there's fire in your blood
 | At least Mazikeen does not have to pretend with this sibling, which is something of a relief. There’s no game to be had, no entertainment to be found in keeping up the charade of Gale being who he had once been. Or who she had once been, for that matter.
It’s easier to talk to someone who she didn’t know before - who didn’t know her. Who couldn’t dredge up memories and emotions she could not connect to anymore.
She is curious, though not enough to ask, how that meeting with Gale went in Hyaline. The next question draws out a sliver of a smile. “Not as much as one might hope.” Mazikeen pauses for a brief moment, debating whether to continue or not, and deciding there’s no point in holding her tongue. She had never been very good at doing that anyway, in any of her lives. “We’ve been shifter-only since before the eclipse and I think our reputation may be deterring casual visitors.” Gale’s reputation, she supposes - a little bitterness curling inside of her. The plans for fire and chaos never seemed to actually happen as they allow themselves to continue to be distracted, as they spend time in Hyaline ignoring the rest of the world.
She wants more, craves it, but she doesn't mind how little her kingdom is bothered. The visitors are rarely interesting enough to even chase out and when they are, it is not enough to ease her restlessness.
A small frown's worked its way into Mazikeen's red-orange eyes and she distracts herself from her frustration by asking another question - shifting the topic away from the brother she knows very well to the one that had initiated this conversation. “Do you live with Reave in Nerine?”
m a z i k e e n . |
@ Aela
but does it even feel like fire at all?
It's funny that Aela knows so little of her paternal siblings but she knows much more about her paternal (great)-grandmother. Or at least as much Heartfire would show her. Her blue roan relative wasn't always forthcoming with information, and often, Aela was left on her own to figure out the former Nerinian's cryptic meanings.
But she did know some things: her father had been her actual grandchild. There was always a sense of loss lingering around the deeper memories, an ache she had once felt permeating from Lilliana. It was a void, a gaping hole in the soul that would eventually fill where the love of a child should have been. She had learned that her father had once been a King (which suited Aela well enough, better to be the spawn of a royal rather than a nobody).
And though Heartfire never said it, Aela knew she had been fond of the blue-and-gold palomino that sometimes emerged from the haze of the past.
She doesn't understand why she has so many siblings though. Not just through Wolfbane, but Lilliana as well. There was nowhere that Aela could go where she didn't stumble upon a relation - or somebody who had known either of her birth parents. For a young mare who aspired to make her own name, it was frustrating to constantly be compared to the chestnut former Guardian of Taiga, the winged once-Lord of Loess. And it was even more aggravating to be compared to a passel of siblings that she hardly knew, let alone acknowledged.
Gale was one of the few - an exception to her rule of ignoring the others - that Aela claimed.
Having a dark menace as a brother might have its uses, and she intended to use that to her advantage as she did everything (and everyone) else.
She listens curiously as Mazikeen mentions that Hyaline was open only to shifters, that it had been that way since before the Eclipse. The gold-striped mare isn't one but she admires a purpose. Something she had learned from Straia. Too many lands claimed to be a sanctuary, a haven.
From what?
Her recruits for the Pampas have been brought along with a similar ideal. Those that reside in the Flower Court are to be among the brightest across Beqanna, the most powerful and the most beautiful. They will either have a use or they will have no home among the wildflowers. "It must keep the Northerners out," Aela says at last. She says it in a way that implies while Maze want visitors for Hyaline, she would not want those from the North. "They harbor an old hatred for shifters."
Aela holds Mazikeen's burning gaze, listening as the horned mare asks about her other sibling.
"I don't," she says, and snorts softly, while a scowl forms. It had been her grandmother's home - and now Reave - and for them, Nerine was the only redeeming part of the North. "Too cold," she says with a shrug while her delicate ears flicked back. "I live in the Pampas," Aela continues on, "much warmer."
And more importantly, no brothers.
They doused your soul in water,
but the flames raged higher.
And they called you devil's daughter,
such a pretty liar.
@ Mazikeen
there's fire in your blood
| Speaking with Aela, Mazikeen has the uncomfortable knowledge that she would have liked the palomino mare in her former life. It would have been easy for affection to grow, fed by the scowl and the way those blue eyes meet Mazikeen’s burning gaze without hesitation. Now, a hesitant sort of appreciation grows instead - Aela slowly being placed in the category of those that Mazikeen would not like to tear apart with her claws.
The mention of the Notherners causes a spark to brighten her gaze even further, a small quirk of a smile forming though there is little warmth in it. “I’ve noticed. Nashua is no longer welcomed in the east at all because of that nonsense.” While Mazikeen could certainly understand having a little bit of reservations about the Curse and all it could do, Nashua’s reaction continued to baffle her. Gale was clearly the preferred host, why would there be any harm at all in Bolder being able to shift?
