[open] "The storm is an artist; the rainbow, its masterpiece"

[Reyla]

Never had Reyla thought a storm could be so violent to bring her harm; she'd been born on a night of roaring thunder and lightning that lit up the sky, with winds so strong it threatened to take her home away. Yet her home remained untouched, as well as her herd, something the newborn filly wouldn't become aware of until she was older.

The storm that came upon the filly and those traveling with her shook her to her core; the sound of thunder reverberated through the trees she stood upon to carry her over the water, and the lightning that flashed was so bright one could think it was daytime at first glance. The winds chilled her straight to the bone, blowing her mane into her eyes, and the rain and sleet soaked her coat. It had been a miserable time, but Reyla would have gladly put up with wet hair and shaking bones if it meant the situation turned out better.

The waves stretched as tall as the trees she now stood upon, as if they were reaching for the stars that hid behind the clouds. At first, they avoided the filly and her companions, but good fortune didn't last forever, for one turned straight toward them and slammed down, the crash creating a noise that rivaled the thunder above.

Before she knew what was happening, Reel's head was swallowed by the ocean water, and the waves tossed and turned her like a rock in a tornado. Every time she believed her lungs would give out, the ocean would show her mercy and lift her to have a gulp of fresh air, only to drag her back under soon after. Reyla's powerful legs kicked and thrashed to get her above the water's surface, but it did little good; the ocean would not release its grip unless under its own terms.

The sound of the thunder above was muffled while she was in the water, but the flashes of lightning allowed her to see where she needed to go. As long as she knew which way was up, she had a fighting chance... assuming the ocean wouldn't try to drown her. She was so very tired after fighting against the current, she wished nothing more than to return to her dam's side and rest as she did when she was a foal. To feel her dam's warmth on the cold winter nights... her calming voice, telling Reyla that her color wasn't what made her special...

But no, her dam was gone... Reyla had to fight on her own now. But the ocean was strong, merciless, and she was growing tired...

Everything went dark as her head went beneath the waves one final time...

And then, daylight. A chilling air that blew over her coat, causing the ocean water to crust and make her skin itchy. Soft noises from the animals that lived nearby. The gentle echo of waves lapping against the shore.

The filly slowly came back to the world, her eyes fluttering open while her body was regaining its senses. For a time, she just laid there, regaining her strength, but knew she would need to find food. Her stomach growled with hunger, and her throat burned from the saltwater she'd swallowed. With great effort, she lifted her head and looked around, seeing she was lying on a beach. The side of her body facing the ground was coated with sand, and there was a small dried red puddle underneath her left leg.

Reyla blew air out of her nose to get rid of the sand and smell of saltwater, before gathering her legs under her body and hoisting herself up. She stumbled a moment, still out of sorts from being tossed in the ocean, and briefly fell back to her knees. She stayed there a moment, to catch her breath. Taking her time, she supported her weight on her right leg, testing her injured one. She could step on it, good. It was definitely sore, however. She would take her time, even with hunger gnawing at her belly like a hungry predator.

She looked at the ground, to see if she could spot a trail frequently used; her dam had once told her this was how to find food, by following a path used by creatures that ate grass and wild oats like herself. However, the sand made spotting anything a bit difficult. Perhaps she'd have better luck farther from shore.

Limping up the shore, the filly was relieved to see the sand started turning into grass and dirt some yards away. At first, still no signs of frequent trails, which disheartened her. She continued her search for a while, until her luck turned, and she spotted a trail that led further inland. Or, what she assumed was further inland. She sincerely hoped it didn't lead on a path back to the ocean. She needed drinkable water, and the further upstream she could go, the better the water.

With her slow pace, the sun was well on its journey into the sky when Reyla finally had better signs of food. The grass beneath her hooves seemed better suited to fill her belly, instead of what she saw closer to the shores. However, her desire for water was stronger, so she continued following the trail, noting that the hoof prints had increased in number. Whatever area she was headed to, other horses frequented it. She wasn't sure this was a good sign yet though, not if she met any hostility while she was there.

At a few points on her journey, her path was crossed by a few creatures with brown fur, but that had black and white stripes on their tails. Their body shapes reminded Reyla of the foxes she had seen during one of her trips away from her dam, but the coloring was wrong. The ones she'd see had been red. Well, perhaps just as horses came in different colors, foxes did too. She also saw various birds flying over her head, sporting colorful feathers, with chirps that echoed over the fields stretching before her, almost like a soothing melody.

It helped to ease the filly's nerves, but her ears were pricked, and eyes watchful. She sensed something strange about this land...

Or it could be the sound of the waterfall up ahe- wait a minute. Waterfall? Reyla's heart soared as she limped closer to the noise that grew like thunder, and as she crested a small hill that just blocked her eyesight enough, the sight before her was magnificent.

