"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
12-10-2017, 03:54 PM (This post was last modified: 12-11-2017, 08:26 PM by Solace.)
S O L A C E
Mid-summer nights are for romance - passionate romps in moon-lit meadows, stolen kisses, secret smiles.
Or so she had been told.
Mid-summer nights were very different for Solace.
She had tried her best to resist each fluttering if her heart in her chest, and she had been mostly successful. But she couldn't help but feel that she was missing the connection. She was afraid that if she steeled herself for too long, she would never have what came so easily to Svedka, to her mother.
She could have found a young stallion or mare to warm her (or so she tells herself), to teach her what came so naturally to others. But when the sun began to sink below the western mountains of her home, she would steak away to find a peaceful resting place - or she would find Svedka.
The young Queen had spent too many nights alone recently, and the dull ache of a restless longing began to tumble in her breast when the sunset. It was never there during the day, when she was too busy to muse about such things, but at night it ate her alive.
But not tonight. Tonight she would rather talk than think and rather sleep than worry.
His willow tree comes into sight and she pauses to listen, the gold and cream mare knew she was not his only midnight companion. Despite her rank, Solace feels like a child again - transported to the countless times she had stood listening at the entrance of her parent's cave to make sure she won't cause embarrassment by entering. She didn't know exactly how close Svedka and Corvus were, she didn't pry, but she knew they savored their nights together by the frequency alone. She had turned away before when she heard their hushed voices below the leaves, she had never lingered to listen.
Never would she infringe on anything which made her twin happy - which made him more likely to stay.
But tonight, all is still.
"Svedka?" the soft melody of her hushed voice calls to her twin from outside his shelter, and her muzzle reaches out to gently pull aside the draping canopy.
The wild nights spent in his mother’s country has left a mark on the spirited stallion’s heart; he had felt a freedom there he had never witnessed as a child, and grew into himself more than he ever could have if he had stayed in Beqanna. Mother and father would dance in the sunset filled air with the rest of the herd, but once night fell and they found their peaceful night’s sleep, Svedka would sneak away and truly come alive beneath the stars. Being so young, the ivory and goldenrod stallion knew enough about midnight romps and stolen kisses beneath the silvered moonlight to be familiar with the idea of romance and fleeting touches, wayward lips and warm breath. He had come of age quite beautifully there in the open plains, beneath the moonlight and with flames painting him and his partners in gold and bronze. The wildness within him that blossomed those nights stirs within him, though a quieted flame instead of a wildfire, lingering in his sapphire blue eyes.
He is still young, still just a child in the ways of the world despite his experiences, and when Solace comes to him this night he is alone. She comes to him quietly, hushed and secretive for some nights he isn’t alone. Svedka didn’t enjoy keeping company by himself, and he would gladly welcome any who came to his willow in search of conversation - especially if it is one of beauty, starlight, and supernatural wonders. He and Corvus could talk into the depths of twilight, until the morning sun pricks across the mountain range, as innocent and juvenile as two friends could be. But some nights it is Solace at his side, the gentle queen seeking him for comfort and rest; a steady reminder of her own wildness, her own rugged spirit that rests within her, alongside the wisdom and knowledge she also harbors there.
“Svedka?”
Her voice is quiet on the stillness of the summer’s eve, the willow’s thin and swaying vines barely audible in the night air, whispering against each other. He had been staring into the stars, peering at them from between the tree’s fine branches and vines, watching as the starlight filters through the thin veil. His eyes turn towards the sound of her familiar voice, pale-gold ears flicking towards her. The pink of her muzzle pushes through the drapery, nostrils inquisitively sniffing. He smiles, stepping forward and touching the alabaster of his own nose against hers, huffing a warm breath in welcome.
“Sister,” he replies in greeting, his voice smooth and velvety as it leaves his throat. He lips tenderly at the soft flesh of her nose, inhaling the scents of her day that still linger on her skin. She smells of each edge of Hyaline, and the familiar tinge of ash that reaches his nostrils causes a tiny smile to flutter onto his face. Smoak? “Busy day, Solace?” He asks genuinely, wondering if she has sought him out for comfort and relaxation, or if more is bothering her tonight.
