"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
Your beauty is beyond compare - oh, if I could hear but one song from you
I shall hail thee Queen of Birds...
It's been a while since he's been to Loess to meet with Arthas. He's glad that the dappled grey had accepted his proposal to let him have the status as a Loessian resident, besides being one of Ischia - a unique position as a liaison. However, now that he has returned, he smells the difference. It's more of Wolfbane and less of Arthas around here, and he wonders if the older Andalusian has already gotten sick of ruling. He must be; ruling is entirely boring and bothersome, after all. Not that Leilan had tried it out himself, but he's seen it up close, and he's not in favour of ever trying.
Nonetheless, he doesn't dislike Wolfbane, although if he's taking the kingdom anywhere else than what Arthas had in mind, that means his earlier deal is void. But let's see what Loess is about, these days...
He stops at the border, and calls for the new leader. He liked the colt before, so, he hopes that the boy has grown into a nice young man also, he'd hate to have to dislike him now.
there's something here that doesn't make sense
let's go and poke it with a stick
@[Wolfbane] adding this one to your list xD I'm thinking he doesn't need Leilan, but he would like to know what the new purpose of Loess is, of course.
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
I know that we are still in the earliest of days, but there is no use quelling the small seed of hope that has begun to grow. My emotions jumble about, as entangled as the boughs of the acacia I leave behind. Hope is the strongest, but anticipation, excitement, and a touch of fear spin 'round as well, topped off by the nausea that has me retching most mornings.
The nausea fades by mid-morning - as it always does - and I am left with the day spread out ahead of me. I could find Arthas, I know, and share with him the names that had come to me in my dreams last night, names for our baby. My belly has grown too round to conceal, announcing to the world that my dappled mate and I are expecting a child in the spring. Were my wings unbroken I might have kept the secret longer, but the bones of my right wing had not healed properly, and as I make my way across the sunlit hills it drags beside me, the golden feathers dipped in the rusty dust.
I hear the call long before I spot the stranger, and I change the course of my journey without hesitation. I hadn't mean to be border patrol this morning (and I will never mean to - I am no warrior), but I can at least be the diplomat that I had told Wolfbane I would be. The path I take is not a well-trod one, but I grew up here in these hills, and move with a familiarity borne from years of experience.
Slipping between the trees, I pull my wings more closely to myself as I step forward to greet the unfamiliar stallion. I shake the navy mane away from my blue grey eyes, and offer Leilan a friendly smile. Were it not for the scars that cover my shoulders, neck, and withers, turning them from pale cremello to stark white I would be the perfect greeter: my smile is gentle, my posture non-threatening, and I appear genuinely interested in his answer to my question.
I’m not what either of these two are looking for, and honestly they’re not what I had in mind for myself but here we are, a group of three as soon and I come down from the hills to engage in the minor commotion. Behind the visitor the mountains stretch as a makeshift blockaide for those coming in from the Eastern kingdom and, to my obvious surprise, I find a very familiar-looking stallion has come here - not a stranger at all. He looks rather handsome as the foreground with the shadowy peaks far away, and I smile knowingly as I come to stand alongside (but nowhere uncomfortably close) to another pregnant Loessian mare.
“‘Tis the season.” I smile in her direction, eyeing the curve of her newly-growing belly. Like the pale dame I also can’t conceal the changes rapidly taking place in my gut. My wings, though perfectly capable of flight, are clear as fine glass and they hide nothing. It doesn’t even matter that I’m wearing Arthas’ signature smokey gray ringlets for a coat color, hoping to cover the growth with patterns and tricks of light. The babe thriving in my belly is my first and clearly proud about that fact.
My mane and tail, both moonlit white to match the four stockings and wide blaze I have, rustle as I shift to take in the obvious reason for my arrival. “Leilan, I hadn’t expected to see you so soon but I must say, I’m not upset about it.” I laugh airily, settling into a comfortable position before turning once more towards the cream and blue-barred mare.
“I’m Rey, I don’t think we’ve met before but you can blame my hermitry for that.” I smile again, a too-bright sort of thing. “This is Leilan,” I nod in the spotted stallion’s direction, “The friendly sort.”
@[Lepis] She doesn't need Wolfbane to explain they're a kingdom-for-hire and he totally trusts her to decide whether or not Leilan can come and go as he pleases <3
@[Leilan] xoxo
Your beauty is beyond compare - oh, if I could hear but one song from you
I shall hail thee Queen of Birds...
The silver roan-and-gold lets his eyes wander the kingdom. How incredibly... normal it still is. It hasn't been corrupted, these hills, the water sources, even if something or someone evil walked the grass, to the grass it was all the same - it was being eaten by any type of horse.
It doesn't take long for someone to answer his call for the leader, but it's not the young stallion himself. Instead, a mare of approximately the same age or a year older - oh yeah, definitely a year older; a pregnant young mare comes to see him. She asks if she can help him but doesn't offer a name, which is slightly odd. Should he know her, then? He looks her over, she might be familiar, but she might be someone else entirely, so he takes the safer route. "I came to ask the new king if he needs me as much as the old one." His tone suggests he doesn't think so, nevertheless he continues. "Does the Bane of our existence wish to take Loess in the same direction as his predecessor?" he muses aloud.