A large waterfall cascaded down a small cliff and into a pond at its base, a small covering of mist being thrown up by the water's impact. Reyla could see other grass paths like the one she'd been following going toward the pond, but there were no other horses there at the moment. She made her way down, would have trotted if her leg had the strength. Soon as she reached the bank, she lowered her head and drank from the pond, the burning in her throat now relieved thanks to the cool chill. She stayed like that for some time, until it felt like her belly was full off the water alone. Only when her throat felt normal again did she lift her head, staring down at her reflection.

She wasn't dirty with mud, but the sand and ocean water crusting under her coat was now giving her a big of a scraggly appearance. On top of that, it itched horribly. Briefly, she considered rinsing it away in the pond water. The lake was large enough, easily four times the size of the area she'd been kept in by those trees in her homeland. Did she dare risk such an act, when she was in unfamiliar territory?

But she honestly couldn't stand it any longer. Finding a shallow area, the filly wandered into the pond and lowered her body down into the water, letting out a relieved sigh as the coolness of the water washed away the aches in her body. Her injured leg stung at first, but it was a small price to pay. When her body felt good and rinsed, she lowered her head and neck to do the same. She felt she'd been thoroughly rinsed off by now, and got out of the pond, giving her body a good shake to start drying herself. The warm sun above would help with that.

Now, to do something about her hunger. The wild oats at her hooves looked appetizing enough. She lowered her head and took a bite, finding they were indeed edible. She settled into a peaceful grazing, for a moment anyway, her senses alerting her to another nearby. Looking around, she spotted something by the bushes and stunted trees that lined a part of the bank not far away.

A cat made its way out of the bush. A cat? No, that couldn't be. Even if they could have different colors too, she'd never seen one that looked like that. Yellow fur not far in color from a former herd member's, and dark spots the color of tree bark all over. The cats she'd all seen before, even ones with spots, had been much smaller. This cat creature seemed very out of place here. What was this place anyway? Was there a name for this land? No matter, it seemed the cat wasn't too concerned with her. It was watching the water; hunting, like she'd seen the cats at home do for mice that lived nearby.

She settled back into her grazing, her weight balanced on her three good legs, while the injured left one touched the ground only by the toe of her hoof. Slowly, she felt her hunger being sated, and was careful not to rush. She already had an injury; she didn't want to risk a stomach ache slowing her down too.

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OOC: Reyla would love to have some company and make a new friend.

[Casimira]

CASIMIRA

dragon-shifting daughter of ashhal and ryatah

Casimira cannot remember the last time she came to the field, or if she had ever come here on purpose. It was only from stories told by her mother that she knew that at one time, the field had been overflowing. Outsiders appeared on the shores in droves, it seemed, and each kingdom was eager to recruit the newcomers to their home. It was a crowded, busy place, and the efforts to recruit were often rewarded by a rise in the kingdom’s ranks.

But, this had been over a hundred years ago. Beqanna had changed drastically since then—long before she was born, even. The land was not quiet, that remained true, but it seemed those from beyond arrived less and less. Rather, all the energy came from the inside, and instead of going to the field in search of a home, everyone—those born here—simply shifted between the various lands.

Like her.
Beqanna-born, but with no kingdom that felt like home.

She had been born in Tephra, the volcanic kingdom in the west, but most of her adult life had been spent living in the kingdom of Hyaline. It was only recently that she had returned to her roots, and picked up the Tephran crown in the process, but ruling had been a decision made out of love rather than politics or a need for power.

She did not feel cut out to be a queen, but when Savior had claimed the throne she could not keep herself from standing alongside him. Her other half, it was impossible to imagine doing anything without him, and she knows that if it had not been for him she never would have had the confidence to do what she is doing. As the days went by Tephra began to feel more like home than it ever had before, and she can feel some of her insecurity in her abilities begin to fade away.

Today she leaves Tephra, her pale dragon wings carrying her across the newly flooded sea that now separated the kingdom from the mainland—a result of a recent earthquake that had signaled the demise of the south entirely, and as always flying over the new stretch of water stirred an uneasy feeling in her chest. Some would say it’s mother nature that is powerful and unforgiving, but she hesitates to blame that. Beqanna, brimming with magic, was stronger than mother nature, and she did not doubt for a second that the flooding had been a direct result of someone toying with the magic and not a naturally occuring earthquake.

Bypassing the general lands, she chooses instead to land in the field, her hooves touching ground with a gentle thud. Folding her wings at her sides but not doing away with them entirely, the white mare begins to slowly make her way through the mostly quiet field, her pale blue eyes sweeping across the rolling green hills. She follows some of the more well-worn trails, and it is as she comes across one of the waterfalls that she finds the light-colored mare. As always there is a flicker of uncertainty, and she wonders if she will ever be someone that does not feel her chest tighten with anxiety at the prospect of having to make a good first impression on a stranger.

