"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
The storm that draws Beyza out of sleep feels different than the few that she and her family have weathered so far on the island. For the most part, the weather has been pleasant - warmer than their used to but that is something easily mitigated by magic or a swim and it has not yet bothered them enough.
Now, though, there is an electricity in the air that goes beyond what she’s come to expect from nature. The way there is lightning streaking across the sky where there had been stars just moments ago. She makes sure her daughters are sheltered before she moves to investigate. Although part of her wonders whether this place is finally revealing a threat, something that contradicts the paradise they’ve been enjoying, she is mostly just curious. It is not shadows or death on the air, not the signs that Jamie has come to take what is rightfully his.
So Beyza is not worried as the lightning draws her in, closer to the cave where it seems to be radiating from. Electricity sparks across her coat when she is angry but it does not belong to her. It is a harmless manifestation of storming thoughts.
Nothing like this.
She is not worried until she hears a scream, something so utterly primal in its agony - that single sound holding more emotion than Beyza has ever felt in her life. More than she has ever allowed herself to feel since she first suspected she was only an echo of a girl, of life. Although she does not mind the rain, Beyza bends it around her body and it splatters against an invisible shield around her as she approaches the cave. Her white eyes widen to see the lightning within it but she is still drawn in. Still pulled by curiosity to find out who is inside.
The storm has eased by the time she enters, and she feels the echo of the words in the air like they are visible. She’s not sure if she so much heard them or just had them imprinted on her mind. There is a surprised noise that comes out of her when she recognizes the mare - remembers a conversation with her and a dragon.
“You don’t have to feel like this.” Beyza tells her in a soft voice, a contradiction to the storm as she projects the shield around her to cover this mare. If only to give her a small respite, she doubts this near-stranger really needs to be protected from the storm Beyza suspects she’s created.
And then, unsure if she’ll be remembered, she continues with a kind voice - attempting to prompt a memory of a pale filly who had said something similar “You’re as pretty as I remember."
