[private] until the night turns

[Mazikeen]

m a z i k e e n . Nashua rises to the bait, biting back to her about his apprehension. It is a monumental effort not to purr back to him, to tell him how she had understood his apprehension perfectly well back then too - but she had known it had no grounds. She had known his children were in no danger even when they had first met at the festival. Mazikeen had known all along. Gale had told her he was Cursed the first time they had ever spoken outside the alliance, and she had fallen for him anyway. And then she had fallen again for the creature that had taken up residence within him. But she doesn’t do more than stare at Nashua for a moment before returning her attention to Noel. She does not know if the white mare is being honest, that she really would allow Bolder to stay, or if it is simply a ploy to get him back - especially with that additional demand of having neither Gale nor Mazikeen present when they speak to their son. Nashua’s statement that follows Noel’s words makes Mazikeen want to refuse when she would have agreed had he held his tongue. But before she can comment any further, Bolder is there with them as a sloth hanging from a branch that is suspended in the air. It does not surprise her, this easy display of Gale’s powers - there’s enough negative energy radiating from Nashua that Mazikeen is sure he would be able to do great and terrible things right now - and when she catches some of the thoughts in his mind, the image of Bolder painted with blood, a small thrill sparks in the pit of her stomach. The smile she gives to Bolder is not false, she’s proud of each new shape he learns - and in front of him she is still the encouraging aunt. A support system there when or if he needs it, and it is to that end that she finally speaks once more - with that same polite voice she had used before. “If Bolder wishes to speak with his mother alone, we’ll withdraw but stay nearby.” Bolder was still their captive, after all. And then her gaze turns to the boy and she forces her voice to soften. “It’s up to you.” Like Gale, Mazikeen removes Nashua from the conversation. She makes it clear she will not leave the boy with both of his parents, even if Gale needs to seize the northern king’s bones to drag him after them as they retreat.

 

@Noel

[Noel]

There is a nearly infinitesimal release in the tension of her muscles when Nashua supports her so unquestioningly. A relief and a welling of tenderness for the man who would so willingly look past his fear and prejudice for her. She finally glances at him then, the love in her gaze unmistakeable even in the brief heartbeat of time before her features once more fix on them pair before them, expression shuttered.

Mazikeen seems to have little more to say to her, her attention moving as Gale’s had to Nashua. It is easy for Noel to slip into observation, and what she observes makes her uneasy.

When Bolder appears, Noel’s gaze jumps to him. Her heart thumps hard in her chest as she slides her gaze quickly over him, assessing him for injury. When she sees none, her relief is so profound that she nearly sighs, only barely restraining herself as her gaze flicks back to Gale.

She does not trust either of them, but the intensity in which Gale stares at Nash unsettles her. It is made clear in the flashing of his features, the shifting colors of his eyes. There is more that Gale wants from her chosen mate, and if the blackness of his wide grin is anything to judge by, it would not end with Nashua whole. Or perhaps even alive.

A shudder runs down her spine at the thought, and she steps forward instinctively. She moves between them, breaking the fixed stare with her body, wings flaring slightly. Her dark eyes settle on him, willing him to recognize her own steely resolve. She may not be a warrior, may not have trained to fight or deceive, but that does not mean she would stand by and do nothing either.

She does not fear the curse, nor does she fear death. Neither would ever hold any claim over her. Only the man standing behind her and the boy hanging above them can make any such claim here and now, and she would give them every fiber of her being without hesitation.

She says nothing to Gale however. If he is as clever as Nash believes, he would understand why she had put herself between them. Nash would too, though she knows he would not like it.

Instead she lifts her gaze to Bolder. “As they said, the choice is yours.” She offers him a small smile, wishing he were closer so she could wrap him in her embrace. So she could feel his heartbeat and know he is well. “I just want to know you are safe and happy.”

- noel

@Nashua

[Nashua]

This is Nashua's family.

