"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
Spring comes to the mountain kingdom suddenly, while Solace sleeps. Mid-morning, she awakens, slipping from Svedka's side without a sound to find that where snow had been when dusk had fallen there were small rivers of water running down the mountainsides on their dancing journey to the lake.
'I sleep in once and miss the arrival of spring,' she grumbles internally, and she shakes a furry of loose white hairs from her pelt. But the young queen cannot remain displeased for long. The sky is clear and the sun kisses her face in a way which warms her thoroughly for the first time in months.
So, when she finds Hyaline's newest member by the crystalline waters there is a pleasant look on her face and an extra bounce in her step.
"Goodmorning Ilma!" Solace calls as she crosses the bank to stand by her side. She notes the beautiful curve of the pregnant mare's sides and the scent of the common lands, distant yet lingering on her skin. "I'm glad to see you decided to stay, have you been settling in alright?"
To Ilma, spring does not come when she sleeps. She is awake all night, thanks to the one afternoon spent with a certain man. The baby is growing fast; and a foal that is almost ready to be birthed kicks often - and this night, rather wildly. So it is a little dazed that she waggles to the lake; heavier each day, she is clearly unable to fly, but she hopes that sometime soon, that is an ability she can practise once more. Perhaps, she muses, she will then have the time to talk to Solace some more, as the other mare is often patrolling through the skies.
After taking a drink however, she realizes that she does not have to wait for the bright pegasus mare. Solace comes to greet her, telling Ilma she is glad to have her still around. The winged femme grins, pointing her nose downwards in a gesture to indicate the heavy belly. "I wouldn't be going anywhere anyway, but I wouldn't have chosen for this one if it would not have a good home." she explains. She nods at the latter question. "I've not met with everyone, I think, but Kagerus and Khaedrik are always interesting to talk to." Okay, to be honest, Khaedrik is more interesting in the dubious, he's a weird guy maybe, kind of way, however, that does not mean that Ilma doesn't like him. In fact, she has a soft spot for those who fall to the sidelines easily, and would rather talk to them than the ones that present themselves to her easily or with too much confidence.
@[Solace]
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.
Tucking away her wings over her golden topline, Solace brings herself to stand alongside Ilma facing the lake.
She is relieved to hear that Ilma has managed to meet Khaedrik, he had a lot to handle for one so young and the boy needed as much one on one attention as he could get. Not a boy for much longer - she thinks - he will be a yearling soon.
"Next you will have to meet my twin, Svedka. He's a free spirit though," she shakes her head with mock frustration, "sometimes a little difficult to pin down."
A comfortable pause settles over them as Solace takes several steps into the lake, dipping her muzzle into the clear water to drink. The water remains chillingly cold and when she is done she returns to the bank with a shake of her head and neck to clear the droplets from her muzzle.
Settling into a comfortable stance once again, Solace's features take on a quiet curiosity. "Is this your first?" She asks with a nod to the white mare's barrel. With spring approaching and her close friend also preparing to give birth, pregnancy had been on the young queen's mind more than ever before. But she had been afraid to ask Kagerus too much because of the less than ideal circumstances.
03-21-2018, 03:18 PM (This post was last modified: 03-21-2018, 03:19 PM by Ilma.)
A little breeze goes a long way
The white female sometimes wonders if Khaedrik had liked to talk to her at all, if she could pull him back to the living and the light just a bit or if that was something that had annoyed him in retrospect. She did not think Kagerus would like her little brother to be so withdrawn, however, so she would keep on trying whether he liked it or not. On the topic of Kagerus, to be honest she had not seen her much lately. Perhaps she had a better relationship with the father of her child than Ilma did, that was to say; any relationship was better than none at all. Most of the time, at least.
She watched Solace’s face when she mentioned her tein brother, and chuckled. ”Sounds like I’d need to be quick to catch up on him. Is he one of those that travel a lot?” she asked - Solace had mentioned as much when Ilma first came for a visit last summer. She was not quick right bow by any means, but perhaps she would be able to speak with Svedka when he next returned.
She steps aside just a little to give Solace the room for her drink and most importantly for her to shake the droplets away. When the blue-winged female turns back to her, she looks genuinly curious and finally asks a question that Ilma feels perhaps has been on her tongue for some time. She smiles, and gives a nod. ”First one of my own. I have some experience with raising siblings and other mare’s babies, but to birth one...” she shakes her fur. ”It’s exiting and scary at the same time. I love them, but I also wonder ehat they’ll be like. I haven’t seen the father since fall and I wonder if he even cares if he had a child.” A bittersweet smile follows. Deep down she had known from the start that Ashhal had not been interested in anything else than just the act of reproducing rather than the product itself which would undoubtedly follow.
@[Solace]
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.
"Yes, he is," Solace confirms with a hint of sadness in her voice. When Svedka was gone on one of his many adventures she couldn't rest easily - not like when he was safe under his willow tree. The young queen never truly understood why her twin could not be satisfied by their vast mountain home, but she had come to accept it. "You will know if as soon as he is back," she says, and the thought brings the light back to her eyes. "He never met a stranger."
Solace settles back onto one hip as Ilma begins to answer her question. With the sun on her back, she is comfortable enough to spend the day like this - chatting and enjoying the fresh air along the lakeshore. But in the back of her mind (very far back) she listens for the call of newcomers or the distant thunder of hooves.But that doesn't mean she isn't paying full attention to Ilma's answer.
Exciting and scary at the same time - that was a feeling Solace understood well.
"I have a feeling you will be a great mom," she says with confidence as Ilma's smile grows bittersweet. "And you got us to help out too," she adds, extending a blue wing to brush along Ilma's alabaster shoulder. "I would be happy to take your little one around on my morning patrols anytime you need your space."
Ilma recognizes an almost similar expression as those of her own in Solace, when Ilma tells others of her siblings and her little sister most of all, with whom she shared a more special bond than with their brothers - they were, after all, boys and they'd rather run off somewhere else than spend time with their family. Not that she could blame them; as twins they always had shared their experiences, one never far from the other, and they had always had enough attention between the two of them that their parents or older sister, just weren't that interesting.
Her foal kicks; they do that nowadays. It tells her that birthing will not wait much longer, they're turning around or maybe they already have. Ilma's not sure, but her mother always told her that the baby was moving around in her belly to find the exit. But when Solace talks, she distracts Ilma from the small pains the baby gives; she smiles as she sees how Solace speaks well of Svedka, even if they may be so different.
She's happy that Solace offers help, of course. She'd be insane not to. "That would be very appreciated. Sometimes, I already think they want to annoy me, by keeping me awake or finding a great spot for a kick." she shakes her head. "They may become a handful."
@[Solace]
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.
