"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
BETTER BEWARE, I GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT DEVIL-MAY-CARE WITH A LUST FOR LIFE
Time was ticking by slowly. The bay and salmon woman had not seemed to notice how quickly the sun had risen and set over the passed few months. Ygritte could no longer scent Farren or even Mandan. The most recent was Kreios and hints of Nairne's still mingles with the dampness of the waterfall's mist.
Amber pools shifted over the topography in an earnest search for another face, another sound. The Falls seemed to have been abandoned by all except the mare. Of course Texas always lingered around and she imagined he would still haunt even after their conversation they had a while ago. Coral tinted appendages move Ygritte to place her hooves in the softness of the sand, the roar of the waters driving away the worry that had started to bloom in her chest.
Nares expand to inhale the wildness that surrounds her, taking root in her soul. The humidity of the waters tickling her nostrils and causing her to sneeze.
The woman shifts with a sigh, worry touching her features and furrowing her brow before she decides to give a call. The tones are thicker than before, stronger, heavier. Ygritte has felt a change in her. Something has shifted and now the pieces lined up differently and she feels a strength in her that she had not felt before.
Dark pools watch for any sign of another horse in the kingdom. Ygritte would need every bit of help to rebuild their beloved kingdom.
kreios don't you tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash
Though I have done my best to keep busy, there is no denying that I have failed. My attempts at recruiting had fallen on deaf ears, and while I am sure Raines is happy wherever she has settled, I am disappointed that it was not the Falls.
Texas had left one sunny afternoon for a jaunt t othe Meadow – or so he had said. I’ve not seen the bay stallion since, though the idea that he might have abandoned the kingdom does not sit well with me. Though we had spent many a long afternoon regaling each other with tales of the past (he had so many more than I), he had never shared anything that hinted that he might be a deserter.
Perhaps I had been wrong.
The sound of a summons rouses me from my single-minded trip around the border, and I stop with one front foot raised as I try to identify the caller. Ygritte, I decide, and not Texas. I respond with the same haste (prompt replies to kingdoms summons had been instilled in me even as a newborn), and I soon see the bay mare ahead of me, her salmon hair bright even against the autumn leaves.
“Ygritte,” I say, stretching out my pale muzzle toward her in greeting. We have not grown as close as Texas might have intended, but I find her friendly, and am sure that given times we might be friends. I had intended to say something pleasant, a greeting or a jest, but the seriousness in her expression makes it clear that now is no time for such things.
“I’ve not seen Texas in weeks,” I say instead, trying my best to keep the worry from my face. It works, I know, but there is uncertainty in my tenor voice that I cannot entirely hide. He is her father, I know, and while I have lost mine too, I at least knew where he had gone and was not left wondering. “Have you?”
BETTER BEWARE, I GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT DEVIL-MAY-CARE WITH A LUST FOR LIFE
Her features relax slightly when Kreios appears. The mare was not alone after all.
The familiar face of the appaloosa is smooth but his voice betrays the finest flecks of concern. At least Ygritte is not the only one who has noticed the absence of the grizzled old man. Her own coral muzzle touches the stallion's lightly in the mutual greeting. Cocoa visage reflecting his own as her features flatten slightly, lips thinned and brow furrowed beneath the salmon plume of her forelock. Her gaze shifts slightly around him as if she studied the wisps of clouds on the autumn horizon like a fortune teller. The whereabouts of Texas.
Pools return the Kreios. "No, but I'm not really surprised. The old man has his own agenda...it seems as if he always had." Tones end more abruptly than she really intends too but Ygritte does not correct it. "Kreios, I've done some thinking..." The pause lasts just a few heartbeats. "I believe Texas is gone but he would have not left the Falls if he did not believe we were fully capable of taking his position. I know he asked you to come for a reason and I believe this is it." Ygritte hoped the spotted stallion understood what she was saying. But just for good measure-
"How you feel about being co-rulers, Kreios?"
Ygritte finds herself trying for the right words but her last statement comes out a bit blunt but so be it. The mare felt a change in her being, shedding some sort of softness that had previously occupied a place in her. She felt a sense of emergence of a new trait, a new part of her.
kreios don't you tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash
Once, long ago when I was barely more than a weanling, my mother had told me about ruling a kingdom. She had loved it; that much was clear. It was something she had always wanted, something she had spent her entire life achieving, and once she had it, she worked even more, determined to best those that had come before her. I had never been possessed of those same desires (something that, I think, was even more a disappointment to my parents than my disability), and since that day hadn’t thought of ruling until Texas had brought it up again.
