"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
There is a slight hesitance in her step as she walks the unknown lands. Sure the meadow might look quite the same as it had before, but that was all it was. She was aware of how different this world was. It was no longer the Beqanna she had known from birth and at the same time, it was. She had heard whispers, rumours, in the meadow about the Tephra. Well, not about the land, but about its leader.
It was almost too good to be true, yet Amore’s heart desperately wishes it is. That she had accepted the chance that had washed over her, didn’t mean she would be relieved to see a familiar face. A trusted face on top of that. Her mom and siblings had been gone since before the reckoning, but Magnus hadn’t disappeared. He had stayed true to the Heavenly Gates. Unlike her, she would have to admit in shame.
Perhaps this would be her new chance. Perhaps the change wasn’t bad. If she could only share it with those who mattered the most to her. Amorette resembled her mother, Minette, more than her father, except for the total opposite in the color that painted her coat. Her mother, her maman, had been a pale gray, where her coat showed a smoky black that was clearly influenced by her father. Little did she know that the one who she had always thought of as her father, wasn’t the one who sired her.
It isn’t far that Amorette trails into the new lands, the heath already thick in the air. She calls out, her whiny travelling across the green lands at the food of the mountain. No, no mountain, a volcano. For a moment she can only revel in the thought how different these lands were, but it doesn’t take her long to accept it, because that was the easiest thing to do. The next thing was to wait, but she hoped that they wouldn’t keep her waiting long.
Amorette
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.
Gryffen x Minette
Atrani has been wandering, lurking. She has kept to herself since her separation from father and since Magnus pulled her in close. Her life is confusing, her place in the world faltering. Is she a bringer of happiness? Or is she the eyeless Grim Reaper that finds solace in destroying lives?
She hasn’t quite decided.
But at least she is alive, and she isn’t entirely alone. From her kept distance she has taken in the smells, creating images in her mind of what these scents could look like. The acrid smoke at first clawed at her lungs, but she adapted and she strengthened. This is where she lives, where she will grow; she has no choice but to become a child of the volcano even if she will never see it towering high above her like a guardian. The time spent here has been for adapting and for learning to navigate without vision. It has been a way to learn about others without ever seeing them. It has sharpened her senses and has developed her curiosity into a rather fine point.
That’s why she finds herself drawn to this one particular mare – she’s different and she’s an outsider. Atrani can smell the estrogen and the anxiety. She can almost taste the adrenaline and sense of hope that is brimming to the edge in this stranger.
”You’re not from around here,” her head inclines to indicate Tephra as the landscape unravels behind her, unveiled by the drifting fog. A breath is drawn in, her nostrils quivering and her heart pattering. ”But neither am I,” she pauses as she somberly rolls her shoulders, ”not really.” Because in reality, the child is as much an outsider here as she is anywhere – everywhere – else. Nonetheless, this is where she is now, shielded by Magnus. ”I’m Atrani,” the abomination, the reaper.
dove into her eyes and starved all the fears
picture by haenuli shin- HTML by Call - words: ________
She was older now, maturing into a young woman, and it had been years since he had seen her. Since he had seen her mother. Since he had been ripped away and locked in that forsaken place.
So it took a moment, several moments, for him to believe his own eyes—for him to trust his vision.
But when he did, his heart contracted painfully in his chest, and he rocketed forward, his golden body thundering across the land he had come to know so well. It was difficult to breathe, difficult for him to do anything but focus on her in the distance, as clear as day and as beautiful as her mother had once been.
(Was, he corrected himself. She still was beautiful—out there, somewhere.)
He saw Atrani approach and although it took every inch of willpower, he slowed his breakneck pace, trying to ensure that he did not frighten the poor girl in his haste. He pulled himself back from a gallop to a canter and then to a leggy trot—and when he was near enough that they would hear him, he walked.
Still, he walked quickly, never pausing as he came to Amorette and drew her close, breathing her in and holding her to him. “Amorette,” he breathed, heart pounding. “You have no idea how good it is to see you.” He had questions—so many questions—but he kept them in check for now. Instead, he drew back so that he could study her face, soaking her in. Remembering himself, he laughed, the sound threaded with his happiness as he glanced back. “Atrani, this is my daughter Amorette.” Not by blood, but that had never mattered to Magnus. She had been his from the second they had met in the mountains.
“Amorette, this is Atrani. She’s family.” He smiled. “And this is home.”
out of the blue out into the loneliest place that you'll ever know I carried the world just as far as I could but the damage had taken its toll
As she waits she cannot help it but to let her mind wander. Wander back to the time when she had first greeted a stranger on the border of her then home. She had been the first to meet Weir and Fynnegan, diplomats from the Dale. Soon her father had joined them. The memory was a good one, one Amore remembered with a small smile.
She recognizes her own bluntness in the way the girl addresses her. But instead of saying that the diplomats hadn’t been from the Gates, she had stated that Fynnegan was very short. The chestnut and white girl isn’t who she had hoped to come greet her, but not less welcomed. She tries to not pay too much attention to the absence of eyes, instead smiling softly at the girl, her head nodding even though she cannot see it. ”You’re right. I am not from around here." A brief pause. "But that doesn’t mean I cannot belong here. Same goes for you” she replies before taking a careful step closer. She doesn’t hurry her movements, giving Atrani time to notice what she’s doing, before gently brushing her muzzle across the girl’s shoulder.
They aren’t given more time. The wind carries is scent and instantly Amore lifts her head. Her eyes search for his form as her ears point forwards, expectation suddenly thick in the air. He was here, he really was here. She holds her breath without realising it, watching him silently, not sure if he really recognizes her. But he does, of course he does. He wouldn’t be Magnus if he didn’t. Once safely tucked in his embrace, she murmurs. ”Dad.”
She answers his embrace, her muzzle brushing across his withers and shoulders. There is a slight tremble in her body, excitement and relief, washing over her. ”I heard rumours you were here…” she answers softly, reaching her nose out to exchange her scent with his. When Magnus brings up Atrani gain, she suddenly remembers the girl was still there.
She finds herself smiling as he introduces her, a warm sensation flooding her chest. Daughter. Family. Home. ”It’s nice to meet you, Atrani” she finally says, now she was properly introduced. Then she lets her gaze travel to the golden stallion. For a moment she wonders where his wings had gone, she clearly remembers he had them, but that was something for later. ”It’s good to be home.”
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