"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
Falling back into the familiar patterns of old habits had not been easier. Attending to duties and diplomatic manners of the old world was one of the very few innate skills that the red devil would never forget. He knows more about the rising and fallings of kingdoms, along with the blood that must be shed and responsibilities that must be upheld. The weight of the kingdom and its success is all too familiar—the hunger for power and more cravings had once filled his mind.
It is not to say he is no longer this way. Rodrik is still the patient, cunning, and ruthless individual to get what he wants. The skillfulness does not simply fade when it was born within you. He has had his share of power-hungry desires within his life, but ruling lands and others does not fill his mind lately. Perhaps he is too love-struck by recent events in his life. Brunhild had come back and now there was a little one on the way.
Truthfully, Rodrik was reconsidering his values. It was a moral code he created and followed only. However, thinking of others and their well-being felt strange to him. He no longer thought of himself now. Instead, it was scheming for the benefit of his family. He would always be stubborn to get what he wanted and now what his family would want. It was no longer him against the world, but them against the world now.
Ischia at last comes into view as he moves along the sandbars. Rodrik had to wait for the low tide to come in order to safely make it to the big island. If anything, and whoever had the idea, had found an ideal place to call home. Ischia was well guarded naturally by the creation of nature itself. As well, it was beautiful and colorful. Much of it resembled the very jungle he had grown up in the old world.
Eventually, Rodrik reaches the shore of the white sandy beaches on the island. The dense tropical jungle lays just ahead of him. He does not make the initiation to venture further into the island. The dense forest is there for a reason, lining the border of the kingdom and even the stupidity to venture into a thick and dark jungle was not ideal. He knew nothing of these so-called residents (if anyone was here). So, he simply lets out a call, inviting any and what that lives on this island.
The spotted mare had been easing herself from the salt waters not far from Rodrik. Her belly was round and swollen as her foal impatiently waited to be born. It would be any day that the girl would make her grand entrance.
Salt water drips from her tangled brow, her skin slick and shining in the sun but her expression is one of uncomfortable annoyance. She was damn sure ready to have this baby despite Ashley's presence or not. Mar understood his position in the land and knew if he was not near then it had to be due to political matters. Son on this day when the sound of as foreign voice reaches her, naturally the bold mare meets the caller.
"Yes?" She appears after a few moments of pushing the long salt grasses aside. Bits of kelp and white sand stuck to her as water trickled down the length of her pregnant form. She looks crossly at the stallion, hormonal and watching him with a fierce side eye. "Can I help you?" Her voice is pinched slightly as she attempts to remind herself that the is a newcomer, perhaps a guest but Mar can not ease the blatant frustration that fanned across her features, eyeing the stallion impatiently.
Despite Vida's closeted personality and unwillingness to reveal her past, the grulla mare did get attached to those she called friends. While she may not know every horse in Ischia as well as she should, a number of them had earned the loyalty of the warrior mare. She was willing to protect them, and the kingdom, with her life, and this time was no different.
The mare had been grazing by the main lake deep within the jungle's territory when she heard the call of a newcomer. Wanting to see who it was and wondering if they posed a threat, as a few mares within Ischia were going to give birth to their foals soon, Vida immediately began galloping in the direction of the call. Despite the thickness of the jungle's foliage, she spotted two horses on the outside of the tree line, where the jungle ended and the grassy ground stretched into white sandy beaches before ending at the ocean.
Vida slid to a halt, taking note of who else was there. Marlyn, a pretty bay appaloosa mare who had come from the Falls. So far as she knew, too, Marlyn was pregnant, but the stallion's identity, Vida was unsure of. She didn't make it her business to know the identity of every sire, even if not that many existed in a single kingdom to begin with.
Vida's almond brown eyes took in the form of a newcomer, and she was a bit shocked to say the least. It was a stallion by her best guess, but Vida couldn't be a hundred percent sure; the call earlier had given her a clue. Looking at him, now, she never would've been able to guess. The stallion appeared to be a walking corpse; Vida had seen those before, which is how she figured what he was. He might've been a handsome beast when flesh actually covered his body, but now, well, she couldn't tell.
Remembering why she was here, and knowing a pregnant mare was within reach of the bigger horse, Vida moved up some to plant herself at an angle in between Marlyn and the stallion. Even if Marlyn didn't appreciate the gesture, Vida was willing to protect her friend, and the foal growing in her belly.
She eyed the newcomer, her nostrils flared some. Her streamlined maiden body was glistened with a small line of sweat from her gallop here, due to a combination of her exertion of speed and the jungle's humidity. Her body was tense, her muscles lined with tension like a cobra ready to strike.
Yet, despite this wary appearance, she did not look at him angry. Her eyes were soft, but cautious, showing that while she may be open to hearing what he had to say, her body language was telling him to be careful or he'd face the wrath of the mare's teeth and hooves.
"Hello stranger. Clearly, you've come here for something. What can I help you with?" Vida questioned, not knowing Marlyn had asked the same question moments before she arrived.
He was greeted first by a bay appaloosa mare. Rodrik’s nutmeg colored eyes are quick to assess what physically lies before him. It was obvious that this resident, this mare, was pregnant with a child. Vulnerable and alone was a mistake and a force to not be reckon with the mare. Her gaze is fierce and straightforward—she meant business if something went off track.
Rodrik, though as muscular and likely seen as a threat here, was not caught off guard and easily to shy away from her bold stance. In fact, this stranger made him think of Brunhild. She would have acted the same. Perhaps it was the motherly duty that grew within when a strange life-like thing started to grow in you that made you act protective. Clearly, he was not here to cause trouble. If he had been he would not have made himself known so easily.
He is not a snake today, but a diplomat to find answers (and secrets).
“Hello,” he greets to the bay appaloosa mare. “I’m Rod-” He is cut off by the loud, yet soft against the sand, of hooves coming from the dense forest. A mare emerges from the jungle, quickly make her way towards him and the mare. The grulla dun mare is quick to make her assertion between him and the pregnant mare. Rodrik flicks his head to the right a little, not backing away when she holds her stance between him and the mare he was just speaking to.
Rodrik is quick to look her over. He is keen on ensuring that this was not about to get messy—and he just got here too! Ischia was becoming interesting by the moment, he decided. Then again, the rat hole he came from was rather dusty and boring lately. After examining the sweating, tense mare, he finds her simply a protective mare of this pregnant mare and island.
“Well,” he says boldly and with a simple chuckle once the mare addressed him, “I suppose we are not a friendly place here.” A simple idea he thought of and decided to share with the two mares. “As I was saying to the other mare,” he turns his gaze back to the bay appaloosa girl and then to Vida, “I am Rodrik from Pangea. I am simply visiting to see how this place fairs.” He then falls silent for a moment, turning his attention to the jungle border for a moment.
No one else came, thankfully.
Rodrik then flicks his attention back to the two mares. He still holding his stance, not offering to move. It was not as if he tried to come and declare this place his own, but if he was to be treated like a threat he might as well play a little along. “Would that be a problem?” A smirk draws across his lips, nutmeg eyes gleaming with a bit of mischief.
![[Image: lRJZ7qE.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/lRJZ7qE.gif)
He is just a shiny red chestnut boy right now.
