"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
02-21-2018, 02:16 PM (This post was last modified: 02-21-2018, 02:28 PM by Gansey.)
my words are unerring tools of destruction
Now that he finally has control of his wings (and what joy that brings him!), Gansey is excited to explore further from home. For a long time he had focused exclusively on learning to fly, but now he is ready to turn his attention to other things. Grander things. He wakes at the crack of dawn, nestling into his sleeping sister for a moment before pulling away and trying to wake her as quietly as possible. They want to go alone – they’ve planned the whole thing. They have a grand plan for adventure, and they need to leave before the sun is even up if they are to get to Loess with plenty of time to spare.
Loess, the Kingdom with a rumored child queen – and a Kingdom that holds total unknown for all of them. A grand adventure by anyone’s definition.
The terrain of Loess is strangely the same and yet different; there are rocks and vegetation but of course these mountains are not a volcano, and therein lies the different. The air smells sweet and fresh, instead of the sulfuric taste of Tephra (he’s grown used to it now, so the fresh air is almost too sweet). He looks at his traveling companion, green eyes glittering with enthusiasm. “Here we are, like you said!” he laughs and turns to his sister. “Now what?”
gansey
and I've become unequipped with the ability to disarm them
She’s asleep and sleeping with her brothers helps keep the nightmares away. Sometimes she even forgets about those dreams completely with them around. Those are the best nights of sleep she gets. Tonight, happens to be one of those, and when Gansey starts nudging her she furrows her brow keeping her eyes shut. She’s about to tell him to go away, or poke him with her wing, no that would be to dangerous, and she’s not malicious. Oh yea! Then it hits her, today is the day. They’ve been secretly planning for a while now. It’s as if she’s been hit with electricity.
She’s up as quickly as a stealthy way of getting up will allow. She nudges her brothers shoulder happy to have him with her on this adventure. From his excitement her’s builds, eyes light with eager anticipation. She resists speaking though, its hard not to. It’s hard to be quiet when something fun is just about to happen. They leave, the cover of darkness pleasant shades of blues with soft crystalline light pooling on their path so that the way is clear and easy to follow. She still follows her brother, trusting him more than she does herself, as this is the first time leaving home. When they arrive, he stops holding back his words and she grins goofily back at him. Practically hopping in her enjoyment of this adventure. Where do you think she is? Her words are quietly spoken, afraid that they will get caught.
Should they fly overhead and see if they can’t find her that way? Or should they call to her? but then again, they don’t even know her name, well at least Val doesn’t and what would she say anyways? Majesty, we’ve come for an adventure? She fusses over his mane and tail thinking hard enough to not realize she is doing this. Until a sound distracts her, whirling her head around to a cluster of brush and trees. What’s that? She’s whispering now, wondering what… or who could be in those bushes. She timidly lowers her head, trying to catch a scent. Her wings spread, out from her sides, and her armor clustering on her body.
“And there was you - your fair self, always delicately dressed, with white firm fingers sure of touch in delicate true work. I loved you then.” - Charlotte Gilman
I wake to the sound of chirruping crickets, their night songs ringing against the stone. The shadows around us are as deep as Mother’s breathing, and I slide out from the protective blanket of her wing without a sound. She will sleep until the first rays of light slide into our overhang, and by then I will be back at her side.
The quiet hours before dawn are my favorite.
Outside, the winds are brisker, and I shiver as I adjust to the change. My golden coat looks silver in the half light, the deep blue of my mane and tail as inky as the star-strewn sky overhead. Come spring, I will be a year old, which is plenty old enough to explore without my Mother. She might disagree, but she is asleep and so it does not matter.
I consider heading north, to the River. Perhaps the sea monster will be there again, and he will show me the bottom of the ocean like he promised. But no, I remind myself, he had told me he wouldn’t. He does not belong on the land, the scaled creature had said; he’d only come to meet me the once.
I sigh, and look instead to the south.
The fiery canopy of Sylva looks no different than any other in this dim light, but I suspect that I might be able to reach the border and return before Mother wakes. I’ll bring her back a golden leaf, I decide, one to wear in her hair like I wear the coral star that that sea monster had given me.
At first, the voices sound no different than the bubbling streams. It’s not until I am close enough to see them that I even realize they are there. There is a boy with wings and a girl staring into the bushes. I don’t know them, but they look to be about my age. Maybe they are exploring too!
”Hi!" I say, appearing from the brush directly behind them. ”What’cha doing?"
Like Valensia, Gansey is nearly quivering with the sudden excitement of it all. To have left the Kingdom by themselves, in the dead of night, to go all the way to another Kingdom without telling anyone. A niggling thought in the back of his mind that maybe they’ll be in trouble when they get back, but it’s easy to bury under excitement. His sister jumps at the sound of something in the bushes but Gansey merely turns his head, curious, fixing bright green eyes on the spot.
“Probably an animal,” he says, turning logic to the problem. “Maybe a rabbit?” He takes a step closer to the spot Val is inspecting, beginning to lower his dark nose to inspect the spot. His exploration is interrupted by the sound of a new voice, a cheerful hello, and Gansey spins around to face the stranger, but while his heart does jump in surprise, there is no fear in his stance or his face. This is what they came for! New friends and excitement!
He bumps his side against Val’s just in case she was frightened by the other girl’s sudden appearance, and then speaks to her. “We’re looking for the Queen,” he is straightforward and bright, smiling. “We heard she was just a kid, like us and like you. I’m Gansey!”
gansey
and I've become unequipped with the ability to disarm them
