[open] i was reminiscing just the other day

[Tarian]

Tarian - the Alliance warrior, former Champion of Loess (as Altissima so sagely reminds him) - steadies under her touch. The playful tug on his pale mane calls him away from his worries, and for a moment, Tarian just loses himself in the lovely shade of her violet eyes. What was there to worry about, truly? Even if this attempt to Tephra failed (though he wants it for his family), so long as Altissima was beside him, what was there really to worry for?

His blue eyes meet hers and when Tarian smiles at her, even the creases at the corners of his eyes lift in happiness. ”Who knows what kind of beasts roam in there,” he banters back to her, falling back into their old pattern. Speaking of the Alliance, the gray pegasus tosses his noble head up and back, finally ready to be off. ”Have I ever mentioned the crocodile I faced during the Alliance?” Tarian teases her, knowing full well she had.

Most likely a thousand times, since it was a story he often told to their twins.

And then they are off, crossing the kingdom border into Tephra, venturing deeper into the jungle that Tarian occasionally peers at. It’s been years since he has seen a place with such lush vegetation, and his mate was right; it was blissfully, wonderfully warm. Altissima continues to speak - mentioning that she had lived here once and even traveled to the nearby islands - to which the former Loessian listens quietly. One silver ear flicks in one direction while he keeps looking forward on the trail ahead that winds through the dense vegetation. Elephant ear ferns, orchids, and what the vines don't cover, there are mosses and even more ferns.

Altissima's mention of a healing waterfall sounds intriguing (and if he admits it, rather convenient). There had been no such thing in Loess, and though the place that he had been born to had boasted of a magical healing pool, its powers were sporadic and never guaranteed. As parents of adolescents, Tarian considered it only a matter of time before one of them returned home with an injury. This is just one more thing that convinces the silver pegasus that Tephra is the most suitable place for them. "Think they have hot springs?" he wonders aloud to his fellow wanderer (and trying to hide a rather devilish glint in his blue eyes), knowing that she had shared his appreciation for them in Loess.

It would be just one more thing that would make this place feel almost like home.

But as he gazes back to Altissima over his winged shoulders, Tarian knows that he has already found that. He smiles, content in that knowledge, before he glances around again, searching for signs of a diplomat or kingdom official or its rulers. For anyone who might provide them direction towards the answers they were seeking; the permission that the former warrior needed to allow his family to finally settle.

@Altissima @Casimira @savior