"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
05-17-2015, 12:23 PM (This post was last modified: 05-17-2015, 12:23 PM by Girr.)
I don't suffer from insanity...
I toddle along towards what I HOPE are the Falls, George swinging in my mouth and my tail flagging behind me. It made my heart swell with pride that I was allowed to make a diplomatic visit, even if they all knew I would be more of a comic relief to the tension than anything else. Feathered hooves swept over the ground in an elegance that was befuddling once one knew me, light blue eyes playing along the scenery. It was sure pretty here, but nothing could compare to the heat and squishy pink sand of the Deserts in my eyes. Who wouldn't love sand that could turn you an awesome shade of coral when you rolled in it? I'd rolled in the fresh grass before like they had here, and green is just NOT my color. But pink, I can totally rock that shit!
I look back over my shoulder towards Pev, my other Queen and almost abruptly fall on my face as I stumble into a tree. Giggling madly, I slowly climb back to my feet. Shaking myself out to rid my hide of the tree bark I'd surely acquired, she starts in again, taking over my brain like a zombie trying to eat me.
Please please PLEASE do not screw up this visit you twit! We need to show them we are capable of something besides being a loveable buffoon or an overgrown foal babysitter. Let ME do the talking, or better yet let Pev do all the talking. Just don't say anything completely moronic, please?!?!
Shaking my head of her attempts to snack on my brain, I stop on what I think is the border of the Falls, though who knows, I might already be inside the Falls. My sense of direction was never the greatest at the best of times. I send out a call to the winds, hoping someone would hear me as I stood there waiting for Pev. I liked her, she was all smiley and fun.
Hello in there! We have come to talk to you!
Yep total dork, that's me! Giggling to myself, I stand and await whomever approaches.
Girr Mare Gypsy Vanner 6 15 hands Maximally expressed Cremello Sabino (ee/aa/CrCr/nZ/SbSb) Invaderless/The Deserts/No Clones Sael Voice in her head is in italics
Pevensie had flown here alone. She had intended to come alone, to speak alone, but as her hooves touch the earth beneath her feet, she can smell the familiar scent of the Deserts. A messenger, sent before her. She sighs, a little disappointed. Perhaps she is selfish to want to keep her birthplace to herself, to want to come here alone and unburdened by the thoughts of ruling the Deserts, to take away the responsibility for just one damn day!
It hits her though, like a hard, firm slap across the face. You are a Queen, Pevensie. Each day you wake up as Queen, your kingdom should come first and foremost. Her successes are yours, her failures are your failures. Step up to the mark, be better.
She makes her way through the woodland scrub, to do her duty, to join her fellow delegate. She knows the paths, old and worn, like the back of her hand. With ease she makes her way towards the waterfall, sometimes finding her way hindered by paths overgrown that have not had use since perhaps Neraza left her throne. It is cool here in the autumn, muddy underfoot. She enjoys the sensation of the damp beneath her feet, the beads of dew rubbing from the leaves into her coat. Is in not gloriously cool here compared to the Desert? She smiles, feeling younger by the step. She breaks into a trot, crashing through the undergrowth. A laugh gargles from the pit of her stomach, rolls off her tongue.
"Oh sister. If only we could swim in the waterfall, one more time," she cries, a happy sob rippling her body. She can almost touch the image of her skewbald heart-sister, running beside her through the woods. It is Neraza that had brought her here - to offer the olive branch, to promise the Falls' protection. She suppressed another sob, knowing her sister would be happy about this turn of events.
She soon catches up to Girr, offering her a happy-go-lucky smile. Nobody would know, not to look at anyway, how Pevensie really felt being here. They stop beside the border, because she had forgot that it is polite to wait, that she doesn't actually live here anymore. Well, she meant no harm. They'll know that soon enough. "Diplomats of the Falls, please step forward," she whispers beneath her breath, half begging them to hurry up. She doesn't want to wait a moment longer, she longs to see the splendour of the waterfall crashing over the rocks. She glances over to the vanner mare, taking a step closer. "Good. It is polite to wait, as we are visitors. We must allow them to let us enter, to be on the safe side, and to show them we mean no harm," she says, trying to step up to her role as Queen, to educate and advise.
His chest and sides are streaked with sweat, and his dark mane is all but plastered to his mahogany neck. The breaths he takes are slow and deep, and the bay stallion turns his head to look back up at the steep hill that he has been clambering up and down for the past hour. It's part of his routine, a habit that keeps him lean and fit despite his penchant for sleeping most of the day away. Training has always been a component of his life - at least when he's not asleep - and now that he has something of a purpose, there's some amount of pride in it now as well.
Shaking his head, he starts to head for the water, but his flicking ears catch the sound of a call in the nearby woods. Rather than relax, it seems he has business to attend to.
The first horse he sees is the large white mare, impossible to miss against the green and brown backdrop of the Falls. The second is a pony with the scar of an Amazonian traitor on her chest. Texas likes her immediately.
"Welcome to the Falls," he says, offering both mares a charming smile that compliments his slow drawl and warm brown eyes. His thoughts are hidden entirely behind them (and his grey streaked mane), but the handsome stallions seems nothing but friendly. "What brings you from the Desert today?" He and Tyrna have only just returned from their brief sojourn to the kingdom, and he wonders what brings these two that the uncomfortably magical Camrynn had not mentioned to them when they spoke.
The silver queen can't help but smile as she spots the dark hide of her adviser standing near the pair of mares. He had just returned from a brief visit to the deserts with her daughter and now was once more being subjected to the company of mares. At first glance she assumed they were from the Amazons since she vaguely recognized and remembered a little about the buckskin Pevensie. Drawing nearer she saw the scarring and remembered that was no longer case. Plastering a smile on her face she steps up beside Texas' briefly touching his shoulder in passing. She took comfort in his strength and solidness.
