[private] She is something to behold | Rhaegor

[Rhaegor]

Prove that you can make the world a better place.

The words ring in his ears, as clearly as if the Ice Fairy were once again standing before him with her infinitely wise eyes and the wind defiantly at her back. The powerful words cause another jolt of pain in the back of his skull as his vision wavers, one of the residual effects of his newfound and currently temporary telepathy. When the pain stops and his eyes see once more, Rhaegor attempts to forget the discomfort he’d been put through for the first day or so after receiving this gift – but he had said he would do anything for this chance, and he meant it.

He meant it so much that he even obliges his father-in-laws wishes, despite the many, many reasons why he would have been justified in turning away. Although the rage of any well-meaning lover expands his thin, plague-ridden chest as he thinks of how Leilan treats his daughter like a possession and not a treasure, free to do as she pleases and perfectly intelligent enough to do so of her own avail, Rhaegor goes. Although he had been asked, no, commanded into making this meeting happen when he was but a diplomat standing on foreign soil, Rhaegor goes. Although he can literally say nothing to defend himself against what he understands to be an angry, dangerous dragon-creature, Rhaegor goes.

Except that he does have a means of communication now. And while he has been accidentally picking up on the overt thoughts of others for days now, this will be his first time truly interacting with another’s mind; he can only hope that this interaction goes, well enough that it impresses the faeries’ and convinces them that he deserves this ability.

Or rather, that he does not deserve a disability.

When Leilan signals for Rhae to follow him out of the mass of horses gathered on Nerine’s border, Rhae hears him thinking about how if Rhae did not follow, he would be earning himself an enemy for life. Immediately a sensation of helplessness overcomes the young man, he who has had nothing to defend himself with against these kinds of vindictive and unfounded feelings of anger for the entirety of his life up until now. Despite his eagerness to prove himself to the faeries, Rhae hangs back for a minute or two, attempting to stifle his emotion before following. He also says that he will regroup with Magnus shortly, and gives Chryseis a tight but quick embrace, trying to silently communicate that all would be well.

And it would be, unless Leilan had already assumed that Rhae’s fears and understandings of injustice equaled the signing of his own death penalty. His eyes prickle anew when he catches wind of that thought; he loves a girl, and her very own father wants him to die for it.

Now or never, I suppose.

Inhaling feebly, the pathetic, plague-ridden creature hurries to follow Leilan’s distinctly reptilian scent, wings trembling at his side. The first thing he hears when he finds the dragon is lets see if this winged kid has any guts at all. Feeling more discouraged than ever, and as if this will certainly not impress the faeries, Rhae stops in front of Leilan and forces himself to meet the other’s intense, colourful gaze. It’s the least he can do, if he wants to be with a girl hell bent on destruction… Though he’d never gone by that nickname before (Rhae suited him more than Destruction), Rhae figures that it is better than Dead-Man.

@[Leilan]