"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
Her body is healing after the ordeal of birthing triplets (although one was born rather unconventionally, already wielding her magic) and Solace can once again enjoy her mountain patrols.
But as the dawn breaks, flooding the dips between the mountains, the Caretaker has another goal in mind. She follows a well-worn path which skirts the steaming lake, looking for a flash of alabaster among the overgrowth of summer. It had been too long since she had last spoken with her faithful Ambassador.
With the gravel crunching under her hooves Solace continues this way, walking until she has traced half the lake. She takes her time, noticing the little changes that summer has brought to Hyaline, and the new trails the growing number of children have created and discovered. But the scent she has been searching for is finally found. Halting, the gold splashed mare lets out a low nicker.
It is a soft noise, and not very urgent - just enough to wake a watchful mother but not enough to disturb a heavy sleeper.
And there's a lesson waiting to be learned the firestarters always get the burns and the good guys never get the girl
The white woman stretches her wings in the morning sunlight, happy to have regained them once more. With every passing day she grows more confident in the fact that they will in fact reappear with the sun, but every night she doubts this fact when they disappear. Just like her feathers being replaced, you could never know if all of a sudden, some god or fairy had decided to take away this gift as well.
She usually recides away from the children - not that she doesn’t love them, not that she doesn’t like them - but because of the noise they make. Well, one of them doesn’t, for which she’s glad. But really, triplets... she shudders at the thought. Apart from the body-wrecking Solace must have gone throughcarrying and birthing them, just the idea of having to handle more foals than two one-on-ones could manage made her feel overwhelmed. Although, once again, she had found herself looking around the adoptions den, meeting a very fierce girl in there. Ilma had immediately decided Hyaline was a better home than the adoption den, of course.
Her own two foals grew brighter every day. Though Tähti had been set back, that didn’t mean she was any less smart or inventive for it, something Ilma greatly appreciated. As well as the fact that Kagerus had spent so much time filling her belly in dreams. Even though she had had more children to care for.
Which brought her mind back to Solace. Her two pregnancies had caused her original queen to retreat, and Ilma wondered if she hadn’t been doing the same thing herself. In a different way maybe, although she was up and moving herself more recently, once more.
Thinking of Solace and her pregnancies however, also lured her mind to a corner she had not dared visit for a while - the one where Nymf, Faellyn and Svedka resided. That man had a tendency to just vanish for travel and return whenever suited him, and she couldn’t help but worry. He had to return soon enough right? It would be a shame if he only met Fae after she had long since grown into adulthood. Not to mention the fact that she missed him herself, but, she couldn’t ever begin to be selfish around him.
Her mesmerizing of this morning brought her to a slow walk, towards the lake, and ultimately the now-empty wisteria tree. Now wait a second, that wasn’t what she was supposed to be doing. Shaking her head, she looked out over tree and lake, trying to empty her head but ending up filling it. Ah well. Perhaps it would be good to travel back to Ischia soon, and Nerine maybe also. She hadn’t seen Breckin in a long time, and she wasn’t one to say she knew the Nerinian queen Wishbone well.
Her thoughts were finally interrupted by a soft nicker - Solace. Funny how her thoughts could pass over the queen and apparently summon her that way. Ilma smiled, and, seeing that the queen had come alone, nickered back to her softly. If she needed some time away from her lover and her kids, that was totally understandable after all. Perhaps that was enough distraction for Ilma, today.
and shooting stars cannot fix the world
@[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.
Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything That's how the light gets in ...
Before Solace's soft call has time to echo Ilma appears on the trail ahead. Their trajectories meet under Amet's old wisteria tree, drawing up the Dragon King's image unbidden. As an adolescent, Solace had spent countless hours under these gnarled branches, washed in lavender light and absorbing the golden stallion's every word. He held a place in her heart next to her father, and she often compared her actions to his own.
Solace shakes her neck, her tri-colored mane flipping from side to side as she does, and any tension she had been holding fades - along with her thoughts of Amet.
"It's good to see you again." Solace extends her pale muzzle to her ambassador as she settles next to the trunk of Amet's tree. Relaxing into one hip, her cerulean gaze flits over the space where Ilma's new wings rest. "I see you got an upgrade," she says as a smile pulls at the corners of her pink lips, "I had heard you had sunlight wings, but they are beautiful to see."
She waits for anything her companion may have to say, savoring the quiet morning and time spent in adult conversation without five little ones clamoring at her heels. She doesn't know that they both are keenly, and silently, feeling Svedka's absence - but perhaps if she had not have been so preoccupied with her own small herd of young. But her thoughts soon return to kingdom matters before the topic can be discussed, specifically Hyaline's relationship with their southern neighbor.
"How did your recent trip to Loess go? Were you able to meet the new leader or find out what sort of neighbors they will be?" Solace's expression seems to somber with the change of topic. Loess had always been a quiet land with fluid leadership and little continuity, she never knew what to expect. But Ilma's diligence had not gone unnoticed, and Solace knew she could trust the white mare's report and council.
