciri still upon the moist earth, her frame tattered and weak. Countless times, thoughts of Djinni had surfaced in Amet's head, curious whether or not she kept a secret power tucked away, one that could mend torn skin and unimaginable fatigue. But he's afraid that it will scare her away, this silver-eyed mare with too much pride to truly ask for help, and he doesn't want her to think that he pities her. So he's allowed her to heal on her own (he remembers the way Iset had always preferred to lick her wounds from Him in private), despite the desire to do more for her. He realizes now, though, that he hadn't thought about the mental healing that would be involved after such an experience, or the way she'd still feel unsafe even within a protected territory.

Ciri reaches for him with her dark muzzle and Amet is swift to return the gesture. He snakes his leather-plated head out to the mare who lies folded neatly against the shore still and presses his soft muzzle gently to her cheek. He hopes, fleetingly, that she cannot hear his pounding heart that has only now begun to slow. His adrenaline spike had been short-lived, but powerful.

"No apologizing," he whispers to her ear and a warm smile takes the place of his previously worried expression, "I just needed to know you were safe." And just then does the Dragon King realize he has not released his hold on the mares, so with an apologetic nod to the flame-kissed mare that had come to visit Ciri, Amet allows his nihilism to recoil within him, giving them free reign to express their abilities once more.

"I'm sorry for subduing your powers," he offers almost sheepishly to the electric maiden, "I couldn't take any chances..." The stallion's voice trails off as his amber eyes flick back to Ciri. He hadn't expected to find the injured mare along the shoreline of his crystalline lake, but he's discovered over the last few days that he had was glad she had chosen Hyaline to run to (or appear in, whichever you choose). His desire to care for others has blossomed during his time in Beqanna, and he knows that he would, unquestioningly, do whatever it takes to keep the smokey black mare safe.

No longer on guard, or even feeling remotely threatened, by the unfamiliar mare (who seems to exude tranquility), the Dragon King lowers himself to the earth beside Ciri, just as he had the day he'd found her. He extends his forelegs against the dirt and lets the water lap around his hooves as he brushes his maw against her cheek once more. "I didn't mean to take your stars away. Will you... Will you show us again?"

Amet

The warmth of his smile is returned as her sterling silver meet his protective gaze, the smooth scales cool against the fevered heat of her cheek. A rush of warmth floods her system and she’s unable to tell if it’s the sickness of her pain or something else. Already she flushes with embarrassment, never having been a damsel in distress before. She wasn’t keen on the idea, she was usually the one rescuing them. “Like one of the guys…” The random stallion’s voice replays in her head, the last thing she had heard before falling into the portal. She had always been able to hold her own. She had always been alone. One bad encounter would not make her a meek shadow of herself.

And yet her pride was only making her suffer. As much as she denied it, she was getting sicker by the day. The hundreds of wounds that seemed to cover her dark skin weren’t bleeding so voraciously but some were oozing with other nasty things. Infection that she turned her eyes blindly to even as she become more uncomfortable with a prickling internal heat. Since Amet had given her space on the muddy shore, she had only been able to doze fretfully. Her dreams with the stars constantly invaded by long talons raking against her shoulder, an antlered skull looming over her with it’s twisted arm like branches.

She wanted to be whole but she was far from put back together.

The stars had found her but it wasn’t enough.

She blinks rapidly, his figure hazy and rippling like an illusion. Trying to find that smile again but it fails to touch the swirling silver pupils that dim in the moonlight. She doesn't realize that this star power can be draining and her energy was already low to begin with. Remembering the stars and bright light that had protectively surrounded her, she glances at her sides were the crumbled stardust has fallen. Confused. And yet remembering the blinding white light that had been her saving grace with the siren.

Amet has slid down beside her, asking to see her stars. ”I don’t know..” Her tongue feeling thick in her mouth, embarrassed tears stinging at the corner of her eyes. ”I’ve never done that before.” Her head turns to the electrical mare, far from forgotten. Her muzzle shakily extends to Jah’s, inhaling her scent. Remembering the terror of the Underneath.

The witch’s lullaby makes her sleepy and she shakes her head slightly, unsure if she wants to give in. ”I’m just so tired…” A pause, casting an almost pleading look to her. The one that knew she wasn’t mad. ”Tell him… Please…” A pause as she guilty looks at Amet through hooded tired eyes. ”I thought you would think I’m crazy. I… I should have told you.. Sooner.”

Ciri

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

Darkness soon envelopes them and Hyaline's crickets come out to play, though the noises of nightfall and the large, silvery moon go unnoticed by Amet, whose attention and amber eyes are solely for Ciri and their newest friend. The smoky mare's lacerations, festering and swollen, do not look any better in the moonlight and as he lays down beside her, the leather-plated stallion silently berates himself for not searching for a healer sooner. For a brief moment, a cold fist clenches around his  palpitating heart as the thought of her, broken and un-breathing beside the crystalline lake, flits unbidden through his mind.

A deeper gloom etches itself upon the King's face as his soft muzzle finds Ciri's neck again with unconcealed distress, even as the flame-kissed mare draws his gaze again with her voltaic fireflies. The pulsating electricity reflects in his eyes and in the placid lake beside them, though it's the mare's voice (Dragon-King, she calls him, to his slight embarrassment) that assuages the ornate stallion's worry. The soothsayer moves closer to them with care and Amet watches her closely, wondering at the serendipity of her finding them, finding Ciri, when perhaps, the starry-eyed mare needed it most. Her voice is soft and kind as her lullaby fills the night air around them and Amet moves his gold-flecked eyes back to Ciri, peering at her face for a moment before he realizes that her own orbs are glossy and heavy with the threat of tears.  "It's okay, it's alright," his words are throaty and guttural in an attempt to calm her, even as she reaches for the red witch.

They try to coax the starlight from her for a second longer before Ciri's pleading voice breaks his heart all over again, the fatigue suddenly so blatant upon her face that Amet instinctively reaches for her again in hopes that his touch will help relax her. When she turns to him, her voice weighted with guilt, the Dragon King frowns and whuffs gently at her tangled mane. "Rest, Ciri," his own eyes bright with tears and concern, "I will find you a healer. I promise you will be okay."

His throat grows tighter with each passing moment and reluctantly he returns his amber eyes to the soothsayer. Clearing his throat meekly, the dragon-scaled stallion gazes up at her and is almost afraid to ask: "What is… what is she talking about? Will she be okay?"

Amet