Any

[Romek]

Things don't always go to plan. That was quickly becoming his favourite motto, he decided, crashing through the brush and bracken on the outermost edge of the Valley. The throaty baying of wolves felt very close to his hocks, and he ran faster, but here the thorns were packed more densely and snagged into his skin, scratching and leaving little speckles of blood down his side.

Admittedly opening with a chase scene is probably not the best way to go about this.
Sadly, he had not thought that there might be goddamn crazy ass impenetrable (ayy) wolves that just seemed impervious to any kind of attack. Why? Did they want to terrify all the innocent and interested-in-joining members away? Ok, second admission - he may or may not have attacked the wolves first. But, in his defence, he is a soldier by nature (debatably) and how would any other sane man react?

Okay, so he might actually be entirely at fault here. Fine. He's not thinking straight, obviously distracted by all the thornage and adrenaline. His blood sang in his ears, but not pleasant singing... It was more like screaming. Banshee-screech filling his ears. He hadn't run in forever. He was fat and out of shape. He had just returned to Beqanna. He was in no place to be dealing with this right now.

He crashed into a clearing, stumbled to catch his footing and realised... The wolves weren't chasing him anymore. Also, he had no idea where he was, but more importantly, THE WOLVES WERE NOT CHASING HIM ANYMORE. He stopped to catch his breath. He would have to resume his routine of drills and running and so on if he ever hoped to be a soldier again, because this was just not cricket. It was a far cry from his former self, kept fit of a strict diet of dune-running and desert grazing. Ah, the Desert. It's not that he was scared to return, it's just that he didn't want to. Vanquish was probably dead by now. He had nothing to keep him there anymore.

So he was here. The Valley.

[demian]

Gazing at the moonlight, satan comes close to me.
He says you can have everything if you leave your soul with me

It’s one of those days. Where the summer heat presses against one’s skin, slowly pulling the perspiration out and across their entire body, soaking their hair and the top of their brow in a way that makes them wish they had a nice cold freezer they could climb into and stay forever. It’s one of those days. Where the heat brings a wave of silence through the kingdom. The creatures have retreated to the holes in the grounds and their nests in the trees. The members of the Valley were most likely huddled around the watering hole, or had made their way towards the north to get a moment’s break.

Yet here was their king, sweltering and forcing himself to be miserable. For you see, he was hiding. Hiding from responsibility and duty. He needed a day to himself, a quiet and peaceful break. With all the things that had happened in the past months the King had found himself exhausted, desperate for those moments of peace. It was in this small corner of the kingdom that he began to rest, his heartbeat slowing as he began to doze.

Then suddenly the sound of the wolves cries filled the air, their barking and howling signaling a chase. For a while he ignored it until the sound of pounding hoof beats soon followed and he realized the pack was chasing another horse straight to him. He listened as they grew closer, his head turning towards the trees moments before the stallion crashed through. The stumble could be heard from his short distance away and without being able to help it, a small smirk tugs at the corners of his lips as he chuckles softly. “Quite an entrance you’ve made.”

The jaguar spotted stallion slowly steps into the other’s line of sight. It wouldn’t be an honest to god day if the stallion didn’t have at least one odd run-in in the Valley. “What did you do to get them to chase you like that?” He can feel the alpha close by, and in his mind he asks him to come and then he waits patiently. Slowly the alpha steps from the bushes, dark black fur thick and full of shine as he makes a wide circle around the unknown stallion and with quick steps he trots towards the king, paws padding gently against the soft dirt before sitting next to Valley king as he pants gently, tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth.
“I’m Demian, welcome to the Valley.”

Demian

[Speck]

Ely definitely chose an interesting home. It fits him with him being completely wondrous and all. I on the other hand feel like I stick out like a weed amongst the flowers. I know that I have a lot of great features going for me (such as my perky optimism), but I also know that my lack of magical energy makes me a little less desirable. Thankfully Ely doesn’t think like I do- I guess he truly excels over me in several ways. Since coming to the Valley I haven’t had a whole lot of time to explore the borders. I stuck near Ely until the girls were born, and now that they are romping around the kingdom I believed I should take a bit of time to take in the sites. It was with this assertive thought that I slunk away from my family and went hunting for curiosities along the border. The heat was a real life-drainer. Normally when I explored I galloped sing-songedly through the grasses. Today with sweat uncaringly dripping down my chin I kept to a steady tread. About thirty minutes into my hike a quiet lullaby once sung by my mother floated into my head. She was a bastardly singer, but I do believe that I do the tune more justice. My head swung from one side to another as I hummed the upbeat tune beneath my breath. It wasn’t until the best part came that I let out an uproarious ”LALALALALAAAAAAAAAAA” I swung my head backward and bellowed with little care. A growl suddenly rose in succession causing my attention to snap back into the present. Somehow I had managed to stumble upon two unfamiliar horses. One was quite handsome with towering wings. ”Hello!” I said quite joyfully with my gaze drifting between them. ”Aren’t you cute…” I directed my last words toward the wolf that sat so comfortably beside the jaguar stallion. speck tiny daughter of brennen and bother