Beneath the willow’s many vines, the palomino and white stallion quietly grooms the Queen’s mane, gingerly picking at the mixture of blue, black, and white with his teeth like he has done for so many years.
Growing up, her brother's presence had always been the only comfort she needed. Solace had always expected more than her mother could give, Tang had not met her ideal of what a good mother should be. She had enshrined her father - the leader of a country, the anchor of the family. He was untouchable, perfect, nearly a winged diety and she hesitated to share her daily frustrations with him because she never wanted to see him frown.
But Svedka, he had always been just enough.
That was the reason she had decided to name her twin The Heart of Hyaline. It was an obvious choice, she had only delayed long enough to make sure his wandering soul didn't immediately call him on to other adventures.
'Svedka never met a stranger' their mother would say, and begrudgingly she agreed.
But this can wait.
The scent of Smoak was still warm and alive on her skin, she had hesitated to wash it off. This sentimental action of preserving his scent would have confused her only months ago, but she was beginning to fully realize her feelings for their childhood friend - and they terrified her.
By some strange construct of her own, she had forfeited her right to romance when she accepted the crown from Amet. She had seen the way it had torn Amet apart from the inside and she had hoped that she could somehow stay above the fray. Silently one night, alone by the lake, the young mare had vowed to take Hyaline as her one and only.
She couldn't expect her brother to understand this sentiment - but a part of her wanted to hear his rash advice.
"Don't tease me Svedka, if I tell you something." Her eyes slide closed as he gently detangles her mane, allowing herself a moment to enjoy the familiar ritual. Its easier to confess what she has to say with her eyes closed.
"I think I like Smoak... too much."
Like. The word is wrong, but she would never say Love.
They have aged together, grown within the salt and smoke of Tephra’s flaming mount and dark seas, and though the smell of brine and ash is long washed away from their skin and replaced with the various flora and the freshwater of Hyaline, their hearts do not forget where they are from. Forged from fire, the twins will forever hold the ferocity of the volcano within their chests.
Svedka grooms her mildly, for his sister rarely had a hair out of place unless she deemed it so, but he still finds the act soothing, and he does it thoughtlessly, with almost a hum of satisfaction vibrating in his throat. The faint scent of his childhood friend lingers on her ivory and gold skin, tangled within the vibrant blue hidden within her mane. She begins to speak, her voice strong and resilient (it never falters, he noticed, much like his own) yet somehow unsure, as if her statement holds a question within its declaration. The stallion continues to groom her casually with a hum of understanding, a wordless promise to not tease her, afraid that if he were to stop suddenly then her testimony may never leave her lips out of sheer pride.
Her admission causes his lips to purse together tightly, drawing his chin towards his chest and taking a single step back so he could look her in her matching blue gaze, brow furrowing. A frown creases on his darkened lips.
“It is impossible to like someone too much, Solace. Too much - why are you saying it like it’s bad?”
His own words surprise him - she had been speaking plainly and the twin could grasp what she was getting at - but the idea of his closest friend and his best friend (Smoak and Solace, respectively) cherished something more for each other in their hearts left him feeling, somehow, left out. Like he had missed something back in their childhood that he should have predicted, and now that it is here before him he feels foolish for not noticing it before.
The way she dances around it, saying too much when he knows that’s not what she means at all, or if she did truly mean too much, why was it too much? Did it hurt her?
Solace can only sigh, for now, when her brother asks her to explain her comment. Too much. How should she explain these feelings to the free-spirited Svedka?
The thought that a strengthening bond between herself and Smoak could leave Svedka feeling left out had never crossed her mind, and she fails to catch any hint of this from her twins demeanor. But the seriousness which comes over him takes her by surprise. Maybe he had grown up more than she realized on his journey to the Plaines.
"I just feel like I need to put Hyaline before anything... like that. There is still so much to do I haven't done. For example, I haven't even gone to meet the leaders of the neighboring kingdoms!" She laughs lightly to herself then, "I thought it would be easier, to not fall in love."
