Covering all your wounds; Lepis

[Lepis]

the rain that falls upon your skin it's closer than my hands have been When the white mare speaks of the futility of teaching Lepis, the pegasus laughs. Or rather, she would were she not so very still, and so instead the laughter is the faintest tick at the edge of her navy-lined eyes, one hidden by the long forelock that has fallen across her face. She tosses it aside, thinking that a more accurate statement might be that she is reluctant to learn things that are untrue, but Lepis recognizes a not-quite apology when she hears one. She’s the mistress of them, after all, when she acknowledges mistakes at all. There is no denying that the offer Ilma presents is an exceptionally useful one. Lepis is sure that the white mare knows that, just as she knows that Lepis is likely to be extremely dubious of the goodwill behind it. This feels remarkably like reaching for a honeycomb, weighing a few stings against a most wonderful prize. Lepis pauses, considering, just as Ilma asks to help prevent a war. At that she draws back, and the frown returns. Ilma speaks of a war, Aten fears a looming danger – is there truly something coming that she remains so blind to? Asking as much would be foolish, and Lepis glances back at the honeycomb. Perhaps she might prod the hive a bit, see exactly how many bees stand guard, see how large the comb really is. “I do have a puzzle,” she tells Ilma, a thinning of her lips at this admission weighed by the fading frown on her dun face. Not a large puzzle her expression says, and most likely not one she truly needs help deciding on. “I want Taiga to be free of Nerine. I have asked for our freedom, and been denied it.” That’s quite a vast simplification of the issue, and most certainly tainted by Lepis’ own perception, but she does not purposefully lie when she tells it. “I mean to ask again, even though the last time I was threatened with destruction. Will that be the spark that starts the war you wish to prevent?” @[Ilma] lepis, comtesse of taiga queen of loess | queen of sylva | queen of the south lover of wolfbane | mother of pteron, marni, tiercal, eyas, gale, celina, and elio