break some bread for all my sins | magnus

[magnus]

Magnus had taken a quick liking to Dahmer. The black stallion didn’t take himself too seriously but seemed to have a good head on his shoulders; some of Magnus’ all time favorite people throughout the years were those with a solid mixture of fun and pragmatic and Dahmer seemed to balance the two nicely. When he had broken from the trio, he had left for the Field, as he was prone to do, and then returned to Tephra at dusk, making his rounds around the land. He particularly liked the way that it looked when it was washed in the twilight sky as it was now. It made the always beautiful land even more so.

He was not surprised when Dahmer found him again, and he simply rose his head to acknowledge him, his gold-flecked eyes warm with welcome. As he began to speak, he listened attentively, politely staying quiet, his ink-dipped ears flicked forward and his golden eyes remaining neutral. When he finally does speak, his voice is warm and open. “There is no need to pick between the two if you have an inclination to both. Tephra is designed with one caste—activities in both war and peace earn you rankings equally.”

Magnus knew all too well that the divide between diplomacy and army was too stark when most had strengths in both. It was not common that someone was strictly soldier or strictly diplomat; the world that they lived in had too many varying shades of gray. “As for the Council,” his voice trailed off slightly, his smile growing roguish, “I would very much like to see you serve Tephra in such a way someday.” And he would. He would need to see Dahmer serve the land for a little longer, get an understanding of his loyalty and strengths, plus there were so few Council seats to give away, but he was not against the idea.

For now, he would leave it open ended.

Instead, he turned toward the next question, his eye sparking. He had seen the way the two had interacted and while Magnus was protective of Lucrezia, he also recognized her for being strong and independent enough to look after her own. If a romance was to bloom between the two of them, she could take care of herself without Magnus intervening. “I would not necessarily call it a reign,” he shrugged. “But she has been here for almost as long as I have been. I ran into her in the meadow shortly after Tephra was given to us and convinced her to come home with us. She has been an incredible asset to the land.”

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