"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
Wrapped in magic and exhausted from the war, she stays underneath the flowing magma for days. She can feel the earth warm around her and then cool again in response to Brennan’s magic and her fractured mind slowly begins to piece itself together again. As she dreams, she reaches for Vulgaris, trying to find his subconscious but she continues to come up empty handed. Where, before, she had been able to find him in her dreams, this time, she finds only the darkness. She finds nothing but the abyss.
And her mind reaches a crossroads because of it.
She could go one way and find her way back to her old self. She could discard the magic into the soil of Tephra and emerge as the quiet, mild woman who mothered children and healed strangers.
She could go another and find a new path entirely. She could cling to her magic and emerge as a warrior; she could take vengeance on Loess for the description they wrought and her losses because of it.
In the end, she chooses neither.
Something within her hardens, the pain calcifying in the pit of her stomach. The rest of her continues to flow around it, pieces of herself breaking off and blooming in her chest. She clenches the agony of losing Vulgaris until it becomes a knife that slides into her ribs and pierces her lungs. She solidifies herself around the ache, wrapping herself around her heart until she can no longer hear the scream of it.
When the days have passed and the magma has hardened, her eyes finally open.
They are no longer golden and they no longer glow; instead, they are as white as the ash that continues to fall from the sky. Above her, the ground begins to crack open, splintering as the bubble that she has been wrapped in begins to float upward. Within seconds, it blossoms open and she stands in the middle of it.
The sky above her is stone grey and the volcano lies dormant. The majority of Tephra lies quiet and sullen, the ground beneath her thick with the same ash that continues to float through the air. The flowers in her hair are no longer the crimson orchids they were before but instead are clusters of white, small and delicate. She takes a deep breath and turns her gaze outward, to where the rest of the land waits.
She can feel the faintest beat of her heart in her chest and in it, she knows that she can feel the wound of Vulgaris that still bleeds, the self-loathing that rages, the mourning for the damage caused. But she closes herself off to it. Her mind hardens, her heart retreats and she focuses instead on what she can manage.
Beneath her hooves, flowers begin to blossom, emerging ashen through the cracked, cooled magma.
She would rebuild.
Queen of the ashes. But only for now.
This is taking place several days after the war thread and everyone can continue to respond to that. I am just impatient and have zero chill. Anyone who wants to come back to Tephra is welcome to reply. <3
The volcano had been quite effective in ending this war, at least amongst her lands. Jakub had impatiently waited for days to pass, finding shelter among Sylva trees where the portal had dropped him just out of reach of the magmas grasp. He stayed close however, never wondering far, his eyes scanning at the border for any movement or life amongst the destruction.
His body had started the slow, agonizing process of healing. The gash on his withers already scarred over from the healing help of a mare he never got the name of. He sure hoped she had gotten away in time. His coat was burnt, hair singed, and blisters forming where the magma had the pleasure of swiping her silky fingers along his back. Anger, sorrow, and self defeat had festered in his mind while he waited. His mind had become a symphony of emotions and thoughts, good and bad. He needed to become stronger, he had tried to protect the innocent when a man with power had swooped in looking for easy prey on those who had none. He had failed, knowing full well he would have died had the stallion not been distracted by something more immediate and left.
Jakub watched as the magma consumed his home one day, ashes falling in a deep blanket the next, and the magma hardening at last. The landscape before him he almost didn't recognize to be Tephra. Trees charred down to the smallest of trunks, new craters filled with hardened lava speckled the ground some small and others large enough for beasts to spring from. Jakub walked softly across the border, back to his home. As he went he left a lonely trail across the white, ashy ground. The only sign of life in this now barren land as he made his way to the center of the kingdom.
Jakub stopped short as he rounded a patch of charred but standing trees, his ears perked at the sound of cracking ground. His body tensed preparing himself to run the other direction, the muscles in his withers hurt as they quivered with energy. He would stand and fight if by chance the Loessians were still here to pick off the stragglers that survived, but the need to defend was replaced as he watched his Queen ascend through the hardened lava at the base of her volcano. He waited on the outskirts, close enough to watch, but far enough that he did not intrude. After a few short minutes flowers began to bloom, spring up around his feet and racing across the lands of Tephra. Our queen has been reborn, and our land will follow.