Love
Her mood changes suddenly as she realizes the exact word she had been trying to avoid had slipped from her mouth. Solace's soft glazed eyes harden and she pins her brother with a preemptive scolding look. "Not that I'm in love - just saying. I like Smoak, and now that he has decided to stay here with us..." The young mares soft words trail off as her cerulean eyes lift to look at the glimpses of starlight which can be seen when the willow branches sway around them. The memory of her day with Smoak, in the clover field, is still fresh. She hadn't cared about her crown when she was with him, she had only cared about being close to him, keeping the warm glow he ignited in her burning. Smoak made her feel weird and good and gooey... but mostly just good.
Good enough that she hadn't thought a single kingdom thought since she had left him. Until now.
"Hyaline needs to be more important than me chasing boys," she laughs, a little nervously. Even worse, she is embarrassed to admit how much time she spent daydreaming about what would have happened if she had responded differently to Castile's advances by the river. She is ashamed that a handsome stranger in the woods had completely disarmed her and sent her heart hammering. "You will have to do all the falling in and out of love for the both of us."
For once, she despratly wants to hear him say she is wrong.
She can feel her sigh beside him and he frowns slightly. It wasn’t like the sighs he used to hear back when they were children - when his imagination carried him away and he left her for too many hours without checking in, or when he would tease her - it was different, almost defeated, and he had not once seen her in such a state, and it worries him. He is no stranger to the feelings that young love can bring, and though it stirs a myriad of emotion within their bellies, he is not one to run from it or to fight it. He cannot fathom why she would want to smother it, to cover it up and ignore it, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t him, it was Solace.
A small quirk of a smile pulls at one corner of his ivory lips, and he reaches forward to brush his muzzle against her forehead so that it fell to one side, leaving the white of her head bare. “You have so much within you, Solace,” he says gently, pulling his chin to his chest to carefully watch her with shining blue eyes. She has her light - powerful and mysterious and glorious - but she also has her strength, her courage, and her fire. “You must not hide one ounce of it.” His smile hardens into a thin line, in a seriousness that matches the worry that is etched on her pale face.
“But,” he begins, his eyes narrowing as he attempts to understand her, to understand why it would be Smoak - of all the horses in Beqanna! “you know yourself. If something doesn’t feel right to you, then you don’t pursue it.” He tilts his head, a soft snort leaving his nostrils. “What is Hyaline if her leader isn’t living the life she wants? What use can you be to grow and strengthen Hyaline if you are torn between two things, longing for both but refusing to find a balance?” He presses his lips together, lost in his thoughts and ramblings.
“Father has both, Solace. It doesn’t have to be a weakness. It could be your greatest strength.”
He reminds himself that he is talking about Smoak, and he tosses his head lightly. He pushes away the feeling that begins to drop into his chest - pushing away his love and care for his sister and replacing it with jealousy. What if they did fall in love? What if everything he is saying at this moment would bring her closer to Smoak, thus leaving him behind? They would reign supreme as kings and queens, with her light and his armor, and he would be forgotten in the midst of their rise to mighty power and love.
He rids himself of the thought - he knew Solace, and her loyal pledge to her country would far outweigh any of her desires. Perhaps he wouldn’t have to worry about her picking Smoak - perhaps it would be someone else.
(be my escape)
Svedka
@[Solace]
he wants her to fall in love just not with smoak i'm dying hahaha
Solace had studied her twins every gesture since birth. She knows that toss of the head, and with it, she can see the indecision flitting across his handsome face. She nods as his passes on his advice, oblivious to the nights chill as she leans against his side.
“you know yourself. If something doesn’t feel right to you, then you don’t pursue it.” He tilts his head, a soft snort leaving his nostrils. “What is Hyaline if her leader isn’t living the life she wants?"
It's not about me - the words appear in her mind, but her mouth stays closed. She could hardly see what she wanted as a strength, but she didn't feel like arguing something she is so unsure about.
She still isn't quite sure where he stands, his words almost contradict each other, but she is ready to let the topic rest for now. Her own feelings were so muddled that she had trouble even knowing what needed to be said.
Solace shakes her pelt and sinks onto her front knees, her haunches soon following. The earth is soft and she neatly tucks four white legs in close to her barrel, turning her face up to face her brother. A lighter mood has softened all of her features.
"Enough about me. What of you Svedka, have you see Smoak yet?" She laughs lightly with a puff of air from her nose, he probably would appreciate Smoak making his way back into the conversation.