This is his older brother staring him down, as his eyes flash a wide array of colors. Each change from the silver-blue of lightning to viridian green makes the striped stallion grow angrier and angrier, because this gathering should have brought him joy. His son spending time with his paternal uncle and his mate could have been the thing to mend the rift in a bloodline gone so severely wrong.

But Gale taunts Nashua, flashing the unspoken message in a gaze that the Northern king doesn't look away from. He locks it there, unwilling to pull it away until his mate steps in between them. The striped pegasus says nothing, only watches (safeguards) as Noel approaches their son who has taken a shape that he wasn't born with. His green eyes sweep over the boy, moving over him in the same manner that his mother had, relieved that Bolder was alright. "Ma," he hears the adolescent greet excitedly. Her smile must be enough to reassure him (or he is too much his mother's son and wants to reassure Noel) because Bolder says next, "I'm fine. Uncle Gale and Aunt Maze have been helping me."

The images click into place; a large russet creature descending from above into Hyaline's lake; a sienna hawk; and then the last, the most troubling: a chestnut wolf with lips painted red with blood. He snarls, turning his attention sharply back on the thing that wears his brother. "What have you done?" he asks in a low voice, an accusation thrown at the pair of elder shifters.

Nashua had hoped that they wouldn't hurt Bolder, and his eyes had proved they hadn't. He had assumed that they would manipulate his youngest son in some way, and turn him against his own blood. But why hadn't he expected this?

Why did it surprise him that they made a killer out of his son?

There is a sound that Nashua feels more than he hears - his son becoming the Bolder that he had known - a colt with a bristled mane, a boy with golden stripes and silver eyes that shone like the moon. "Dad," the young shapeshifter starts to say, before glancing back to his mother, and then to Mazikeen for support.

[bolder]

Bolder turns his moon-marked head back towards his sire, watching in confusion as Nashua glares at his Uncle.

"They've been teaching me to shift," the young pegasus says and tries approaching his father. He doesn't understand this, how being himself has caused such a powerful response from Nashua. He knew that, eventually, they would come; of course, they would. They were his parents and Bolder has never doubted that he was loved and cared for.

He and his siblings were brought up to know that they were their parent's pride.

But there is nothing of pride on his father's face. Some part of him knew it would happen like this. He had always been told that shifting could lead to eventual madness. You borrow too many shapes, was what he had been taught, and you eventually lose your own. Bolder had been afraid to shift growing up, afraid that he'd eventually go mad.

Afraid that he'd upset his father.

"I haven't gone crazy," says the young shifter. "It's not like that." He tries to explain.

The image of Bolder with the dead animal in his mouth is seared into Nashua's mind. It was just one small animal, but how long until Bolder moved onto something larger? How long before the young pegasus took down another horse? The Curse had manifested itself in his older brother, but with the disappearance of his twin and now this, his youngest son shifting, it's almost too much for him to bear. 

Nashua had already known that they wouldn't be bringing Bolder home.

He knew that they would have to do something about Gale and Mazikeen - imprison them, tie them to the entities they had stolen, exorcise them - but that they had done this. They had not only taught his son how to shift, but how to kill as well. Something in Nashua's heart breaks for his child, and for his lost brother as well, while a black hatred seeps out to flow through his veins.

There was no forgiving this.

And Bolder's reply only cements that: "I want to stay."

@ Gale

[Gale]

Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you The Curse has corrupted Mazikeen as much as he has his host, breaking and twisting the orange-eyed mare, tying knots into her soul. He’s begun to do the same with Bolder, carving away the weakness that his heritage has instilled in him. It is easier when they’re younger, the magician has found, having molded Malik in much the same way. To give up Bolder now would be to lose a valuable advantage, and he is well aware of this. Mazikeen’s voice is firm, and Gale’s blue eyes dart toward her appreciatively. When his gaze returns to Nashua, he finds Noel instead. Gale frowns. She’ll make herself an obstacle, he realizes. Nashua is the one he most wishes to suffer, and this white mare is going to do her best to get in the way. Perhaps she’d not seen her son and his bloody mouth, so Gale shows her the image with a beatific smile. Perhaps Bolder will rip her wings off someday, he thinks. He’d like to see it. Before he can say anything, Gale hears the sound of Bolder’s voice, telling Nashua that he wants to stay. “You heard the boy.” He says as they both turn to look at Bolder. His answer has been clear, and Gale once again smiles at Nashua with gleeful anticipation. “Now leave. Your kind are not welcome here.” The handsome smile remains, polite and charming. He'll hurry them along if they don't go quickly, he decides. Perhaps he'll put them in a snowdrift somewhere on the northern isle.