And there's a lesson waiting to be learned the firestarters always get the burns and the good guys never get the girl
The moonlight-figure with a sunlight addition smiles at Solace approaching. She dips her head, but stays silent, leaving her queen be until she's finally gotten over the no-doubt lingering questions and voices of her children. They share the silence, unknowingly to one another agreeing on one thing; if it's not gold under this wisteria tree, then leave it empty.
So she doesn't enter yet, and enjoys the sunlight instead. When Solace finally finds words to add to the scene, it is a compliment. Ilma smiles at her friend, but shakes her head. "They're more fickle than feathered ones. Not every day is bright enough for flight." As she closes the distance, the tree's shades dim the light on her back as much as their surroundings. But Ilma doesn't mind at the moment, is clear on her features.
The moment is peaceful, and she doesn't want to break it too much, so she refrains for a moment from everything else her mind is at - Ischia's planned war, Loess' change of attitude, the lack of information she seems to get from Tephra. But ultimately, Solace wants to know, and so she asks about Loess.
Ilma thinks it over a moment, which should say something in itself. "Well enough. I met with Lepis, who is now their Cleric, sort of an Ambassador herself I believe. But I don't know that I like them as close neighbours. Wolfbane's idea is novel - every year, he opens his kingdom for one alliance, with the highest bidder. On one end, that severs the old tie with Sylva, but on the other..." Well, Solace would understand her doubts, of course. There was no building a lasting, steady relationship with a neighbour like that.
"I asked Lepis to think of a solution - agree to never attack from our directly shared border, or let us know whom they have contracted with at the very least. She seemed more hesitant to work with me there, than I had hoped. I believe that she thinks we are no threat to her, and thus that she doesn't need us as much as we need them." The point was, she was mostly right about that, the sanctuary kingdom was not known for invasion. She mused at that. There was one option - to do just that -, but it was risky and probably uncalled for. She looks back at Solace. "So either we tweak that image a bit... or ask one of our allies to do it for us... or settle with the idea that again, there is no alliance with Loess." she sighs, ears hanging back a bit. There was not win-win situation in any of this.
and shooting stars cannot fix the world
@[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.
@[Ilma] I'm so sorry this is really just a crappy dialogue dump and took way too long. I need to pack and won't be back till Monday and wanted to just get it to you D:
-------------------------
Solace listens carefully as her ambassador speaks. Her features remain composed for the most part - and only once does a small snort escape her. When Ilma concludes she finds her voice, cool and level, but tinged with disappointment - but it was not disappointment in Ilma.
"For now, I believe we should simply wait," a brief pause as she watches to see if the other mare's thoughts show in her features before she continues. "I am curious to see who will hire them next year... contracted or not, if they move against Hyaline they will find these mountains are hiding great strength."
"We will continue to watch all of our borders carefully, and we will treat them with respect in any meeting, but no member of their kingdom is to wander Hyaline unaccompanied from now on. Not if they can be so easily bought and sold. We will never be able to trust them it seems, for even if they are allied with us for a season, the next could find them using any information we have given them against us. But I am not concerned enough to offer any preemptive offerings to these pirates." She puts a little extra emphasis on that last word with a sharp nod to the south.
But the Caretakers blue eyes are softer when she once again turns them onto her ambassador. "There is something else Ilma," she begins. "Thank you for being so diligent over these last few months, for visiting the field and adoption den and for your work as an ambassador too." Solace doesn't make excuses for herself, and she doesn't think she has to explain to Ilma why she had been less than the ideal queen in the final months of her pregnancy.
"If anything were to happen to me and Kagerus... you are who I would want to be running things around here."
And there's a lesson waiting to be learned the firestarters always get the burns and the good guys never get the girl
The marbled white mare smiles a little at Solace's words. Perhaps patience is a virtue she could still work on, and her recent exchange with Breckin in the field had her believe that she would be able to find out Loess' new contract details on her own. A cease-fire; not something she would like at the moment, but perhaps if Solace talked to Wolfbane, there could still be something worked out. She agrees with Solace's decision though, they should not go un-watched. To Ilma, the blue-winged pegasus is the best example, and she tries to be a worthy ambassador to her even though sometimes her patience snaps a little earlier than Solace's.
But it seems her queen does not think it to be so. Perhaps it's just oneself being the most critical reviewer of oneself. When her friend and queen begins to thank her for her work, however, Ilma shakes her head. "There's no need. I'm just doing what I can for Hyaline to go on as a sanctuary." Getting word out that they are still here, is just as important as keeping the ones within their borders safe, and she had been promoted to her position a little early, to which Ilma can only try to be worthy.
But Solace's next worse take her completely off guard. Blinking and staring, the white mare doesn't know what to say for one moment, but then she smiles and pulls her queen into a small hug. "You know I'll always care for Hyaline, the same way that you do." It's her only true home, after all.
But then she takes a step back and eyes the other woman suspiciously. Caring for the kingdom also means caring for it's members, and leaders, in her own opinion. "So, tell me. What are you two planning?" Either it's something dangerous, or they think of running away into the sunset, but whichever, it'd be better if she knew before it happened, than figuring it out after several days of waiting around for them.
and shooting stars cannot fix the world
@[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.