“Hello,” she says as she carefully walks closer, offering the younger girl a small smile. Save for the dragon wings she currently wears, everything about Casimira is entirely unassuming. Though she is a stark, unnaturally bright white, with ice-blue eyes that sometimes appear sharper than she means them to be, there is nothing about her that is threatening—nothing that hints to the dragon that lays in waiting, the beast that she keeps so carefully caged. “My name is Casimira,” she offers in way of greeting, and she would have continued with the pleasantries if her gaze had not drifted to the way the girl favors one of her legs, and a slight frown colors her face when she asks with a note of concern, “Are you hurt?”

@Reyla

hi, sorry this isnt great, I started writing right before I needed to leave for work so I rushed it lmao welcome to Beqanna!

[Reyla]

In the middle of grazing, there was a rapid shift in the wind; Reyla's senses were on alert, and she looked around cautiously, at first not seeing anything. She finished chewing the grass in her mouth, her elegant ears pricked and tapered nostrils flared; was there a scent? The smell of a predator? A shiver went through her bones; no danger, but there was something nearby. What was it?

Her question was answered when a mare's voice came from behind. Had it not been for her injury, Reyla would have spun with impressive speed, but as it was, she balanced her weight on her right leg and pivoted around, so she could face the stranger. The voice hadn't sounded hostile, so Reyla had no reason to show the stranger her heels. That instinct was reserved for fighting predators should the circumstances arise. Which, luckily, they hadn't so far. She'd prefer to keep it that way.

The mare that had come to greet Reyla was a very pretty white color, almost unnaturally so. Even one of Reyla's former herd members couldn't match it. This mare didn't seem to have a speck of dirt on her either. Her mane and tail matched her coat, thick and elegant, with a long forelock that could no doubt cover one of her eyes. Speaking of, Reyla was struck by their color, for they reminded her of the endless sky she'd often stare at when lost in a daydream. Her legs were thin in stature, but carried her weight easily. A strange red mark was on one leg, but Reyla didn't have a name for that shape. Her head was shaped with grace, with a small groove between her muzzle and eyes. That shape reminded Reyla of a horse in her herd, an Arabian, the stallion had told of himself, but his facial groove had been much more pronounced. This mare, perhaps she only shared half of a pedigree like the stallion? Her dam had once told her such things were possible.

Had Reyla taken the time to examine the mare a bit closer, she may have seen the feature that said mare kept pressed against her sides, but considering they matched her coat color as well, Reyla did not notice. Instead, after her brief examination, she focuses on the mare's posture and attitude; she was relaxed, her head held high, but not in a way that told Reyla she was on alert or arrogant. Her muscles were not bunched under her skin; she did not sense any danger nearby. This helped reassure Reyla, and she lowered her own head, into a much more natural position that relieved the muscles in her neck.

The mare introduces herself, by a very pretty name; Casimira. Reyla wondered what it meant; it must have a meaning. However, nothing about the name sounds familiar to her, or at least not to the language used in her homeland. As she looks at the mare, Reyla silently wonders if it means 'queen'; this mare is certainly regal and strong enough to be one. Casimira's gaze then drifts away from Reyla's face, and the filly's eyes follow; she figures out the mare is looking at her leg, the injured one.

She tries to put a little more weight on it, and succeeds, but remains careful nonetheless. She nods curtly, "I must have cut it on a sharp rock when I went into the water during that storm. But I don't know; the last thing I recall before I woke up here was being tired from fighting the waves, and I went under the water when a big wave came and washed away my travel mates and the trees we were using to carry us across the ocean."

She smiles sheepishly, "I'm Reyla. It's nice to meet you Casimira. Where is here by the way? Nothing about this land seems familiar. It doesn't seem like my homeland anyway; I saw a cat that had spots on it that looked like they were as big as its head. They didn't look like that where I'm from. Is this land very big? Are there a lot of places to explore? Where do you live? Do you have a herd too?"

Reyla often didn't notice when she began rambling; if she asked something that got her to think, she got excited, and when she was excited, she talked A LOT. Hopefully this mare didn't mind Reyla's chatterbox attitude; she still had some mellowing out to do as she got older.

~*~*~*~*~*~

@Casimira I don't mind one bit; I thought it was great writing. Thanks for coming to greet me; so happy to be here!

[Casimira]

CASIMIRA

dragon-shifting daughter of ashhal and ryatah

Even though Casimira does not consider herself old by any means, the other girl is clearly younger. She recognizes the spark that seemed to live only in youth; a spark not yet tainted by the realization that the world can be an unjust place. She had been similar as a child, when her days were spent seeking adventure with her twin brother, Cassian. If there was a darkness crawling along the edges of that bright spot in her life, she had been blind to it—or her mother had just been very good at shielding them from it all.

