"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
It’s no one’s fault but her own, though. She had signed herself up for the peace competition (hoping, just hoping, that it would convince her to stay in the kingdom of her birth) and ended up the Salaam of the Valley. She should feel honored but she was only chosen because she was the only one to show up. She was not chosen for her wit or her ingenuity. Not that she is witty or creative; she is shy and she stutters and she has no idea how to have a real conversation.
This is going to be… interesting, for sure.
The Valley has been the same as always, as far as she can tell. She has no idea what it looked like back before the earthquakes shattered the kingdom, because she’d been born among them and they were all she knew as a foal. Shifting earth and falling trees were an everyday occurrence and the landscape of the kingdom was ever-changing when she was a child. The earthquakes eventually stopped and the kingdom healed (slowly, as the Valley always has) and Cress has left. Eight had left a bitter taste in her mouth, even as a child, and she had no desire to live there with him ruling as King. It just didn’t seem right to her.
The one thing she cannot stand is the silence. As a child the wolves were always there, always constant. They were the guardians of the border, the vicious pack that protected the kingdom from strangers in return for a home. There were always rumors that one of the wolves, the leader of the pack, was really a horse hidden in wolf form, but no one had any proof of it. Just days before the earthquakes began, the wolves vanished. They left the kingdom without so much as a parting howl and it is one of the reasons that Cress feels so ill at ease here. Someone should bring them back.
She is so lost in thought that she almost doesn’t hear the newly-named King approaching, but it is hard not to notice him when a wave of emotions that are not hers suddenly washes over her. She shudders, trying to block out the other’s feelings, but she has no control over her empathy yet. The traits was just… shoved upon her as well as her position. He’s probably coming to speak with her about the diplomatic future of the Valley, but Cress has no idea what to tell him. “I hope you know that I am going to crash and burn at this,” she says to him, her eyes tracing his vibrant jaguar spots. He’s handsome and he’s young; no wonder the Valley accepted him to rule without much question.
He has potential. Maybe she does, too.
“So should we be planning diplomatic visits to other kingdoms?” she asks, cocking a hind hoof as she relaxes. “I honestly have no idea which kingdoms are strong enough to ally with or not. What about you?”
09-10-2015, 09:08 AM (This post was last modified: 09-10-2015, 09:09 AM by demian.)
@[Cress]
you say I'm crazy, but I think I'm freaking amazing.
I had been searching for the golden colored girl when I finally came across her under the forests canopy. She was nervous, clearly, and with a soft chuckle I stepped up to her and closed the distance with a few fluid steps before tilting my head in curiosity. "Ah, but I think you will do just fine, Cress." My words are spoken with honesty. For I had come to understand over the years that nobody was ever truly ready for a leaders tasks, even if they were naturally born to take hold of such things. The nerves would always be there, especially at first. And the questioning of oneself was a natural thing to do. "You may not be ready, or have been... But this is your time to shine and prove to yourself that you will succeed. If anyone else were meant to be up there, they would be."
It is important to be encouraging. The valley needed members with confidence. Those who could hold the pieces together as though they were the glue. The leaders, they would become the foundation of their kingdom, holding the members together and driving them towards their success. And cress, well she was the start to that foundation. It wasn't me, for all I was, was the man seeking to start the valley in the right direction towards building up to the great kingdom it had once been. And once I got it started, it would of course be up to them to continue that and do the rest. For eventually I would fade into the distance to watch them grow. For my intentions were not to stay here forever.
I may not be the typical type of valley king the rest of Beqanna expected, but I wasn't meant to be here for long. I would stay just long enough to do what I had set out to do and then I would most likely fade back into the distance once more. "That we should. It's important we get a start on this. We have waited far too long." Though I hadn't been on the throne for very long, each minute continued to tick by and soon the other kingdoms would start to get curious. It was better for them to get the head start before the whole of beqanna began to notice that the Valley was stirring.
"And well, for now we have an alliance with Chamber, but we must make sure where we stand with them. I'd like us to keep our alliance with them and we need to see if they're needing us to do anything in order to keep it that way or if they're fine with previous terms. They are a strong group in Beqanna at the moment and it's important we stay on friendly terms with them." I did agree with her on seeking out the strongest kingdoms to make allies. Pressing my lips together I look away for a moment, letting the different kingdoms slowly shift through my mind. "I would also like for us to consider the Amazons as allies. They too have a new queen on the throne and this would be as good of a time as any to seek one out. Changes can bring two unlikely sources together, and we are in need of their strength while we rebuild."