I’ve spent long months thinking about it now, wondering exactly what it was that the bay stallion saw in me that my own parents did not. Ygritte’s quip about the old man having an agenda rings starkly true; perhaps he had only wanted someone to take the burden from him. Perhaps I was just a placeholder until someone better came along.
Ygritte though…she is no placeholder.
She will make a fine queen, I know. She is gentle, but there is the same iron spirit inside of her that had fascinated me when I glimpsed it in Texas. This kingdom has always been a small one, but perhaps Ygritte can change that. Perhaps I can change it too.
“I think that it does not matter how I feel,” I reply with a smile that is more than a little wry. “I think that the old man’s planned his disappearance well. I think it’s time whether we want it to be or not.”
Had I known how different she felt, I’d have wondered at the lack of change in myself.
I feel the same as I did an hour ago. Confused, concerned, but certain that something needed to change, and that I should probably be the one to change it.
No…we. We should be the ones to change it. Ygritte and I. We will change the Falls.
BETTER BEWARE, I GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT DEVIL-MAY-CARE WITH A LUST FOR LIFE
His words find the salmon peaks, mingling with her own thoughts. Kreois is right when he makes the observations of Texas making his exit in a casual but premeditated manner. The time was nigh for the pair of equines to rule the Falls. They did not know much of one another but Ygritte was certain that would change. Texas had chosen the pair for a reason and there was a balance that they held between one another even if they did not yet recognize it.
"Whether we want to be or not..." She repeated the last few words of Kreios' more so to herself than him as if convincing herself. As she utters the syllables, her focus returns to her companion's as the fog of this realization lifts.
Inhale. Exhale.
"Then we shall, Kreios." She gives a small nod to punctuate the statement. "Then our first order of business as newly anointed crowns are to decide if we shall remain neutral during this war or take sides." Ygritte hoped Kreois would remain confident in their previous standing of the kingdom as a neutral territory provided the Falls is not threatened nor there was any quarrel brought to their home. The small kingdom could not adequately contribute much to either side but Ygritte wanted to hear the spotted stallion's opinion.
kreios don't you tame your demons, but always keep them on a leash
When Texas and I had spoken, it had not been of war. We knew it was coming of course – war is always coming – but perhaps by not discussing it we had hoped to somehow delay the inevitable. The last Beqanna War had ended a few months before my older sister’s birth; I have only lived in a peaceful Beqanna but know that the idyllic world would never last.
Ygritte seems to feel the same, and when she brings up the fighting I respond with a wry smile. Of course, I think, we would have to make an important decision almost immediately after accepting the weight of our crowns. Isn’t that what my mother and father had said? Ruling was little more than a series of decisions.
“The Falls – you and I and Nairne, I suppose - should remain neutral. We have no stake in this war and have not been targeted by either side.” There is a small voice in my head, a voice that sound suspiciously like my disappointed father who feels that only coward do not fight, but I ignore it. I will not endanger this tiny kingdom that has only just been entrusted to me. “We should heal anyone that needs it, on the condition that there is to be no fighting in our kingdom.” Ygritte seems like a reasonable creature and is, hopefully, more compassionate than her sire.
With my opinion on kingdom matters finished, I feel that now is perhaps the time to bring up family. “I have a young son in the Deserts. I’d like to go and be sure he is safe, but I’ll return with haste in case I’m needed here.” I pause a moment, but it is clear from the way that I have already turned my body towards the east that I am anxious to go. The Desert is a major contender in this war, and the idea of Rome – and his mother – in danger is a very real threat.
BETTER BEWARE, I GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT DEVIL-MAY-CARE WITH A LUST FOR LIFE
Cocoa pools scan the stallion's features as he stands before her. A small frown touches her lips when he speaks of needing to be in the Deserts. The frown is not as to his leave of the Falls but more so that Ygritte understands. With a flick of her skull she ushered him along. "Go, Go Krieos. Go to your family." There is no doubt in her mind as to this decision as her minds drifts briefly to the life that has started to swell her abdomen. Her recent coupling with jason has led to life and the queen mare felt it a privilege to bear the stallion's young.
Visage floats to catch the sight of the spotted king as he makes her way to the deserts. his journey would be hard but love and family was worth this. Amber pools continue their watch till his naught but a speck on the horizon. A small sigh escapes her lips and she turns to seek the warm waters of the waterfall to soothe the pressure on her back and hooves.
Salmon pointed limbs pull the mare to the liquid embrace, soothing and comforting as though she were a kelpie or hippocampus rather than land equine.
Though their kingdom was small, Kreios and Ygritte had the ability to make it great again. The bay mare felt it deeply in her bones.
Ygritte