"I saw you meet Corvus," Her voice is unconcerned and casual but her eyes search for any hint of deeper feeling on his face as she waits for him to finish her sentence. She told herself it was a good thing if her brother found a romantic interest in the kingdom - it would anchor him. But she acknowledges the small flicker of jealousy when she thinks of herself turned away from his side by hushed whispering voices. He was passionate, he had needs which a sister could not meet and it was better to e Corvus than some wild spirit who would take him away.
Svedka doesn’t try to hide from her - he never has - but he cannot help the curling that trills in his stomach as he attempts to keep his thoughts from his tongue; to sort them before they spew from his throat, taken aback by her confession yet also in dire desperation to wipe the sadness from her eyes. It is a contradicting feeling and it does not find his handsome face well, and the smile he gives her - though genuine and soft - is alight with indecision and uncertainty from the blue of his irises. They are still young and in the throes of learning life, though for Svedka it has always been a bit different. His mind doesn’t allow him to rest on such things - liking someone too much? - and instead beckons him to act upon the feelings instead of mulling them over (which has lead to Corvus, and perhaps might lead to other discoveries - good as well as bad). But he knows his sister, and he knows himself, and for the first time in their existence they are at a loss for discussion and stand silent for a moment beneath the pale winter’s moon.
With the smallest twinge of a frown flickering onto the corners of his simple smile, he watches her carefully as she lowers herself into the soft grasses of Hyaline. She has taken up more than Svedka would ever want to take up for himself - a crown and a title, living for the diplomacy and politics that come with leading a kingdom, and he wonders how long she has stewed over her dilemma, or how long she has carried this burden within the soft pulse of her heart. Without hesitation, the golden and ivory stallion joins her, folding his two-toned legs beneath him to lay beside her with a gentle huff as his body meets the ground. She is changing the conversation, diverting his attention from herself to him, and his nose wrinkles at her attempt.
He allows it for the moment; staring up at the moon and stars through the emerald strands of willow branches that swing gently above them in the night’s breeze.
“The night is long, Solace. And try as you might, we will not spend it only talking about myself.”
Svedka grins at her, though his cerulean gaze still fixed on the midnight sky. He has not forgotten her and he never will.
With a soft snort, the young stallion settles deeper into the grass, shifting his weight and making himself comfortable beside her. He lowers his head, chin nearly resting on a bent foreleg as his brow rises with amusement. Smoak. He is glad to see that her sister’s sense of humor remains, despite its dryness. “Of course - he stays near the ocean; suits him nicely.” His voice is warm with adoration for his longest friend, unable to let the idea of Solace and the bone-armored stallion deter him from his true feelings for Smoak. He could never detest them, he knows, and he hopes Solace knows this as well. It would be impossible to do so.
Svedka’s ears prick forward quickly as she mentions Corvus, a sly smile on her pink lips. He grins wildly at her, his eyes sparkling at the mention of the winged-buckskin’s name, his heart beginning to race. “Yes,” he admits softly with a twinkle of laughter in his voice (though it is hardly an admission for she already knew the answer), “he is still a mystery to me. He’s unlike anyone I’ve ever met - even with mother’s kin.” His gaze is out of focus as he finishes his sentence, trailing off dreamily with a sweet smile on his face. Not once did he consider Solace’s realization of their coupling (or how he found a male to stoke the fire inside him and not a mare).
Quickly, his eyes snap back into focus and clasp with the matching blue of his twin, a sheepish smile on his face. Perhaps she meant to bring up Corvus just for Svedka’s opinion of him as his position of Hyaline’s Protector, not as his lover. The golden and alabaster stallion reaches forward and nips playfully at the bronze of Solace’s neck, snorting softly. “I promise not to distract him from his duties to Hyaline, sister.”
He pauses, pulling away from her with a solemn and thoughtful expression. “Ah,” he says to himself with a nod, “that’s it, then?”
“You don’t want any distractions.”
(be my escape)
Svedka
@[Solace]
here is the NOVEL you didn't ask for.
<3
01-14-2018, 02:28 PM (This post was last modified: 01-14-2018, 02:32 PM by Solace.)