Jakub moved slowly but fluidly across the land, his scarred and charred body mirroring the destruction that fell here just days ago. He came to a stop in front of Lileana, "My queen," he said dipping his head in loyalty, "I am glad to see that you have risen from Tephra's belly. I am sorry that there has been so much loss and destruction brought upon our home. But, you have already begun to rebuild her to the beauty she is. Tell me how I can help. I do not have abilities, or power of great magnitude,"he knew he was at a disadvantage, one he planned to change soon enough,"but I am sure I can be of use" Jakub's midnight blue eyes reflected the white of the land, and of his queen as they sparkled with energy and emotions not yet placed.
SO GIVE ME HOPE IN THE DARKNESS THAT I WILL SEE THE LIGHT 'CAUSE OH THAT GAVE ME SUCH A FRIGHT
She sleeps and dreams underground, cocooned in his magic to keep the hardening magic from hurting her. Not so far away somewhere near Tephra’s shores, he floats and dreams. His mind brushes against hers, remnants of how close they’d been when they shared power, and his dreams are intermittently invaded by the players in hers. So he knows when she begins to stir, can feel when her replenished magic mixes with his and she rises to the surface, his bubble gently breaking open and dissolving back into the aether.
He’s a little slower to rouse, reluctant to leave the powerful embrace of the ocean. As a winged creature he had never been one to particularly enjoy swimming (wet feathers being something for which he had a complete disdain) but after water became the element through which Brennen channeled magic, his feelings had changed. Now, he is intimately familiar with all of the waters of Beqanna. But in the end he is more interested in his great-something-granddaughter and so he lifts off from the water, gliding over the ash and ruin until he spots them below, Leliana with the trail of flowers and the boy he vaguely recognizes from the fighting.
Ash lifts from the ground in pale puffs where his hooves touch down and he swings his dark head around to survey the damage as he walks over to them, and there is sadness in his bright eyes, but it’s not an overwhelming feeling. Magma is natural, in other cases, and clears away old growth to make room for new. It could have been much worse, had the volcano erupted by itself at a time when the land didn’t have two active magic users there to shuttle everyone to safety. He glances at the young stallion briefly, but not dismissively – he’s committed him to memory, evaluated him, and turned to Tephra’s Queen.
“I don’t believe we were actually introduced,” he drawls, a quick little half-smile forming and then just as quickly going, though the warmth in his eyes does not fade. “I’m Brennen.” He does have questions – an insatiable curiosity – but for now, he keeps them to himself. He’s much more interested in becoming personally acquainted with this member of his family.
BUT I WILL HOLD AS LONG AS YOU LIKE JUST PROMISE ME WE'LL BE ALRIGHT
She doesn’t expect them to come, but they arrive anyway.
She turns her milky gaze to the one who arrives first—the young boy who was so new to the land and yet threw himself into the war like a seasoned fighter. He bled for Tephra and fought for her and there is a piece of her heart that warms at the sight of him, injured though he may be. “You have already been so helpful for Tephra, Jakub.” She knows the path before him is long and winding and that there are ghosts that live within the corners of his mind, but she has faith that he will find his way.
“You will be promoted to Beta of Tephra. I expect you will rise further than that soon enough.”
She has a Council to fill, after all, and she knows that he would show himself to be one of the most loyal of Tephrans in time. Still, he asked her a question and she doesn’t intend to just answer him with riddles. Instead, her depthless gaze moves to the horizon, past the stone sky where the light filters through the ash as it drifts down. When she brings it back to him, her gaze remains unreadable. “We have need to ensuring that our members are safe and remain unharmed. Do what you can to check on them. Find those that were sent elsewhere in the battle and bring them back home, should they wish to come here.”
Her lips remain neutral on her face, neither curving nor pulling downward, but there is a faint warmth behind her milky gaze—a shadow of the woman she had been before the magic took root. She feels the flowers blooming around her feet and she pulls the magic from the ground into a single golden light that she sends his way, wrapping it around him and healing the wounds that she can find, sinking into his flesh.
“Call to me when you find someone in need of healing, and I will be there as soon as I can.”
A pause.
“I will be listening.”