@Mazikeen

[Mazikeen]

m a z i k e e n . Noel places herself between Gale and Nashua and a flicker of approval passes through Mazikeen. She can find no fault in the mare and it is Nashua who continues to draw all her ire. She doesn’t miss how Bolder looks to both his mother and herself for support and it takes almost no effort at all to rally herself to his defense. The polite tone she’s been using remains, but it’s begun to fracture when she tosses back at Nashua after his accusation. “That was an accident.” Mazikeen can imagine well enough what Gale’s shown him - the rabbit, Bolder’s first kill. Mazikeen does not know why Bolder’s distress inspires her to speak, it should not matter to her any more. Or maybe her annoyance with Nashua is simply strong enough that it overrides even the shadows in her heart. She has a vision of transforming into a giant snake and launching herself at him, coiling her white length around his chestnut throat until his eyes roll back into his head and she snaps his vertebra. Mazikeen restrains herself and she knows it is only because of the colt with them. She still wants him to see her as a protector, wants to feed the idea that his father is the unreasonable one here. And it should not be hard to do, because Nashua is the unreasonable one with his prejudice, with the pained look he had given her when his son had shown an aptitude for shifting. When he had tried to temper Bolder’s excitement over such a wonderful thing. Mazikeen’s entire body is suddenly alive with glowing markings but her voice is ice as she locks her red-orange gaze on Nashua. “The only one upsetting your son right now is you. If you so much as cause him a moment of distress in the future I will make you pay for it.” She provides quite the contrast next to Gale’s polite and charming air as she radiates fury, and though she appreciates Gale’s inclusion of your kind are not welcome here she’s too aggravated at one of their guests to even cast a glance his way to let him know. An idea comes to her and she straightens up, her shoulders relaxing. A few of the bright markings on her coat even fade, but the anger has its talons in her and it is unwilling to let go completely. “Actually.” Her head tilts towards the white mare, warmth returning to her voice as she speaks almost conversationally - as if she had not just threatened Nashua, as if this was just an ordinary day. “You can come visit your son whenever you’d like, Noel.” When her eyes glide back to Nashua, there is nothing but icy venom in them and the words that follow. “But you, Nashua, will never cross these borders again. If you do, I will skin you like the spineless rat you are and hang you to dry in Taiga.” The Curse was banished from the northern lands and now Nashua would find the same treatment here in the east. He will have to suffer as she has, knowing exactly where his child is and being unable to visit. Unable to so much as see that they are okay with his own eyes. Maybe he will blame her, or Gale, but she hopes he blames himself too so he can also bear the weight of knowing it is his own fault as she does. A flash of fire arcs around her and there is only a very short pause before she snarls “Now get the fuck out of our home.”

 

@Noel

[Noel]

Though she has no talent beyond the wings folded loosely at her sides, even she can feel the tension drawn tight between them. The hatred and the anger. It is so thick a part of her is almost surprised they do not choke on it. And in that moment, she is all too aware that the buffer she has provided is the only reason this visit had not escalated into something far more dangerous.

A faint shiver crawls down her spine as she glances at Nashua.

As Bolder tries to explain to his father, his words ringing hollowly in Nash’s ears, Noel brushes her muzzle along her son’s short mane tenderly, letting him know without words that she would always be here to support him. Perhaps not physically, but in all the ways that matter. She had never been prone to hovering, nor the overprotective streak that runs so strongly through Nashua. She had always let her children learn as they would, but she had always made sure to leave with the knowledge that she would be there if they truly needed her.