"I would also say we should tread lightly with the deserts. Caution is a good a word as any. The valley has become enticing to a few of their members recently and their queens can't be too happy about that." My shoulders roll in a slight shrug before I quirk my lips to the left in a thoughtful expression. "The rest I don't know much about. I'd like us to go in groups and talk about the kingdoms with their members. See who are open for allies, treaties and truces. Speaking of truces... Maybe we could work on one with the Deserts and then potentially build up from there... Not right away of course though."
I choose not to tell her everything, simply because a push in the right direction was all the girl would need. After that I knew she would get the hang of it. All it really took in diplomacy was practice and a peaceful and positive mindset. And Cress was of course, like the rest of the Valley, full of potential. And like I saw it in the others I saw it in her.
She hopes that one day she has the calm and collected composure of the king standing before her. He is fully confident in his ability to rule, unshakable and powerful. She is the polar opposite of him, doomed to fail and, eventually, pass her title onto someone who is actually worthy. She’s done nothing to prove that she’s ready to lead an entire caste; she’s done nothing to prove to herself that she’s got the ability to carry out her position successfully. She isn’t confident and she doesn’t know which words go where. She doesn’t know how to do diplomacy; she’s nervous just thinking about it.
‘I think you will do just fine, Cress,’ he says and she smiles half-heartedly, because how could he truly believe that she’ll do just fine? He doesn’t know anything about her, just her name. He doesn’t know the kings and queens in her pedigree (in fact, neither does she; she only knows of her parents) or the fact that both of her parents failed in their jobs—as parents and as rulers. Their names probably aren’t even remembered much anyways, with the new generations constantly coming in and taking over. Oxytocin’s rule seems like it was so long ago, when in reality less than a decade has passed since he has been seen.
“You seem to have a lot of confidence in someone you hardly know,” she tells him, this time a smirk crossing her face. She feels herself calming down as she draws in a deep breath and she tries to relax her stiffening limbs. If he can have so much confidence in her, maybe she needs to instill some of it within herself. She’s going to be fine; it’s not as if she has an entire kingdom to run like he does! She doesn’t want it, either, and she hopes he knows this. If she can prove herself as Salaam, it’s where she would like to stay.
“The Chamber is a very strong kingdom,” she agrees. “I believe a group of diplomats have already set off for the Chamber to speak with Straia; I will leave them to that, as to not interrupt.” One less kingdom that she has to travel to. She wouldn’t mind, but the fact remains that there are only four other members of the peace caste; they will all have to travel a fair amount to visit other kingdoms.
He speaks next of the Amazons, and she nods. “The Jungle is always a strong kingdom to appeal to, and perhaps the change in leadership in both kingdoms will convince their new queen that an alliance,” she muses aloud, lost in thought. The warrior women of the Amazons have always been an intimidating force in Beqanna and their strength combined with the Valley’s building energy could be powerful. “I will travel myself to the Jungle to speak with their new queen, Lagertha.” So many changes are coming to the world, and Cress nearly trembles with the foreshadowing of things to come. She is no warrior but there is something coming.
The next kingdom to cross off the list is the Deserts. Cress remembers the stories her mother would tell her as she would be drifting off to sleep, of Oxytocin’s constant rivalry with the then-king of the Deserts. He hated Oxy, Kindling would claim, for seemingly no reason, simply for ruling the Valley. It was a personal vendetta that bled into the diplomatic relations and the two kingdoms have not been friendly since before Oxytocin’s rule. “The Deserts have been no friend of the Valley in recent memory,” she warns him, not realizing that it’s something he’ll wonder how she knows. “I would suggest a diplomatic visit and perhaps a truce that allows friendly steals and challenges, but no more. The two kingdoms may have changed hands since those times, but there is no doubt that some of the hostility still remains.”
As for the rest of the kingdoms, she has no idea what to tell him. “The other four kingdoms are weak and always have been,” she says, but there is no malice in her words. “The Gates hasn’t been powerful for many generations and neither has the Dale. The Tundra is nearly silent and the Falls have always been a neutral entity.” She pauses. “It probably wouldn’t take much to overpower any of them, especially the Falls, but we would have to build a better army first. No matter, though, because diplomacy is my caste, not war.” She smiles again, this time meaning it. She is not advocating for a raid (they are not even strong enough for that), but at the same time she is not advocating against it.
If they want to be a powerful kingdom, they have to have powerful ideas.
