She had always been taught that home was a feeling more than any physical place could be. Something substantial like Murmuring Rivers, like Paraiso had been - well, things like that could be taken from you. Despite how Lilliana's young heart had protested at the loss of them, there had always been the constant reminder that family was the thing that could ground you. They could be the stars to map a chart by, a guiding light in the darkness. 

What happens when the compass has been lost and those things that you once measured yourself by, those stars you used to chart your course, vanish? Lilliana has been learning that this world is a wide, wild one (full of so many things - loss, laughter, anger, hope) and that if there is nothing to anchor you, you drown. 

So Taiga has become her anchor. 

The auburn mare smells of windswept places - she smells of where the sea and sky greets the forest on Taiga's western shore. Lilli watches the tides and charts her stars, listens to the wind and lets the winter season pass her by. She even lets herself wonder about places unknown, about those untamed and unclaimed places of the world that roll in the ocean's artic bite. She is content to spend her days there - could have spent many more days there. Leilan, a stranger on Taiga's northern border, had reminded her that she couldn't keep hiding away. No matter if she willed her eyes open or shut, the current events of their world would continue on to rectify itself or spiral out of control.

After that conversation, she had no desire to keep herself in the dark. 
Elaina wouldn't have wanted that. 

But despite what Lilli feels, whatever her thoughts and her own emotions are, it is the sight of the pale woman that gives her pauses. The copper mare pauses her own attempt to dissolve between the trees and the way that Breckin stands - a way that tugs so violently against her own heart - as if she is waiting for someone who never comes. How could Lilliana leave her here among the emptiness and the veil of obscurity that are the Taigan shadows?

Whoever the mare is, she doesn't deserve the desolate company she has found beneath Taiga's trees.

One crimson ear pricks and another swivels to the side, listening for any other echoes that come from beneath the forest canopy. The only sound that echoes are her hoofsteps as they carefully tread above the generations of pine needles beneath her. The spotted mare isn't so far away, close enough that Lilliana is rays of fire-gold beneath the few illuminated rays of light that weave their way through the trees when it catches her.

For Breckin, as she draws near, Lilli tries to summon a smile as she comes to stand a few feet away from the pale mare. "Are you looking for something?" she queries with an inviting tilt of her sculpted head and a spark that she summons behind those blue eyes. "Taiga has her share of secrets but she can give them up if you know where to look."

@[Breckin] hi yes sorry i couldn't help myself<3

the rain that falls upon your skin it's closer than my hands have been The moonrise does not find Lepis sleeping, but that is no longer unusual. Slipping between the trees by starlight is easier than sleep. What rest she does get is fitful, full of dreams and emotions that her unconscious mind cannot control. Better to stay awake, she thinks, and so tonight she does. There is a quiet patter of hooves from ahead, someone slipping into Taiga from the west. Someone from Tephra, at this time of night? Lepis is no imposing guard, but she sees no other figures, and knows Pteron to be away in Ischia. She will find the visitor, and in time she does. It is a little spotted mare, dusty white with dusty black spots – or perhaps black and white and simply dirty. The scars across her crest and withers are almost familiar, but Lepis cannot quite place them. (They are scars like her mother’s scars, scars from a kelpie’s claim). Lepis pauses beside a tree to watch the other for a moment, several dozen yards away. The stranger stands still as well, only the twitching of her ear and the soft rise and fall of her too-thin sides to indicate she even lives. The Comtesse is suddenly, almost overwhelmingly, glad that she has stopped here. A second mare joins the spotted one, her ruby coloring bright even in the shadows. She thinks she might slip away, but then Aten joins them from directly across her line of sight, and Lepis knows that she is spotted. Times like these, she wishes she had the invisibility possessed by her children. She joins them, pulling her golden wings more tightly to her sides. Feathered barriers, she thinks, as though they could do anything at all. With more sleep and less stress, without the words she had shared with Aten not so terribly long ago, Lepis might have been in a better mood. It is not possible to tell that she is not, not with the friendly smile she wears, and the brightness in her blue-grey eyes. She glances at Aten and then at the spotted mare, and though her gaze does not land on Lilliana in greeting, the Comtesse does acknowledge the mare when she speaks after Aten. “Lilliana does know quite a bit about secrets,” Lepis says with a smile, and now she does meet Lilli’s pretty blue eyes. Not for a moment does her expression flicker from the polite friendliness she shows their visitor, but she does hold the red mare’s gaze for a  beat too long before returning her attention to the spotted visitor. Closer, she sees the feather in the mare’s hair, and that too reminds her of…something. The name comes to her then, and where it comes from means that she delves no deeper into the origin. A cruel twist of fate, she thinks, with a wry smile that edges past her mask. The only one missing is Wishbone. “You’re Breckin, aren’t you?” she asks. “And a little far from Nerine?” lepis, comtesse of taiga queen of loess | queen of sylva | queen of the south lover of wolfbane | mother of pteron, marni, tiercal, eyas, gale, celina, and elio

Arthas

He travels through Taiga, quietly, his presence had been unknown aside from Bane. The once dead king had returned, he was more than excited to posses a physical body again, but still he found himself avoiding Lepis. Not only did his hatred for her make his stomach twist, but surely it was mutual.

He had been busy since returning from the dead, having ran into a forgetful Breckin and convincing her of a friendship they never truly had. Alas, Arthas needed some fun in his life since retutning and Breckin was the perfect target.

He occasionally visits the border of Taiga, having told Breckin about his home. He knew she wasn't too far off if he ever needed her, but keeping her out of the public eye for as long as possible was the best for his plans.

But as he travels he can hear a gathering and he gulps with instant worry. His pace quickens as he travels quietly, his body growing to a halt as he spots not one...not two...but THREE equines surrounding Breckin. And too make it all the better, Lepis was one.

His pelt would have turned white if he possessed such magic, but instead he forces his way into the gathering. He had to protect his secret, and of course as he closes in he catches Lepis calling her Breckin. Hopefully he wasn't too late, and he quickly slides himself beside the pale spotted mare.

No Lepis, this is Roz, she's my friend. His harsh yellow gaze sits on Lepis for a few hearbeats. She looked stronger than ever, but from what Bane told him she had to....she didn't have anyone on her side anymore. He nearly grins at the thought of her failed marriage, but instead he remains begrudged.

She's new to Beqanna, I told her to come visit my home. He drops plenty of bombs, not only to Lepis, but the other two he had never met. He is thankful that the pelt Breckin sports is not unique to just her, but a pattern many can hold. Her shell of a body that is perfect for matching his story.

He glances a smile to Breckin before meeting the eyes of the other two strangers. I'm Arthas by the way, he extends his name to them both, perhaps they would find him more enjoyable than Lepis.

Dangerous Business