A few of Mazikeen’s glowing markings appear on her skin as she thinks about Bolder’s distress and how he hadn’t found support in one of the places he always should have.
The Pampas is an unknown land to Mazikeen, she can vaguely remember a blur of colour as she had flown across Beqanna and is sure it must be near Tephra. Aela’s earlier annoyance at the mention of her brothers emboldens Mazikeen to not linger on the subject of homes, but rather return to what they had been. So an amused glint appears in her red-orange eyes when she mentions next “Did you know his son is a shifter? Nashua seems to be under the impression that Gale and I have corrupted the boy.” And now that amusement forms into a short laugh. “Ridiculous, isn’t it?”
And her tone suggests that they both know it is far from ridiculous, inviting Aela into this private joke comes easily.
m a z i k e e n . |
@ Aela
but does it even feel like fire at all?
The news that her elder brother is no longer welcomed in Hyaline is surprising, but Aela welcomes it. Her striped sibling has always strived so hard to be perfect, and the palomino knows that why she doesn't fall in line with his ideal of "family". She was the one who made their mother sick while she had been in Pangea. She had been the one who broke Lilliana's heart when they had been separated. And when the former Guardian had gone missing during the Eclipse, Aela doesn't doubt that Nashua blamed her for that as well.
"You do understand why?" Aela counters to the horned mare. She assumes that she does; there are enough scars across Mazikeen's hide to reveal that he was not an easy beast to live with. Gale might be the Cursed one now, but its previous host had left a deep distrust of outsiders and shifters in the North. Her elder brothers had never apparently spoken of their sire, but what little Aela did learn, she found rather interesting. "Our father apparently became a little... unhinged."
Not that it meant all shifters did. Aela found the thought as ridiculous as Mazikeen did. One of the most brilliant (and brutal) minds that Aela knew belonged to a skinwalker; she had never found the blight of madness in star-marked Skandar.
What Mazikeen says next is another surprise, and it bursts out of Aela in a peel of bright laughter. Her brother's child, a shifter? Her blue eyes glittered, full of dark humor. "Oh, that is rich." The slender mare mused to this companion, and then gave her pretty head a slight toss. "But how perfect." She grinned at Mazikeen with a sideways glint in her gaze. This was the child that had been taken to Hyaline? She speaks the truth next, "I'm sure he will fair much better with you and Gale than he would have done in Taiga."
Which brought her to her next question.
"Neither of you have anything to do with the missing Guardian, do you?"
They doused your soul in water,
but the flames raged higher.
And they called you devil's daughter,
such a pretty liar.
@ Mazikeen
there's fire in your blood
| Mazikeen’s only response to the mention of their father is a shrug - Gale had told her of Wolfbane, back when he had wanted her to know the truth - back before they both weren’t what they are now. As far as she was concerned, it didn’t matter and didn’t excuse Nashua for his behaviour towards his own son. For a moment she wonders if Aela is actually making an excuse for her brother - perhaps the familial ties are a little stronger than the palomino wants to believe - but if the palomino is looking to get into an argument over the matter, it’s of no interest to Mazikeen.
Those red-orange eyes shine in response to Aela’s burst of laughter, a small grin of her own appearing. Bolder would fair better with her and Gale it was true. The boy had come to no harm at all, had even chosen to stay of his own free will.
For a moment Mazikeen isn’t sure who Aela asks about next, that sliver of a grin easily turning into a frown. It isn’t long until she recalls “guardians” were what the leaders of Taiga had been calling themselves. So Yanhua was missing.
She’s actually a little disappointed that neither she nor Gale had anything to do with it. What did goat taste like?
While she considers whether the hair would be a bother, she answers Aela's question simply. “No. Yanhua was there when we took Bolder - he was… well, he seemed unhinged. Thought we were there for a surprise party and he had a chicken on his head.” Mazikeen shakes her horned head, her hollow grin returning. “I wish I was making that up.”
Truthfully, Mazikeen hadn’t even given Yanhua a second thought since that night.
There's a slight pause, her gaze never wavering from the other mare, before she decides to offer up a piece of the truth. “It’s only been Bolder and the retrieval of our son from Tephra.” So far goes unspoken. Hardly threatening stuff, especially if you ignore the other part of the truth - that they had, too rarely for Mazikeen's tastes, taken to hunting their own kind. But since she didn't know the names of their prey, it hardly even seemed important enough to mention.
m a z i k e e n . |
@ Aela
but does it even feel like fire at all?