Solace
The cheeky smile which can usually be found on her twin's face softens into something docile and sincere, his eyes take on a dreamlike quality and she knows he is looking past, far past, the swaying limbs of the willow tree. Her suspicions were correct then, he and Corvus were lovers, if not in action at least in sentiment. She does not feel joy for him like a caring sister should, but she is not upset by his roundabout confirmation.
The young Queen remains silent as her brother elaborates on his feelings for her countries Protector, trying to remind herself that this is what she wanted for him.
His mind switches back to their earlier conversations as the direct comparison of his own situation to hers shines a new light on what she did - or didn't - want. "Yes, I think so. I can't have such a big distraction." She was already so different from all the rulers she had known and all the Kings and Queens who had woven places for themselves in the fabric of Beqannas rich and turbulent history. The differences between herself and Offspring, Nyla, Gryffen, Amet, all rulers she had herd lore of in Tephra, were vast in every quadrant. He age, experience, temperament, she had a lot to make up for and the easiest was she could think of to quickly elevate herself was to rid her mind of everything but her utmost priority - Hyaline. She knows if she tries to explain this to Skvedka he will counter her, argue with her on every point in the sweetest way possible, but she had decided what she has to do.
Maybe when she was older, she would learn balance - but for now, she needed to focus on the task Amet had trusted her with.
The sounds of nocturnal creatures fill the silence as she reflects on this, slow easy breaths of sweet night air soothing her and heightens the tiredness which is creeping over her now that she is resting comfortably in the grass. But an idea she has long thought over re-occurs to her then.
"Svedka," she says quietly, willing him awake if he had drifted. "How would you feel about a job, a role that's all yours. I've thought a lot about it, and I think it would suit you." Afraid he can say no to holding a position she continues, "Hyaline is a sanctuary, I'm not concerned about bringing in the best and the most powerful to fill our ranks. I need someone to travel, to search the Forest and the Riverlands for the lost and homeless. Those who are afraid to join armies, those who don't want to be alone anymore, they will be welcomed here." She smiles then, after hearing the words spoken aloud for the first time. "You can travel every inch of Beqanna if you wish, and when you are here, you just do what makes you Svedka - you make those who live here feel welcome and cared for." Her eyes search his, where she know she will find his answer before he speaks it.
"I think you would be perfect for that job, The Heart of Hyaline."
01-17-2018, 07:47 PM (This post was last modified: 01-17-2018, 07:47 PM by Svedka.)
the secret of our world is written in the stars
Her admittance is not what he had been hoping for, and the gentlest of frowns finds his pale lips. He had hoped that his realization would cause a relief upon her shoulders, for her to relax and quiet beneath the stillness of night, but there is no change - the rigidity remains, the unwavering of her light voice clear and precise in the night air. He presses his lips to her neck, a reassurance possibly, though if it was for himself or for her, he is not sure. He exhales a rattling sigh, his frown becoming a thin line. He knows that he cannot argue with her, for her heart simply could not allow her both at once - just as he could not be expected to join her in this diplomacy. He cannot fathom why she would abandon love for politics, but he also knows that she cannot fathom why would abandon a kingdom for the wildness and fire in his heart.
So he remains silent on the subject, and though the twins both know what the other is thinking, they do not expound on it any further - Solace made sure of that.
He feels like he has failed her, and his eyes are sad as she speaks his name, and then she requests something from him. He does not hesitate, however, to listen to her request, and her reasoning behind it. At first he is unsure as she describes the job (a job? He’d be no good, not for long anyway) but as she finishes and her voice warms at the title heart of Hyaline, Svedka realizes he must say yes - not because she is the queen, but because he knew he could not say no to his sister.
Svedka smiles at her, shifting his weight and relaxing by her side, all semblance of distraught disappearing from his face. “Of course, Solace.” He reaches forward to tug at a silky blue strand of her mane before nuzzling her tender-heartedly. “I just hope I’m a good representative for you outside of Hyaline,” he jokes, grinning wildly and chuckling into her familiar bronzed skin.
“Would you like me to take anyone with me, just in case?”
(be my escape)
Svedka
@[Solace]
You can reply obvi, but I'll get him up somewhere in the common lands soon. Consider him (& Smoak) on vacation in the wilderness
