Breathing in; Breathing out[Heda, Ivar, Any Kingdom]

[Ivar]

I V A R i'll use you as a makeshift gauge of how much to give and how much to take It has been more than a year since he had last seen the buckskin mare. They had both met the Tephran diplomats at their border, a brief conversation without tangible results. He had assumed that she left for Nerine with his mother, but it is clear now that he was incorrect. Still in Sylva, it seems, and willingly consorting with a maniac. That tells him something of her personal tastes, at least, though he already knows she had no fear of monsters.   He gives her no answer to the first question, only acknowledges it with a small nod. Ivar is skilled at small talk, but it is more than apparent in his demeanor that he is no in the mood. The way she looks at him is not unfamiliar, but he does not acknowledge her request. She will come regardless, they all do, and he is resigned to it even as her breath ghosts across his skin. Heda’s abrupt claim startles him – he had heard her coming but had not expected the possessiveness she displays. He finds it rather endearing, yet even as he runs his scaled muzzle across her cheek, he boldly holds Karaugh’s eye. Ivar knows his mother was not always the mare beneath the water; that was simply the way of stallions. Ivar had seen Karaugh emerge from the lagoon; her preferences are far wilder than Heda’s. The winged mare is pressed firmly to his side, and he can hear the flutter of her heartbeat as it reacts to the diplomat’s invitation. Well-attuned to her, Ivar didn’t need her projected emotions to guess what the young queen was feeling. Still, he offers her a gentle touch to the crown of her head before he looks back at Karaugh. He had taken the lead during Loess’ previous dealings with Sylva, and he takes Heda’s quiet confusion gives him the courage to do so again. “I’m afraid you might have gotten your destinations mixed up,” he tells the diplomat graciously. “You see, last time Gryffen was here, our sovereignty and our lives were threatened. Yet we are to believe that this invitation is offered in friendship?” kelpie mimicry | dragon scales | tactile hypnosis