Aela watches the horned mare carefully, wondering if the mention of why her eldest brother might elicit some kind of reaction. At least, the kind that might give way to any source of knowledge about the Curse. She had found the stories about the brutality and destruction it left behind rather thrilling, but Aela knows that many do not feel the way that she does; they would rather be ordinary and cling to the vestiges of a calmer, duller life.
But not everybody dreams as Aela does, dreaming of waking this peaceful land with a savage shake of Magic.
The slender palomino listens - intrigued at what Mazikeen reveals about Yanhua - and her delicate ears prick forward, glinting gold in the sunlight. She mentions that the Taigan Guardian had become unhinged as well, and for a moment, Aela thinks there might be a chance of salvaging something from her mother's weak blood. Her tall and angular sibling could be quite lethal with those mighty horns, and his great bulk would certainly be an asset if she could sway Yan to her side. That dream dies, though, as Mazikeen mentions that rather than sharpening those lethal antlers or honing his fighting abilities, the other twin has disappeared with a chicken.
"I wish you were too," Aela mentions to the other mare, as the blue interest lighting her eyes deflates. But, perhaps, the information that this shapeshifting creature has given here might be useful. It's easy to imagine how Nashua - aching at the loss of his son, already furious with Gale and Mazikeen, already biased against shifters and vulnerable where it regarded their family - might react. She tucks the information away for later, pleased at the image taking shape in her mind.
She continues to listen as Maikeen reveals that not only have they stolen Bolder, but their son (who for reasons unknown) had been in Tephra.
Was there more to their plans? Did they intend to pluck children from the monarchies across Beqanna to foster (force) an Empire?
"It would seem I owe you a debt," Aela says, deciding to broach the question from another angle. "That tidbit about Yanhua and his... pet should prove to be rather useful later." A small insight to her own plans, and perhaps Mazikeen might reveal a little more. She doesn't think that there is any love lost for her other brother, Nashua, with this mare. Perhaps she might even find some enjoyment in knowing that Aela intended to taunt him with it.
They doused your soul in water,
but the flames raged higher.
And they called you devil's daughter,
such a pretty liar.
@ Mazikeen
there's fire in your blood
| Mazikeen’s grin turns into a quiet laugh when she thinks she sees disappointment in Aela at the mentioning of Yanhua and his chicken. How sweet it was, not to know her relations. Where her father was she wasn’t sure and Mazikeen had made Agetta not to visit any more after her mother found her broken by the lake. Any siblings were hazy faces, scattered meetings. Long before Gale had carved her into something new, she had been wrapped up in her own world - the family she created in Hyaline.
“I think I’ll enjoy being owed a debt from you.” Aela with her sharp eyes and similar views on her family - it hasn’t taken long to see that the palomino was an interesting mare and would undoubtedly be a good connection to have.
What use did Mazikeen have of favours and debts, though? This is the first time she’s drawn herself out of Hyaline in a long time, and she never did have an interest in playing politics or alliances. She didn’t even bother with the other lands connected to Hyaline - more than content to leave them alone so long as they did not bother her.
She is unaccustomed to this game and undecided on whether she should care to play or not.
It would be foolish to brush aside Aela’s offer but Mazikeen cannot quite stop the way her eyes dance and the corner of her mouth twitches when she adds “But any information that would ruin Nashua’s day is free.”
m a z i k e e n . |
@ Aela
but does it even feel like fire at all?
Aela has very few friends.
There are those that she considers confidants: Obscene and Reave certainly fall into that category. Their small court in the Pampas is filling up with the aspiring and ambitious, and knowing that the two often make a lethal combination, she considers very few of their courtiers more than experimentations in Magic.
But she finds that she rather enjoys Mazikeen.
If she were the type of mare to have friends, the fire-horned mare would have gladly been one. But there is a deep mistrust where it concerns her kin and the Alpha's relationship with her Cursed brother extends that suspicion to her as well.
"As you should," the Seneschal tells the Hyalinean Queen. Her grin turns wry. "Very few enjoy them."
She spends the rest of her time trying to describe Nashua as best that she knows him; a hypocrite who proclaims family and then cast innocent souls such as herself and Gale out. He divided his time between the Isle and Taiga and the striped pegasus was constantly in-between places. And then at the very last, she reveals the Freyr's more tender weaknesses: "Mention his losses. I hear that he's been... struggling with his grief."
The rest should easy enough for a skinwalker like Mazikeen, she assumes and then smiles, envisioning all the ways that the pale mare might tear her brother apart.
They doused your soul in water,
but the flames raged higher.
And they called you devil's daughter,
such a pretty liar.
@ Mazikeen
|
