"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
And there's a lesson waiting to be learned the firestarters always get the burns and the good guys never get the girl
Home.
Every time I walk into this kingdom, every time I go back to the Cove, I cannot help but have this feeling that Hyaline is still more my home than the Cove will ever be. It is a temporary move, we told ourselves, but I cannot take root there so well. That is why I’ve been to Tephra, the Field, to Loess, to the Forest (my new child’s father doesn’t know yet that our meeting had been so fruitful), the Meadow… everywhere but the Cove. Not because I did not like the place, it’s just not the same.
I’m pretty sure my queens feel somewhat similar, but reason says the Cove is safer. Safe from a sickness that I should have caught by now, but do not have symptoms of. At night I worry about my baby girl, wonder if she’ll be born sick like little Miela, but I cannot give in now. It will not matter; I’ll find a healer if it’s too bad, I’ll raise her in the Cove for the weaning period, where she will have a chance to grow stronger.
But it’s a sense of hope, of gold beneath the wisteria tree, that made me pick today to walk back into the lake-centered kingdom. I know not to expect my old friend, my would-be, should-be lover, but Amet - the other gold beneath the tree. The kind Solace had hoped to see again one day, even if we both also want to see her twin return.
I know of Amet through the visit of a nereid, who had asked for him, for a Jah-Lilah - and I had had the sense back then of history repeating itself. Because Solace continued what he’d started, and had done so well, in a way he would probably have been proud of. Surely he would have told her so when they last spoke again. She had appointed him ruler besides Kensa; a replacement for the lion man that Kag had decided could no longer rule Hyaline when he had attempted a steal and had gotten himself stolen in return. To my knowledge, no effort was to be made to reclaim him, but I know he has had visitors.
But really, with Castile ruling instead of Vulgaris (men I both knew, though I had my doubts about both their tempers sometimes) I did not think Litotes was in such a bad place. I also wonder, should he return here, if he would still fit in with us.
Amet’s a good choice, having ruled here before, having had an excellent eye for who should follow him. And I trust Solace’s decisions about appointing him ruler again.
Left me to say I had been lacking and should have introduced myself months ago.
Now, my pregnant body moves through the winter snows I know so well. No way I’ll lose my footing in this pass, not now and not on my way back.
I know my white, somewhat dreamlike appearance will not help me get attention. Sometimes it does, but in the Cove and in the snow-capped mountains, I simply become a part of the surroundings. That’s not a bad thing, because I don’t crave attention like some others; it gives me space and time to listen in before I move. But now it means I’ll be making the call. I don’t have to call out loud, knowing my warm voice will echo far enough to be heard near the lake, and that’s exactly as far as I want my voice to carry.
and shooting stars cannot fix the world
@[Amet]
Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this: men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.
Beneath the naked boughs of the lakeside wisteria tree, the gilded akhal-teke revels in the noontime sun. It's not as warm as he would like it to be, but his dragonhide offers ample protection from winter's icy chill and, despite the current snow that blankets the earth, the winds bring signs of spring just around the corner.
His nostrils flare at the promise of soon-to-be-budding tree boughs, at the scent of melt from the mountains ─ and then, the crisp mountains carry him the scent of an unfamiliar visitor. Amet lifts his gold and bronze head high, sleek neck outstretched as his bright amber eyes scan the just-barely frozen lake and its snow-painted surroundings. As if on cue, a call rings through the mountains and into the heart of the valley. Ever the attentive Primarch, the dragonhide stallion immediately sets out in the direction of the echoing call, his long legs eating up ground and kicking up clouds of snow as he lopes swiftly in the direction of Hyaline's newest visitor.
It doesn't take him long to find the alabaster pegasus, his honey eyes alighting on her pregnant figure in the distance on one of Hyaline's most frequently used paths. This one leads back to Silver Cove by way of Pangea, and the thought of having a visitor from one of the other Eastern kingdoms settles a warm smile upon the stallion's handsome face.
"Good afternoon, friend," he greets her kindly, with a warm shine to his eyes. Slowing his gait until finally he comes to heel a few yards before the white woman, Amet presses his ears forward and dips his narrow head in greeting. "Welcome to Hyaline. I am Amet."
His nostrils flutter and find the familiar scents of Kagerus and Solace on her pelt ─ both whole-heartedly welcome. "I hope that things are well in the Cove? Perhaps we can find somewhere the snow is shallower while you visit ─ back towards the lake, shall we?" His eyes search hers with interest, genuinely hopeful that she has not come with bad news from the Crown of the East (though her countenance does not betray any negative omens), and instead that she has simply come to visit Hyaline, the true apple of his eye.