But her attention is snagged on the other magician, disrupting the ash and folding overlarge wings by his sides. She feels something flare in her chest—a recognition, an intimacy that she would never have imagined possible. But that was the aftermath of sharing someone’s magic with them; that was the glow of knowing someone’s own heart in such a way. “Brennen,” she breathes, and it feels right on her tongue, as if she had said it before. “My name is Leliana.” She knows that he knows; just as she is sure that she knows their connection. But it feels good to still use more conventional methods of communication.
Her eyes find his, just a crinkle of something that fades as quickly as it arrives.
“You didn’t need to help us,” she finally whispers, “but I am eternally glad you did.”
05-22-2019, 08:57 AM (This post was last modified: 05-22-2019, 08:58 AM by Jakub.)
Jakub watched as the bay pegasus made his way from the water towards them, the same powerful feeling of something at works within that Jakub felt from Leliana radiated from the pegasus. Jakub had spent enough time in Beqanna and Tephra to know that feeling was magic, literal magic. He took the bay in committing him to memory and giving him a small nod.
Leliana pulled his attention back, the whites of her eyes showing something that could maybe be described as fondness. You will be promoted to Beta of Tephra. I expect you will rise further than that soon enough. she said. Gratitude found a small home in Jakub's heart, for being recognized for his actions. His stature and expressions stayed focused however as she asked him to find the other residence of Tephra and make sure they were okay.
A small golden light pulled from the ground around his queens feet and Jakub cocked his ears in curiosity as the warm light wrapped its self around his withers, pulling out the deep ache that stuck around the last few days, and smothered the blisters that were forming across his body. Jakub's eyes shined with anticipation as her magic filled him with an energy that had been slow to return and released him to get on with his job. He gave the dappled bay mare, his queen, a low, deep nod. "Thank you, Leliana. Those that are injured will be first, I promise. I will find the others and tell them how Tephra holds firm. This is our home, it is our duty to help each other rebuild and to rebuild her." With that Jakub turned to the stallion he now knew as Brennen and gave him a departing nod, "I know I can count on you to keep her safe, not that she can't hold her own." he said finding the milky white eyes of his queen on last time. Jakub could feel the familiarity between the two others pass in the space they all occupied, and with that comfort he turned towards the wooded edges of Sylva and was off.
She isn’t sure if a war waged by Beqanna’s own inhabitants had ever been so destructive.
When she returns to Tephra, even she is surprised at the level of ruin. She has lived through many wars, and many of Beqanna’s changes. She has felt the earth quake and swallow lands and magic, and she has quivered in anticipation when they released were again. She has witnessed wars that severed alliances and twisted swords of distrust deeper into the chests of those that participated, but she cannot recall there ever being a time that this had happened.
With her newborn daughter in tow, they return to the aftermath of the war Aislyn had been born during. Charred trunks of trees sit black and haunting, with hardened magma blanketing where the path of lava had flowed. She still has not accounted for any of her other children that lived there; Evenstar, and both sets of twins. She quiets her worry by telling herself that they had not hung around Tephra as frequently anymore anyway, having grown enough that they no longer needed her. It was highly possible they were all safe, and perhaps were blissfully unaware of what had become of their birthland.
She has no way of knowing that in some distant corner of Tephra, where the scattered white dragon scales still glitter and glint when the sun catches them just right, are the only things remaining of one of her daughters.
Her nearly black eyes scan the desolate land, and that is when she finds Leliana, and another. “Come along, Aislyn,” She says with a sideways glance to the little girl that trailed behind her, and obediently the black and white filly picked up an awkward trot to catch up.
When she approaches the duo, her gaze shifts between both of them, but she lets her eyes drink in the face of the stranger first, and with a smile whispering at the edge of her lips she says to him, “I’m Ryatah.” Aislyn hugs tightly to her side, her bright pink eyes watching Brennen and Leliana, and when her mother finishes her own introduction she offers in her high, childish voice, “My name is Aislyn.” There is a boldness hiding in the girlish trill of her voice, but her newborn shyness quickly overcomes her and she ducks to hide her black and white mottled face into Ryatah’s side.
The stark white mare brushes her lips idly across the top of her daughter’s baby-curled mane, but her attention is on Leliana when she lifts her eyes. The delicate lines of her face are drawn and taut, her eyes so dark and somber in comparison to the newly-ashen ones of the Queen’s. “You did everything you could, Leliana. I hope you know that.”
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