There was no point in traveling back to Loess between Alliance rounds. By the time that the pale stallion journeyed that far south, he'd have to turn right back around for his second round. Tarian had decided to spend a few days in the Common Lands. He'd rest his wings and stretch his legs and take the time to rest that he (sorely) needed.
The latter part was easier said than done.
Tarian has never been one to stay idle and by the second morning, the pegasus was again calculating a return trip to Loess. If he had only left the morning before, he chastised himself. He was a quick and efficient flyer. It might have sapped him of energy that would be more beneficial to save for his next match but as the second dawn came in the Common Lands, Tarian was tired and irritated with himself for not returning.
He didn't care to sleep beneath the company of the trees and the Forest was too far to journey. The Meadow offered Tarian no privacy from the strangers who wandered and if he headed towards the River, he might as well fly over the Forest and wing left towards Loess.
Tarian doesn't particularly like the Field either - all those seeking eyes make the steady pegasus uncomfortable. But since he has no time to return home and he has plenty of it to wait until he faces Mazikeen, the gray pegasus decides he might as well be useful. Grunting, he emerges from the treeline and eyes the grazers that have gathered here. His blue eyes first come to rest on a dark stallion that appears too soft to Tarian; he thinks the brute would be better suited on the banks of Ischia or Islandres for days of lounging and tropical fruits. There is a small mare that he spies on the edges of Field but the creature is so skittish that she is gone by the time he decided to approach. A ghost of a girl he decides would be better suited to that wet bog they call the Taiga.
With his choices of possible recruits quickly dwindling, Tarian finally decides to settle on one that atleast has wings. She is small and brown but the pegasus thinks she carries a touch of promise. Somebody else apparently agrees with him because a filly has reached her before Tarian can. He draws his silver wings in and though he considers finding somebody else, he stays his course. The girl appears (and from what he can hear) mild-mannered and somewhat shy and the stallion can't help but sweep a blue-eyed gaze around the Field. Somebody let her come to the Field alone?
Legado help him. He sighs.
"Greetings," he calls out to both females. Tarian dips his head in greeting while coming to a stop, waiting to be invited to join the duo. "Tephra?" the stallion asks, watching the girl curiously. Maybe it's the Alliance. Maybe it's because Tarian has not had a real conversation in weeks. The Loessian decides to have some fun and raises his brow. "The kingdom that offers all those sacrifices to their volcano?"
Though much is taken, much abides; and though we are not now that strength
which in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are.
@[xii] @[Kukka] i couldn't help myself