There had been a whispering in her ear while she played in the forest with Halcyon, and at first she had ignored it, but it grew insistent and then, angry. Though the Shadows rarely spoke with anything that one might consider feeling, the practiced listener could find those distant emotions. She feels anger pooling in that deep place inside of her where the Shadows connect to her, speak with her, and, at last, she stops her games and sits up, face growing still and stony.
fiiiiiire
Dark eyes flicker, and she scents the air, but there is nothing on the air to suggest the flames that have upset her shadows. What can they mean? Beryl smiles apologetically at the young tiger, but her face is clouded with confusion, concern. What do you mean fire? There's no fire here.
the placce - you ssaid - rememmber
The place. What did she tell them to remember?
"The Isle!" she gasps, "Halcyon, I'm sorry, I have to go." Take me there. Now! Without another word of explanation, the darkness wraps around her and for a moment, the forest seems too bright, so bare of its shadows as they stream towards the young lioness, her face lined with worry. She is gone in a second and the forest's unnatural brightness fades away around the striped boy.
In a blink, she is stepping from the darkness back onto the cold sandy shore of Icicle Isle. At least, it should be cold, but fire and ash rage across it. How can it be burning? Ice and snow melt into boiling rivulets and she dances around them tentatively, anger she didn't know she could feel bubbling as madly as the ashy, muddy, waters flowing into the sea. The birds are flying away - those that can - and small animals flee in fear, trapped unless they can swim across the Nerinian Strait between the Isle and the Mainland. Beryl runs opposite them.
Leilan!
Jesper!
She knows Jesper has a daughter here, but she does not know if the small pack of Hellhounds Leilan spoke of have stayed. What if they're trapped, and how could this happen. An explosion ahead of her makes her skid to a halt as flaming debris lands about her, singing her fur, a great fiery tongue extending from the sky, and when she looks up, a dragon. Her heart sinks into her stomach.
Leilan! Take me to Leilan!
The darkness is uncomfortable around the flames, but it comes, undulating and flickering in the same way as the hungry fire, and when it fades again, she is running hard across the cold, open, plain of Nerine towards two figures standing stark against the grey sky. The mare startles at first seeing a lion running at them, then takes an offensive stance with bared teeth and narrowed eyes, but Beryl has no time to heed the warning, her focus is entirely on her father.
"Leilan! The Isle is on fire! He's burning it!" She barely stops in time to avoid colliding with him, her sides heaving with her run and her panic and her anger. The bald-faced mare stops cold from her ready attack at the words, though her expression doesn't change.
"What?" her rough voice is nearly a hiss, but she leaves no space for Beryl to answer, is already turning, running for the northwestern cliffs, and the yearling watches her go, confused, without even knowing who she is. She turns back to Leilan.
"It's a dragon! The whole thing is on fire, why would he do that?" Like the mare that has run off, she bares her own rather more impressive teeth, "How can he burn ice? We have to stop him!"
And then she's gone again, folding herself into darkness that deposits her back in the flames because she knows Leilan will come, and he will fix this, but she can get there faster. Her paws touch the now-warm sand and she is running, eyes streaming from the sting of smoke and sulfur, in search of a dragon.
fiiiiiire
Dark eyes flicker, and she scents the air, but there is nothing on the air to suggest the flames that have upset her shadows. What can they mean? Beryl smiles apologetically at the young tiger, but her face is clouded with confusion, concern. What do you mean fire? There's no fire here.
the placce - you ssaid - rememmber
The place. What did she tell them to remember?
"The Isle!" she gasps, "Halcyon, I'm sorry, I have to go." Take me there. Now! Without another word of explanation, the darkness wraps around her and for a moment, the forest seems too bright, so bare of its shadows as they stream towards the young lioness, her face lined with worry. She is gone in a second and the forest's unnatural brightness fades away around the striped boy.
In a blink, she is stepping from the darkness back onto the cold sandy shore of Icicle Isle. At least, it should be cold, but fire and ash rage across it. How can it be burning? Ice and snow melt into boiling rivulets and she dances around them tentatively, anger she didn't know she could feel bubbling as madly as the ashy, muddy, waters flowing into the sea. The birds are flying away - those that can - and small animals flee in fear, trapped unless they can swim across the Nerinian Strait between the Isle and the Mainland. Beryl runs opposite them.
Leilan!
Jesper!
She knows Jesper has a daughter here, but she does not know if the small pack of Hellhounds Leilan spoke of have stayed. What if they're trapped, and how could this happen. An explosion ahead of her makes her skid to a halt as flaming debris lands about her, singing her fur, a great fiery tongue extending from the sky, and when she looks up, a dragon. Her heart sinks into her stomach.
Leilan! Take me to Leilan!
The darkness is uncomfortable around the flames, but it comes, undulating and flickering in the same way as the hungry fire, and when it fades again, she is running hard across the cold, open, plain of Nerine towards two figures standing stark against the grey sky. The mare startles at first seeing a lion running at them, then takes an offensive stance with bared teeth and narrowed eyes, but Beryl has no time to heed the warning, her focus is entirely on her father.
"Leilan! The Isle is on fire! He's burning it!" She barely stops in time to avoid colliding with him, her sides heaving with her run and her panic and her anger. The bald-faced mare stops cold from her ready attack at the words, though her expression doesn't change.
"What?" her rough voice is nearly a hiss, but she leaves no space for Beryl to answer, is already turning, running for the northwestern cliffs, and the yearling watches her go, confused, without even knowing who she is. She turns back to Leilan.
"It's a dragon! The whole thing is on fire, why would he do that?" Like the mare that has run off, she bares her own rather more impressive teeth, "How can he burn ice? We have to stop him!"
And then she's gone again, folding herself into darkness that deposits her back in the flames because she knows Leilan will come, and he will fix this, but she can get there faster. Her paws touch the now-warm sand and she is running, eyes streaming from the sting of smoke and sulfur, in search of a dragon.
Beryl
Litotes x Mehendi
@[Leilan]