She had learned eventually that no one could escape the darkness that thread itself through life, and that darkness didn’t always come to you in the form of gruesome monsters with sharp teeth—sometimes darkness came to you as a star-studded mare hurtling herself at you with the intent of reducing your entire being to dust.

The darkness had given her an edge, but she had not allowed it to make her hard. When she looks at the younger mare—who introduces herself as Reyla—she does not feel bitter that the other girl seems to have held onto her light, and she does not find herself cynically hoping that it might someday be dimmed.

She ignores that ill feeling of foreboding that prickles at the back of her mind, saying that this land will do it for her, somehow.

“There were others with you?” she asks with another note of concern, casting her glance around the young mare to see if she had perhaps missed the presence of others, or if they were too injured to stand. There is a moment where her icy blue eyes narrow and sharpen, becoming noticeably draconic as she scans the area with dragon vision to ensure that there really was no one else here. “Perhaps they washed up elsewhere,” she suggests gently. Beqanna was almost entirely shoreline, with several islands. It wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibility.

The way the words tumble from Reyla’s mouth causes her own lips to quirk in amusement, waiting for her to stop before trying to answer all of the questions. “This place is called Beqanna, but more specifically, this area is the field. It’s usually where newcomers come seeking a home, but it's not as popular as it used to be.” She asks if Beqanna is large, which causes her to give pause with a thoughtful frown. “I have never been anywhere else, so I’m not really sure if Beqanna is considered large by comparison. There are four kingdoms, with other lands beneath them, and a few general areas.” She isn’t sure if that’s an adequate description of how large Beqanna is, but it's the best she can do. “I live in Tephra, the western kingdom.”

She does not say yet that she is queen of the west; the title still feels clumsy on her tongue. Instead, she continues by offering, “It has a healing waterfall that could heal your leg, if you want to try it.”

@Reyla

[Reyla]

Reyla can tell there is concern in the mare's voice when she mentions the storm that had sunk her travel mates into the treacherous ocean waters. However, the filly did not wish to talk about them. The majority had not been very pleasant to her in her previous life after all. That wasn't to say she didn't care for what had happened to them; she couldn't imagine the suffering they may have endured before the ocean swallowed them. But her focus was on this new land in front of her, and besides, if she was going to encounter them, she'd rather it be later. Or never at all, preferably.

Casimira takes her time in answering all of Reyla's questions, impressing the filly that she had remembered all of them without asking again. Reyla starts to understand a bit about this new place; for one, the name was very unusual, but sounded quite pretty the way the mare said it. This place she had wound up in was called the Field, but not as popular? Perhaps that just meant those that lived here before found homes. Could that be her, now that she was here?

Casimira says that Beqanna is divided into four different kingdoms, a term Reyla is unfamiliar with. What does that mean? Was each one run by a stallion like herd had been back home? Were there lead mares in each one? Were there bachelor stallions too? Were the kingdoms enclosed by the trees like the field Reyla had lived in back home?

The mare offers not only the name of her kingdom she calls home, but that it has a waterfall that could... had she heard that right? Heal her leg? The thought is almost too good to be true. Reyla smiles brightly at Casimira, taking a step forward while trying to balance her weight out, "Really? Yes please; I'd rather not have to deal with this bothersome injury."

@Casimira

[Casimira]

CASIMIRA

dragon-shifting daughter of ashhal and ryatah

Casimira has never really met anyone outside of Beqanna. Her mother had come from another land, she knew that much, but it was so long ago that Ryatah rarely, if ever, spoke of it. She knew that Reyla was not from here, but she did not really know what all that entailed. She did not know which of the things she spoke of might require more of an explanation.

She did not know that other places did not have kingdoms.
She did not know other lands did not have magic.

She didn’t even realize that perhaps the dragon wings at her sides would be considered curious things, because here, nearly everyone had wings of some kind.

She can see the questions that seem to reflect on the other girl’s face but she cannot quite decipher them. Casimira has never been outside of Beqanna, and so she cannot fathom what it might look like to an outsider. She can feel her own questions beginning to bloom: what her old home was like, and what kind of magic existed there. But her gaze trails to where the girl is still favoring her leg, and she knows she cannot in good conscience carry on a conversation while she is hurting. “Tephra is a lovely place, too,” she adds, even though Reyla had already agreed to come. “It’s warm and tropical, with lovely flowers and miles of beaches.”

With that she begins to retreat back down the path she had previously come, pausing to looking over her shoulder with an expectant smile as she waited for her to follow.

@Reyla

you are welcome to post in Tephra, and you can also post anywhere else to interact with other characters if you want <3