That is what she gives Bolder now.

He says he wants to stay, and Noel says nothing. As though the words had broken the cord strung far too tightly, Gale reacts, spitting out words of banishment. She bristles, but remains quiet. It had already been apparent that they did not recognize her, nor did they appear to realize they already harbor her ‘kind’ in their land.

Then Mazikeen speaks, retracting the blanket statement by giving her the option of visiting. She nods once, sharply before dropping her attention to her son. She pulls him quickly into a brief embrace, her words a whisper against him. “I love you Bolder. You know you are welcome home any time you wish.”

As she withdraws, returning to Nashua, the venom Mazikeen throws at him makes her hackles rise. She refuses to look at the other woman rather than risk saying something unwise. Instead she quickly spreads her wings, curling them around Nash’s shoulders and blocking him from their sight and them from his. The words they’d spat had been designed to draw his ire, and she desperately needs him to remain calm now. Pressing her lips against the hollow above his mouth, she murmurs urgently, “I know you don’t trust them, but please trust me.” Her dark eyes rise to his, the plea in them only for him. Her next request would be the hardest one for him to do. “And please, trust our son.”

- noel

@Nashua

[Nashua]

He clenches his jaw, and the moment that Nashua stares at Gale, he tastes blood.

Those furious green eyes stay there, until Mazikeen tries to imply that his son learning to murder was an accident. No, he assumes, with an expression that fills with contempt. An accident would have been Bolder tripping over a Taigan log. An accident would have been bumping against Saffron or Bravely while they raced.

The blood seeping from that animal, and all over his son, was not an accident.

It wouldn't have even happened, if Bolder had just stayed as a horse.

"You both will pay," Nashua says, placing the blame equally between Gale and Mazikeen. The Alpha might have been spared his rage earlier, but now, the striped pegasus decides that she was as much at fault as the thing that possessed Gale. She was clearly as much as part of inciting this - of encouraging this - as the brindled shapeshifter.

Nashua is seething and his wings open, ready to loosen for a fight but Bolder steps away from all of them. The argument between the adults in his life - each one important to him - is unbearable. The young pegasus can't imagine returning to Taiga, to a life where he isn't learning from Uncle Gale or Aunt Mazikeen on how to be a better shifter.

But he can't imagine this, either.

Bolder allows himself to be drawn into his mother's embrace, like she had done when he had been small. For a moment, wrapped up in her, he can pretend that he is small again and the world didn't seem so vast with problems. "I love you, Ma." He tells her, and not willing to lie to her - not able to say that he'll be home soon - Bolder leaps into the shape of a tawny wolf and races towards the shadows where he can forget this ever happened.

Nash watches on, keeping a guarded stare at the two Hyalineans. They would leave, but not before his mate was permitted to tell their youngest son. He would do whatever means necessary, to allow his family that moment.

Mazikeen hurls more words at him - that he has been banished from Hyaline - for what? His crimes are pale in comparison to the Curse; he has not raped or pillaged his way across Beqanna. He has not torn a family apart. He has not -

Despite the way that he longs for nothing more than to lunge forward, he stills himself as Noel envelops them both in her white wings. They had been together for how many years now? Their meeting after the Alliance flashes before his forest gaze, and then finding her after, clearly pregnant with the twins. Had she trusted him then?

Had she trusted him that day they flew the Nerinian shore together, testing the updrafts from the ocean currents and swooping between the crags?

She's never asked him for anything, he realizes then.
Never asked him to stay after she had learned that she was pregnant.
Never asked him for anything, not even when his duties were split between the Isle and their family in Taiga.

"Okay," he tells her, a quiet, hoarse sound that comes from somewhere deep within. They would find a way to bring Bolder home. They would find a way to deal with Mazikeen and Gale.

They would find a way.

And so Nashua flares his speckled wings, taking to the sky after his mate does, finding their way back home.