"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
The earth had rumbled beneath Altissima’s hooves and she had not worried until Tarian came to get her, back earlier than usual from his patrol. The look on his face had been enough for her wings to appear and to follow him into the air. Coherent thought was impossible, everything was a complete mess of confusion, until they were in the air and watching as Loess crumbled and sank beneath a sea that now divided the continent.
Panic was not a feeling she knew well but it settled thick on her as she hovers there for a moment, watching the muddy waters churn and begin to settle. Gone are the rock-formations, the hot springs, the glowing flowers that he had named after her. The cave where their children had first opened their eyes and the spot where she had said she loved him for the first time.
Eventually Altissima leads him east where they land at the edge of the forest. Instead of meadow turning to trees, there exists now a shoreline. Across the water, she can see the hazy presence of Tephra and its volcano.
She stands close to him, removing her wings so she can press a little closer. Her voice is quiet, unsure - not her own, in other words, but her mind is still trying to catch up with what exactly had just happened. “The twins left Loess earlier today to explore. Winter’s looking for them now.” Her owl companion was swooping through the woods and wouldn’t rest until both had been found. Altissima feels the worry for their children like a knife twisting in her gut and her eyes are a pale blue with her sadness.
Loess had only been her home because of the stallion next to her, and she grieves its loss for his sake. “Tarian, I’m so sorry.”
11-30-2021, 09:03 PM (This post was last modified: 11-30-2021, 09:08 PM by Tarian.)
The first time a change like this came into Tarian's life (something cataclysmic, something catastrophic), he hadn't even been aware of it. His brother had lured him out to the Common Lands and Tarian had followed his twin because Liam lacked the common sense of his elder sibling. What Tarian had considered his responsibility had shifted to something else entirely by the time that they had been reunited with their parents and grandmothers and a few remaining members of the vanished kingdom. It had been whisked away by a magical fog, a stirring that shifted and altered the land so much that when they followed the trails they knew by heart back to their home, it had only led them in circles and then back to where they had started.
The second a change like this had come, it had been in Liridon. Tarian had already lost his birthright, left behind his family, so that when that change came, the gray warrior had nothing left to lose. His world changed had again and it altered him little.
This time - the third time that a change like this has come into his life - he has more to loose than he ever has before. The Earth beneath his hooves had shuddered and groaned and then finally, began to break apart in a way that he had never seen in all the worlds he's lived in. The former Champion did his best to tell the horses fleeing Loess to run, to give directions out of the Southern Kingdom. Had he still been a soldier, he would have stayed until the last moments, waiting for the panicked stragglers.
But this time (selfishly), he doesn't. There had been no time to wait and he just went, racing and rushing to find Altissima and their children. He had found her, but there had been no sign of their son and daughter. They had to go, or they would have been lost as well. He had known that, something leftover from his past life knew to push away the shock and overwhelming sensation of crippling fear until the danger had passed, and he had known that they had to keep moving.
Tarian still can't quite begin to believe it; that this morning before his patrol, they had been in Loess. That they had all been together.
"We'll find them," he says hoarsely, coming to stand beside the blue-sheened pegasus. Her wings are gone, but Tarian sweeps his nearest one lightly against her bare side. Are you alright? he wants to say, but given their circumstances, it seems like such an impossible question to ask. They had just lost their home, the place where they had begun to build a life together and all of that was now beneath the churning sea. "Do you know what direction they went?" he broaches instead, "Were they together?"
The hoarseness of Tarian’s voice is another twist of the knife. He would always be a knight, a champion, no matter what, but these thought feel a little silly to say outloud - she has no idea whether they would even be comforting to her.
When his wing brushes against her side, Altissima leans her body into Tarian’s, quietly encouraging him to drape his wing over her like they have done so many times now. Like this is just any other day where they have a few moments to themselves. Instead of the day where everything seemed to be falling apart.