"Ah Pevensie, welcome back! I see some things have changed since our last brief interaction. Congratulations on the crown by the way. Royalty seems to suit you. I don't believe I've met your friend however." She greets them warmly but waits for them to answer Texas and maintains a neutrally friendly expression. No sense in laying everything on the table just yet.
The treaty of peace, of support with the Falls' had been entirely non-negotiable. Camrynn had ventured no thoughts about the idea, other than agreeing to it and that was enough for Pevensie. She had owed this kingdom too much for too long not to broach the idea with them and it wasn't an offer the healing kingdom would likely spurn, especially given their current position in the grand scheme of things. Perhaps it had once been a powerful kingdom, but it had never been so whilst Pevensie had known it. More of a sanctuary for the lost, or those with nowhere better to go, or those who just liked the place and thought it was pretty.
They are greeted first by Texas, and though they probably have met before, she can't recall him. She nods politely and smiles, casting an eye over his bay form. He is in rather good shape, despite the precipitation rolling from his muscles. Are the Falls training their army? Are they anticipating a war perhaps?
She is about to introduce them both, when Shatter Me cancels out the need. Pevensie greets her with the warmest smile, happy to see her so well. She steps closer, dipping her head lower still for the fellow royal. It isn't a tradition she likes to hail, honouring royalty, but with her new role the sun-Queen has new responsibilities. Pissing off another kingdom for such a silly reason as not bowing would indeed be foolish, she is far too experienced a diplomat to risk such a rookie error.
"It's brilliant to see you looking so well, I am ever so glad. This is Girr, we have come from the Deserts' to offer you a treaty." she explains, glancing between the bay stallion and the pretty gre mare with a joyful smile. "I owe this kingdom, I love it. It is my birthplace, my sister was Queen here and I lived here many happy years. Now I find I have a crown on top of my head, I could have it no other way than to offer you an alliance. If the Deserts' can, for as long as I rule, I will protect the Falls' from invaders. I want us to be close, if there is anything you need, I will seek to provide it. All you need do, is accept,"
She waits patiently then, ears flicking from stallion to mare, waiting for either of them to say something.
Shatter Me steps up beside him, and Texas looks over at the silver mare. She seems to know the Amazonian defector, which interests the bay stallion. She’s a queen it seems, though he’d not learned that on his brief trip to her kingdom. There must be two queens then, since he’s already met Camrynn in the field and during their captivity. He’s distracted from other thoughts when the pony mentions having lived here in the Falls for some time. That makes at least three homes that she’s had, and given her fairly young appearance Texas assumes that she must be another immortal. They’re not rare, not really, but to find one with actual age on them is another thing entirely. An immortal the-year-old might as well be mortal, but a half-century? That is much more impressive.
Pevensie offers a treaty and then an alliance, which causes Texas to turn his head and look curiously at Shatter Me. To his knowledge they’ve not yet decided what to do about alliances with anyone other than the Dale and the Tundra. Shatter Me is the ultimate authority, and both the Amazons and the Deserts have now approached them about an alliance. Texas is incline to ally with neither- the Amazons because of his own personal biases and the Deserts because choosing a light kingdom rather than a dark one stakes a decidedly non-neutral claim for the Falls.
Pevensie’s offer, however, with the precise wording that she’s just used, does sway Texas. They need to do nothing in return for the protection of the Desert? Nothing at all? It seems an offer too good to pass up. Pevenie hasn’t mentioned the healing waters at all, and while Texas is far less moral than Shatter Me, he doubts she is foolish enough to bring them up when they haven’t been asked for. An alliance in exchange for nothing? Why not?
“Seems like a nice offer to me,” He says, looking once more at Pevensie before turning his attention back to the silver queen to see what she will choose.
Shatter smiles, wide and warm, at the buckskin queen before her. The offer of the alliance with the deserts with so little cost on their end was quite generous. With Texas' assent towards the alliance it felt like an easy choice.
"Pevensie, if it were anyone else I would have my doubts but, since you once called this place home, I trust that you will look after the Falls best interests. But there is one stipulation. We ask that you send one member to live in the Falls for the duration of our alliance to not only act as a liaison between the kingdoms, but to also gain the ability and knowledge to use the waters powers to heal. They will become in a sense a personal healer for any of your residents. We are limiting access to the Falls. Treaties no longer give free healing, only an alliance. If you are still agreeable to the terms we would greatly welcome the deserts as allies."
After saying her peace, the queen glances over at Texas. She was never one for dishonesty or trying to weasel out of a fair deal. She hoped he would be agreeable to the terms she had put forth because either way it felt like a win for them. Either they gained a new member and an ally or there are still only three people in all of Beqanna with the ability to use the Falls.
As she thought they would, both Texas and Shatter Me seem delighted at the prospect of an alliance with nothing else being asked of them. They must be wondering if a scorpion at stuck her heel the night before, the poisons were making her head a little woozy. If only it were that simple, she would have less problems justifying this unseemly alliance when she returned back to the pink Desert sands. However, no scorpion was involved and the idea came entirely from old affections, both for the kingdom itself and her long dead family.
She smiles both to Texas and to Shatter Me, her beam expanding with every passing moment. "I thank you. The Deserts are very busy at the moment, in the midst of a tournament - which of course you are all invited to - but upon its closure, I shall make sure to call together the kingdom and discuss a volunteer to live here part time as a peace envoy, going between both our kingdoms and solidifying us both."
"Of the tournament though, it will involve peace, army and magical members. If you wish to join in the training exercise, or any one of your kingdom members, you are of course more than welcome." she finishes, swishing her tail excitedly, eyes dancing between the two.
