brennen, amet, iset;

[Amet]

if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes

"She should be here any second," the dragon-boy says with a small frown. He silently hopes that his sister will be feeling slightly less headstrong than she normally does, but Amet is well aware just how adverse she is to any form of authority. His heart quickens at the thought and he draws his lips into a thin line. The expression only lasts a moment before the painted Queen catches his attention again.

'Don’t let your past affect you. Push it to the back of your mind; you’re in a new place with new confidants.'

The young Akhal-Teke is thankful for her advice, and he opens his maw to tell her, but the words catch in his throat. The kindness is foreign and he freezes in his uncertainty.

Nayl, thankfully, doesn't spend much time dwelling on sympathy, and so Amet is let off the hook. Her interest is swiftly back on the idea behind the Lake. Amet smiles enthusiastically, not that the discomfort has faded, and he answers the mare readily, his bright amber eyes occasionally finding the winged Castile. "We were thinking that five or six may be the limit, but we are not yet there ourselves, so I'm unsure whether or not that's a good age," his lips twitch anxiously for a moment, before his ears flick at Nayl's next question and he moves to answer her again, to tell her that he hopes to stay and be one of those who teaches and protects the youth of their territory.

Unfortunately for the dragon king, however, his sister has decided that this is the moment she will join their conversation. He experiences a brief moment of hopefulness when Iset presses her shoulder to his scaled one, but it is incredibly short-lived. His blood runs cold as she snaps at Nayl and a harsh snort falls from the boy's nostrils. "Iset!" he snaps, bumping her hindquarters roughing with his. "This is Nayl, the Queen of Nerine." His words are rough, forced through clenched teeth as he turns his gaze back to the pair in front of him with embarrassment.

"Please forgive my sister," he offers to Nayl, though Iset is already talking over him and snapping at the mare once more. He snorts again, his bright amber eyes turning to Iset harshly.
"Iset," he snarls, "Nayl is the reason that Brennen is able to offer his protection here." He wants to scream at her, to ask why she can't act like an adult, but he knows that she hadn't had much of a childhood, either. "I need you to stop, Iset. Please," he says quietly in her ear.

Amet