She almost wishes they would talk about Loess instead of their children, wishes for a way to distance herself from the turmoil inside of her heart. But she finds herself answering him anyway. “Areane left first, and Starros a little afterwards. They went towards the forest, so…” Her head turns slightly to glance behind her, thinking of the vastness of the continent to the east of Loess. Some part of her itches to join Winter in searching but a colder, more logical part tells Altissima she would be too frantic - she might overlook the pair altogether.
Hopefully Areane was within these trees, animating leaves and twigs, and Starros was in a clearing somewhere as he often is, playing with light.
Even just standing here, her heart is still racing from the escape and from her nerves. “I didn’t know I was capable of worry.” A quiet, nervous laugh escapes her as she turns back around, brushing a soft touch against Tarian’s silver neck. And she knows, though she doesn’t say it, this worry exists not just for the twins but for him as well.
12-07-2021, 07:59 PM (This post was last modified: 12-07-2021, 08:02 PM by Tarian.)
The way Altissima leaned into him felt like home.
Loess was the closest physical place that had ever come close after losing Paraiso, and now that too was gone beneath the angry, dismal sea that crashed below their hooves. Tarian looked off into the distance where the tallest parts of Loess still emerged from the newly-formed ocean, and his blue eyes lingered on the red peaks before turning his pale face towards the pegasus mare beside him and lowering it into the warmth of her light blue neck.
This was home for Tarian, and knowing that she was safe beside him untied one knot of worry. Hearing that their children had left before the catastrophe and had headed towards the Forest untied two more. Tarian exhaled, letting loose a breath that had held all his tightly-wound fears (though others still remained; what had become of Lady Oceane and her family? What of Ashhal? The other former residents of Loess?)
Her head turns, and Tarian lifts his, glancing in the same direction Altissima does. "Good," he says more to himself, a verbal affirmation of everything that his mate has already said. Tarian had never wanted their children to travel too far outside the borders of Loess, but this time, he has glad that Starros and Areane had heeded more towards the wandering nature of their dam. That instinct could have very well spared their lives, and not for the first time, the gray pegasus is grateful that their offspring took after their mother than him.
There were still hours of daylight left, and as Tarian battled his concern, he said, "They will come back this way." The earth shakes might delay them for a little while, and while he shares the strong instinct to go searching for their twins, he reminds himself that Starros and Areane knew the landmarks and the trails returning to Loess well despite their young age. "We'll be waiting for them here when they return." He states, pausing to graze his dark muzzle against Altissima's slender cheek, a touch of simultaneous comfort and support.
"And then we'll -" he murmurs, before becoming uncharacteristically unsure and pausing. This isn't the first time Tarian has been without a home, and he knows that this is true for Altissima as well. But what of Starros and Areane? "Is there somewhere you would want to go?"
She relaxes a little further when Tarian speaks of a plan - even if it is one that involves them staying still, it feels good to at least have some sort of structure. She leans into his touch on her cheek, feeling the comfort radiate through her body. Of course their twins will come back here, thinking that they could head their way back to their cave in Loess once the day was over. She would prefer to have them here for her own peace of mind but she couldn’t begrudge them a day spent carefree in the woods or the meadow and river beyond.
And then there’s the question of what next for their little family?
Though she had once resisted all attempts to grow roots, she now felt differently. She’d changed enough to feel no relief at the possibility of returning to her constantly wandering ways. Having a home meant having somewhere Areane and Starros could come back to after they were finished exploring, it gave them all a guiding star if they were out in the world. For Altissima, that was the stallion standing next to her - it was him that her heart was pulled towards. And she had come to like having somewhere she would be sure to see him.
“I don’t think so. Pangea… it doesn’t hold the same darkness for me as it once did but it’s not a very pretty place.” All canyons and stones and hard trees. Spending time with Litotes again had soothed over those old wounds but she still didn't think that was somewhere she'd like to live.
“Maybe somewhere tropical.” Her eyes deepen to a darker shade of blue as a smile forms and she twists enough to tug on Tarian’s grey mane as she adds. “No snow.”
01-17-2022, 07:20 PM (This post was last modified: 01-17-2022, 07:21 PM by Tarian.)
Their twins are on the forefront of his mind, but they are their twins.