Her swollen barrel reminds him vaguely of his actions last autumn, wondering if he should have approached some mares differently than he had. The thought diminishes with the distraction of a second mare, also swollen, and her grey look is enough to make him doubt for a heartbeat she is the same woman - but her transparent wings are a dead giveaway, even if she hadn't just named him directly. "Rey." he dips his head in a polite meeting, though his eyes flicker towards her belly, ears swivelling backwards for a moment as if wanting to lay them against his skull, though he refrains from that - a micro-expression giving away the quick shock and the thought that comes with it - she's pregnant - did I do that? - Nah, she would have said something... would she?
The confusion is not something he wants to display; as soon as Rey talks to the perlino mare again, his face is neutral once more. "I thought you were set on travelling. How did you land here?" he pries - he's not entirely curious, but perhaps there is another story than their hookup that would explain her roundness. He eyes the other mare quickly, her wing is broken and healed wrongly, and he visibly makes a mental note of that with a slightly concerned frown to her other scars. They're not the same as Jesper's, but she definitely has had some hardships to endure.
there's something here that doesn't make sense
let's go and poke it with a stick
@[Lepis] @[Rey]
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
At the sight of a dappled figure coming toward us, my ears flick forward curiously. It is not Arthas, I find as the winged mare comes closer, though she does wear his pattern as well as his scent. Even before she introduces herself I k now her - if not her name, then at least who she is. The child that rounds her belly is sibling to mine, and the thought of it brings a gentle smile. I had always wanted siblings growing up, how perfect that my child will have one their own age. It is obvious she does not know me (and how would she, when I have kept myself hidden away until recently, and before that been in Sylva?) but I give my name: "I'm Lepis" with an easy smile.
I do not have time to say more, as the roan stallion has begun to speak. It doesn't occur to me that he might find my own lack of introduction at all odd; this is my home, after all. His word play on the king's name amuses me, and softened as I am by Rey's vouching for him, I let down some of the internal tension that I have been holding.
"I think that will depend on why the old king needed you," I tell him, making a note to find you exactly how - and why - he might have ben useful to Arthas. "Wolfbane intends Loess to be a tool for those who finds themselves in need of one, and who can afford us." I pause for a moment, watching the roan stallion curiously. In all my lessons I had not heard of a kingdom functioning the way that Bane intends us to, and I am curious what the reaction of others might be.
I knew at least that much of my own home. Arthas was our Champion, and we had a spy I believe (Day? Or something that sounded like it …) Regardless, Loess’ Adviser came prepared to handle Leilan’s myriad of oddly assorted questions regarding the “status” of our home. I begin to think of all the reasons I’m happy to not have to put in too much work around here, looking between them with mute appreciation as they talk, and then my flint-colored eyes are back to the elephant in the room.
Hers was certainly either Arthas’ or Wolfbane’s. I was more inclined (given my not-so-recent talk with Arthas about his other interests,) to believe that the dappled gray stallion was tending to more hearts than one. “I grew up here, for a while.” I chirp up, once Lepis has spoken and the conversation seems to veer towards one-sided curiosity. “When I came back with Arthas, Wolfbane was already in motion.” I shrug, displacing the clear wings over my back.
Leilan isn’t the only curious one, though. “Are you thinking of finding a new home?” Slips out from between my lips, quicker than I can stop myself.
Your beauty is beyond compare - oh, if I could hear but one song from you
I shall hail thee Queen of Birds...
The silver-and-gold maned stallion focuses on Lepis and her prying question. At first, he smiles mysteriously at her as if it is a secret, replying to her later statement first. ”Afford you, or him?” he teases. Thinking it over more seriously, he shrugs. ”No need for me then. It was Arthas that could be interested in mending his relationship with my kingdom, but severing all ties is just as effective I suppose.” he agrees. He knew the colt only a little - but enough to respect and appreciate him. ”Any idea what kind of prizes we’re talking about?” he asks Lepis. Sure he’s fishing, but why not?
Rey’s answer gives her a nod of his own. ”He’s a good kid, I think. That Arthas’ or his then?” he nods to her belly with a curious but mischievous look in his eye. He hadn’t thought her to be the type to want a baby, but it could have been a by-product of her advances, of course.
At her question he tilts his head. ”I would if I hadn’t just sworn my brothers to stick with them.” he winks. She could have been a reason for him to stay here too, hadn’t another already claimed a place in the back of his mind and decided to stick there and pop up at either convenient or inconvenient times. Ah, but it was all well and good like this. She probably didn’t want him anyway, so his focus on literally everyone else was totally legit.
there's something here that doesn't make sense
let's go and poke it with a stick
@[Rey] @[Lepis] sorry I’m late :/
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
The gentle teasing of the golden-haired stallion is met with a straightening of my blue mouth and a firm repetition of: "Us." I might have found him funny in the past, but his playful question results only in a narrowing of my blue-grey eyes as he turns his flirtatious attentions to my herdmate.
I’ve not forgotten his own prying question - what kind of prizes - but I do not interrupt their brief reunion to answer until both have fallen silent.
”The kind of prizes that are worth the work being done.” It’s not really an answer, but I am also not entirely sure he wanted one, or if he was just trying to see how much I would tell him. Arthur had not mentioned repairing relations with Ischia (though I know they do not have the strongest relationship with Loess), but his intentions are meaningless now with Wolfsbane on the throne.
There is suddenly an uncomfortable pressure in my belly, and I realize that my participation in this conversation has come to an end. With a polite nod of my head to them both, I turn and head toward the northern shore.
ooc: sorry for shortness and badness. i didn’t want to leave y’all hanging but also wanted to wrap up lepis’ pre-birthing threads.
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