i'm peppa pig, and this is my little brother george; magnus/any

[magnus]

Memories wash over Magnus as Ashley mentions the Dale, and his eyes spark. “The Dale was a good kingdom,” he says thoughtfully, lifting his head to glance over the rest of the land for a moment, to check on it before immersing himself back in conversation. “I had the good fortune to live there—even if it was during one of the darkest moments of my life. I served under Katana. She was a good Queen.”

Wild, dark—some would even say crazy, but he had appreciated her dark edge. She had burned with a fire that threatened to raze the earth were she to be crossed and during that time, it was what he had needed. They had burned brighter together, their own anger fueling each other’s. Their hatred of the Valley had drawn them together and, from it, a child had been born. Brunhild. Fierce, deadly, introverted.

It takes effort, but Magnus pulls himself from the muck of the memories to focus again on Ashley. “I have heard of Ea, but I have not had the chance to meet her yet. I am glad to know she still leads her people.” He does not comment on Ashley’s mention of her doing so only when she is around, although he wondered at it. Absentee leaders were not uncommon, but they could erode at loyalty, at trust.

Peace born of absence was tenuous at best, and a lie at worst.
He could only hope theirs was lasting.

“I can promise you that any with ill intentions would do best to go around Tephra,” he said with a wicked grin, his scarred lips pulling into a crooked smile. “They will not find their journey through easy.” They had proven that already, at the last meeting when the gray giant had wandered in with dreams of overthrowing the land and taking it for his own. Magnus had swelled with pride at their show of force in response, at the way they rose up and drove him out. Tephra was made of sturdy stock.

“That does sound beautiful though. I should hope to see it someday.”

out of the blue out into the loneliest place that you'll ever know
I carried the world just as far as I could but the damage had taken its toll