They are the children of a wanderer and a champion. Tarian worries for them as any parent might, but they are the children that he shares with Altissima and he knows that they have instilled them with all the skills necessary to make their way in this world. They might wander as their mother does, but he doesn’t doubt that they have her fight and ferocity against this world. Their children will be alright.
But the thoughts of Starros and Areane also bring about other questions.
What will he and Altissima do in the interim? Where will they go? Do they venture into another kingdom, or do they make the best of their fortunes in the Commonlands?
Speaking of Pangea reminds Tarian of his imprisonment there, but he could begrudge the kingdom it’s history for his mate. For the pale woman beside him, there was little that Tarian wouldn’t do. For her happiness, if she wished for it, he would even try to resurrect the lost country of Loess (if that's what she wanted).
”Does that mean no Icicle Isle?” Tarian jests gently against the lovely curve of her neck that moves towards him. His voice comes out warm despite the chill of the place that he speaks of. ”What do you know of Tephra?” the pale pegasus quietly asks. ”It’s not far from the Common Lands,” the former Loessian continues (at least not now). ”It could offer us the safety of a kingdom and we should be able to keep watch for the twins.”
A small huff escapes her at the mention of Icicle Isle and she exaggerates the shiver that runs through her, using it as an excuse to press a little closer to him. Any attempt at feigning annoyance is easily dismissed by the shine in her eyes, mirroring the warmth in his voice as he had teased her.
He mentions Tephra and she thinks of the lush green jungle with some hope. “A little, I’ve explor-” She cuts herself off, head turning back towards the woods behind them. An instinct, even though what she is listening to is only inside of her mind. The last of the tension eases out of her and though Altissima doesn’t doubt Tarian will understand what that means, she doesn’t hesitate to make sure he’s as updated as she is. “Winter found them. They’re on the other side of the woods, near the meadow.”
Their family was safe. There was no telling just yet of the others - they were nothing but vague figures to her anyway. Important in a sense because they were important to Tarian, but the members of Loess she cared about had now been accounted for. She would not hesitate to search for the others if he asked her to help - it just would not be something she would even think to do.
Back to happier thoughts - like the warm Tephra air she had used to escape the first bitter winter after the eclipse ended, when she realized how much the cold terrorized her.
“Tropical would be a nice change. Lots of sunlight.” The air shimmers around them, reflecting off of the murky water still thick with the dust of Loess. Would it ever settle, or would this channel be tinged red and brown forever with what had been lost?
She isn’t really thinking about that though, as her mouth traces a line across Tarian’s skin. “Do you think you’ll still glow beneath the jungle canopy?” Altissima asks quietly, a grin growing as she tilts her head up to the nearby trees, pretending to be focused on them or imagining their denser cousins on the western coast.
There are weights of entire worlds that are lifted off his winged shoulders when Altissima speaks. They had been speaking of Tephra and it’s jungle, trying to formulate a plan of what they would do once they found their twins, when the pegasus mare says that they have actually been found. Tarian had tried not to show his worry, but when she says that Winter has found them in the Forest, all of it comes to the surface and then vanishes in the close proximity of his winged mate.
For a moment, with that particular worry gone (though it would remain for what had happened to Cheri and Lady Oceane and the others), Tarian was able to simply bask in the knowledge that their family was safe.
With Altissima still so close, the silver pegasus counts his blessings into the lovely blue sheen of her mane. He would have gone anywhere she asked; but Tephra was warm and rumored to have a tropical climate. Tarian knew little of that kingdom himself, but if it suited her and she had no objections to that place, then it would suit him just fine as well.
”I hope not,” he manages to mutter and even finds an easy smirk, despite the ordeal they had just endured and all the unknowns that remained. But they would collect Starros and Areane, and then together, they could all move ahead.
@Altissima please forgive me for taking so long <3 throwing up a quick closer here before getting a post up in tephra
![[Image: willowsticker_by_space1993_ddeo27s_small.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/Rq5q2nVX/willowsticker_by_space1993_ddeo27s_small.png)
