"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
When he had first arrived in Beqanna all he wanted was to be someone worth remembering but it did not take him long to realize that if he did not open up his heart to others there would be noone who cared enough about him to remember him. His ambitions quickly turned from selfish to selfless.
The way Adria hardened herself to him and pulled away when he pushed closer made him realize that in opening his heart he would also endure displeasure. His chest tightened in disappointment as she laughed away his questions in a tight reply and continued on through the jungle leaving him to trail behind her while she answered only two of the three, the third being the most important to him in this moment. She was right in that he hadn't told her what he missed about her, but hadn't she quickly broken that tension, moving on to her remaining two questions?
He smiled that boyish smile for as long as she looked at him, but as she turned to keep moving his brow crinkled in confusion of where he and Adria stood in terms of a relationship. If she would have given him time he would have told her he missed how when she was around with out asking she simply demanded to be noticed in all her beauty, and how quick with words she was. He would tell her he had missed her intellectual insight into the world and how she always looked as if she was viewing the world from an entirely different perspective then everyone else.
He didn't say any of these things though and so he gingerly follows her through her home, listening. He could always just do that, listen. She talked of her plans of Ischia and how they needed alliances to grow, and of how she wanted to give her children the world. He smiled gently as he trailed her in response to the last.
His eyes which had been scouring the ground just behind Adria's heels flutter softly to her sandy mane. Of course, the flower he had tucked there from their first meeting was no longer there. It had undoubtedly wilted away to the forces of this world, but in a final attempt to place himself somewhere in her heart his dark blue eyes wandered around the jungle bed landing softly on a large, pink and orange hibiscus. Jakub side stepped off the path Adria had been leading him down, ducking and weaving beneath more low limbs and viens to reach down and gently pluck the flower from its resting spot. He came back around the other side of the tree hoping to tuck it softly into her sultry tresses, I hope you know you will always have a friend in me his voice comes out soft and languid, and as for your children, I have no doubt you will in fact give them the world
Beside her, behind her, Jakub did not care his position as long as he could watch her conquer the world herself. He chuckled softly, I really would like to take you up on your offer of a vacation here with you, but something tells me you'll be quiet busy yourself soon. So, why don't you ask me one more question to match my three. I'll answer, I swear, and then maybe you can give me a hint to my third question? Before I have to leave. he landed in a lazy pool of filtered sunlight as he turned to talk. His dark blue gaze swam with gold and green rays as he watched her.
Only a friend? Adria thought, turning her head to feel the way Jakub’s lips planted a flower into the whorl of hair behind one ear. Again he surprises her with how deceptively gentle he could be, given all his changes. His mouth might’ve been twice the size but it knew how to be soft and it still remembered the shape of her forehead. She blinked up at him, golden eyes warmed by the gesture and now twice as entrancing with the added beauty of her hibiscus flower.
He was leaving, then.
Friends couldn’t stay and pick hibiscus flowers daily, just to light up her face.
She understood.
It was what you wanted - what you needed right now. Adria tells herself, even though the idea of Jakub leaving so soon after only just arriving tears at her feelings. “You may be part bull,” The Nereid shakes her tired head, finally leading them to thick weave of jungle trees. Molded together after hundreds of years living side-by-side, a ring of smooth-bark trees had intertwined its limbs together around a small, freshwater pool. At the base, the roots were so tight that a passerby couldn’t see through, and the trunks themselves prevented anything larger than a foal-sized creature from squeezing past.. “but you’re persistent as ever.”
Rather than letting it go, she turned to him and smiled. “Fine. Here is my question: what will you do when someone stronger than you comes along?” Would he keep going to the mountain and trying to change himself? Would he give up the things that made him who he was, just so that one day he might be the one deciding who to conquer and destroy? Would he ever be happy with himself? She doesn’t ask.
The little mare waited by the edge of the forbidden pool for the promised answer, watching how Jakub’s leathery black hide absorbed the light around him. He wanted a hint, and she wanted to see his true character.
Oh my love, don't forsake me; Take what the water gave me
08-25-2019, 08:45 PM (This post was last modified: 08-25-2019, 08:46 PM by Jakub.)
His heart aches in all the goodness and beauty of Adria. The flower he'd placed amongst her mesmerizing mane pulling a warmth to her eyes that he had longed to see since arriving. A delicate smile painted his lips, an unexpected look to contrast the harshness of his changes. His ardent eyes watched her as she continued moving, stopping their journey by a small, hidden pool of water. The confined space of the small opening should be an intimate space for intimate moments, but Jakub couldn't help but feel a tension of mixed emotions in this particular moment. When the question slips from her lips, he can't help but feel a squeezing in his chest as he stops to contemplate the reason behind her question and his answer.
He had not gone to the mountain with the intentions to find absolute power over all. Though he supposed wanting the ability to protect was an exertion of power over whomever was threatening those he wanted to protect. His brow fell at the thought.
There are always going to be others who are stronger than I am. I've come to accept this with all of who I am. I don't envy them or wish to be stronger than all. I have watched power and strength destroy the very essence of those who hold it. his father's face blazed hot and horrid against the inside of his mind. He had become obsessed with power, always scared that someone would come along and rip that power from him. He had shunned his own son from his herd for that very reason.
My only intention is to use what the mountain found me worthy of to protect the innocent, and those I love. his blues wrapped in confusion, pain, honesty, and love all at once as if willing her to believe him. The heat from his body encased the clearing where they stood, small beads of sweat coating his black hide. A shiver ran down his spine as an unexpected cool breeze found its way across his back. He took a small tentative step towards Adria.
He dreaded the moment that would ultimately come when he ended this visit and went back to Tephra. Something about the way she seemed to hold him here and push him away simultaneously broke and mended his heart all at once. Looking at her was like the first moment he had laid eyes on Tephra, home. She was home to his heart, and he knew the moment he'd leave he would yearn to turn back and find her all over again. This is how it would be forever, he thought, always her.
