rain dance maggie advances to the finals. [CAW]

[Set]

"Are you, are you, coming to the tree?"

He knew that they would not assent; even once he and Phasus defeated them in battle. Judge and jury, they had determined he and Phasus to be their enemy. In doing so, they had destroyed any hope of true peace. He is happy to fill the villainous void in their lives. He had gone to the southern plains for a moment – and promptly returned, leaving the wings for a faster mode of travel, condensing and then slipping through the minds of his Friends, so that they will not know he is there until he is ready for them to.

It is Caw that he seeks out first. He had known she was a relation before he’d left the second meeting, listening in on their final thoughts. Most of them were varying degrees of angry, disgruntled, even fearful. How easy, to stir their pots. In her, though, behind the curtain of anger, he had felt a trace of something he had not felt since he, Niklas, and Salomea had been together, in the Field. Brief though it was, he had felt that she was blood - a rarity in this world that he has been absent from for so long.

Spring is only just coming to the northernmost part of Beqanna, already having adorned the rest of their world with her exuberant touch. Here it is still brown and dead, dotted sparsely with bits of color, stalwart plants braving the yet below-freezing nights. The seal peeks his spotted head above the water’s surface, waving his flippers gently to keep him in place, bobbing in the gentle surf. It is deep here right up to the island’s shore, black rock with patches of small glaciers forming a natural wall. The seal blinks, long whiskers twitching as his mind wanders back to his prey. Set mentally rolls his eyes – the predators were typically single-minded – and leaves the leopard seal’s body. In a knee-jerk reaction, it snaps at him, this piebald horse suddenly appeared in the dark waters next to him, before retreating; it’s not long before it forgets the ordeal, a young, unassuming penguin proving good distraction.

His frame enhanced with the abilities from the body he’d just left, Set swims the last few hundred yards to the glacial cliffs on the shoreline. He finds footholds quickly, scaling the ice and rock with an unnatural ease, his breathe coming in shorter pulls when he reaches the top. He welcomes the burn of exertion, shaking the last bits of the ocean from his coat with a low groan, now dry and warm. Phasus had chosen, rather diplomatically, to remove herself from his side – for the time being. He misses her warmth, the way their magicks had greeted one another; familiar, hungry. But he had approved of her reasoning. It is because of this raw attraction that the others are uneasy – his gut trembles with the promise of it – and so he had let her go from him. For now. She’s probably freezing on this godforsaken island. He starts towards the place where They had said she would be, utilizing his own four hooves to get him there, taking advantage of the time that passes to strategize. He wonders if their efforts might be better suited elsewhere.

SET

alliance champion, once king, mage