And there's a lesson waiting to be learned the firestarters always get the burns and the good guys never get the girl
It doesn't take long for someone to appear: not Kensa, this time. I didn't really expect her to be the first, having picked up her scent so frequently in the Field. I know she works hard to make this place a home for everyone - which leaves the other Primarch to be the one greeting visitors, I see.
But that suits me well - it's him I wanted to get to know. As he greets me, I dip my head slightly. "Amet," I acknowledge, "I'm glad to finally meet you in person." I give him a smile, then nod to his question. "The Cove is steady. I've not come for business today - if an ambassador is ever really off duty," I add with a shrug, but then walk with him - slowly, as my body is ever heavier, but steadily as this is not the first time I've set foot here, not even with a pregnant belly.
"I'm Ilma," I tell him on the way, "I've heard others speak of you with high regard, so I couldn't help but be curious if you'd meet up to the expectations." I'm teasing him, I know, and he probably knows too. But nobody ever said one'd have to be all-serious in being a diplomat.
and shooting stars cannot fix the world
@[Amet]
Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this: men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.
Amet chuckles easily at her lighthearted ─ and entirely truthful ─ comment about diplomacy. He can't remember the last time he'd had a conversation with someone, outside of Jah-Lilah, that did not have him watching his tongue or carefully planning his words. Even when one does not have any ulterior motives, thoughts and feelings can be so easily misconstrued. "Ah," he starts with a warm and guileful smile, "Well, to give you a break then, I promise to forget anything anti-diplomatic that you may say today." His words trail off as they fall in step beside each other, Amet making sure to give the woman an ample amount of room to comfortably situate her heavily pregnant belly and the wings that alight on either side of it.
She introduces herself as Ilma, a name that is vaguely familiar to the dragonhide stallion, though he cannot place where he had heard it. More likely than not, Kagerus had mentioned her the day he had visited Silver Cove, or Kensa had named her in passing. Regardless of where it was, the gilded stallion knows he had never heard anything ill of the alabaster mare who walks beside him now and he is immediately comfortable in her presence.
"Ilma," he says with a sly side-eye, "It's nice to finally put a face to the name."
She goads him playfully and the Primarch of Hyaline responds with gentle laughter, his ears fluttering delightedly in her direction as they continue their leisurely walk further into the depths of the sanctuary land. "No pressure, then, I suppose?" he asks with his lopsided grin before tossing his forelock from his eyes and regarding the pegasus woman with faux-bashfulness. "Well then, hit me with your best shot," he tells her playfully, curious of what truths she seeks in this visit to the crystalline lake.
And there's a lesson waiting to be learned the firestarters always get the burns and the good guys never get the girl
He’s charming, I have to give him that. Perhaps that’s why the Sanctuary, after all this time, became a succes; from what I heard from the nereid mare, it had been too dependent of Nerine in the past. Now look at us; more horses in the Cove and mountains together than perhaps are in the rocky kingdom. Speaking of which, I intended to visit them some time ago, and my pregnancy may be withholding me, but I shouldn’t let it for much longer.
I chuckle lightly at his jest about un-diplomatic words, and find myself at ease around him. At his mentioning of putting a face to the name, I raise my brow slightly. ”I knew I should have visited sooner. What in the world would Kag have told you, I wonder.” I smile though; I know my best friend and my queen (I can’t help but to think of the ruling pair as such, since that’s what they were when I first came here) and they would never speak ill of anyone behind their backs. More likely they mentioned me as a council member; a council that unfortunately doesn’t meet often enough it seems. I’m not too happy about the loss of Litotes to Loess, especially given the past when it was me who nearly got stolen. But Loess is a political subject, and frankly I don’t want to talk about it too much right now.
”I’ve heard you led this place before Solace, and that Brennen had named you it’s leader after being a subkingdom of Nerine? Or am I messing things up? It’s been a while and I never heard it firsthand. But I wonder if we live up to what you envisioned all those years ago. If perhaps our current course is what we were meant to be, of if we’ve strayed.” Politics after all, then - but I just don’t know if ruling over Hyaline and Pangea from the Cove, is really what we should be doing. If we wouldn’t be better off with just one small kingdom in which we can better keep track of our subjects, instead of stretching ourselves thin. Because honestly, I’m not so sure any more by now.
and shooting stars cannot fix the world
@[Amet]
Any fool knows men and women think differently at times, but the biggest difference is this: men forget, but never forgive; women forgive, but never forget.
