<div id="nev"><style type="text/css">.nev_container {background: transparent; width: 500px;border: 2px solid ; color: ; font: 14px 'Times New Roman', serif; padding: 15px;text-align: justify;box-shadow: inset 2 2 2px 2px #000;}.nev_name {text-align: center; color: #fff; font: 26px 'Times New Roman', serif; padding-top: 10px;padding-right: 10px;}.nev_quote {text-align: center; font-style: italic}</style><center><div class="nev_container">The silence stretches ahead of them for miles in the fog and with her jaw pressed <I>just so</I> to that dark, heaving, chest, she can feel the heartbeat slow and the ragged breathing become smooth again. She can feel the balance tip, the immediate danger passes.
"And why should I trust you, Neverwhere?" The words are muted by the swirling obscurity around them. Neverwhere pulls back so that only the wind-braided tendrils of their tails connect the two. The black mare is not looking at her.
"You shouldn't," and she shakes her bald-faced head emphatically, "You don't know me, we aren't friends, and I <I>don't care</I> one way or the other." The dappled mare scuffs her hoof at the fragile edge they stand upon, lowering her muzzle so that her breath stirs the dust and her half-ears twist to catch the distant sound of rock breaking on rock as the bits of stone that cracked away land far below, "But you don't need to <I>trust me</I> to know I'm telling the truth. There's nothing here for you but loss and death."
As she peers into the gloom, her vision clears and turns to somthing else, familiar shining sands and an intertwining of black and gold. She recognizes that other mare, she is the one Lilli ran to save and her thoughts turn to the chestnut mare. The vision tells her nothing on how <I>she</I> fares, if she has succeeded or if she is another body beneath that raven stallion's hooves. Neverwhere's ears pin against the silent command that booms in her head, she sneers at it, imperious, impersonal, demanding.
<I>Reunite them.</I>
She is not inclined to listen.
"I <I>hate</I> magic. I was wary of it before, we didn't have it where I came from but it is rampant in Beqanna." She speaks to the fog that has returned, but loud enough for the mare beside her to hear. "There's magic everywhere here, and no care for the disruption it causes. I heard the Fairies took it away once, but nobody seems to have learned any lessons from that, Fae included, hidden away on their mountain."
Neverwhere turns to the sound of tearing, a portal opening, but to where? Home? Back to the desert? She does not go to it, not yet, still deciding. The only place she wants to go is wherever Lilliana has gone, to make sure the copper-red mare is safe and well. She worries that she is not, and that tugs at her more strongly than her sea-cliff home where she takes advantage of the magic as much as anyone else even as she professes her dislike of it.
"Magic brought me here. To save you, although I don't know why, and I've done my part. I just want to get back to my friend. She was already unwell and she ran to save your palomino mare." She pauses and turns back to lock pale eyes with sharp green ones. No doubt it is unnerving for a stranger to mention your lover when they have no reason to know her but Neverwhere gives no explanation for this knowledge. That her journey here has been magically induced should be reason enough.
"<I>Craft</I>," the dark mare says.
"Do you hear that? A portal opening and where it goes... anyone's guess." <I> Reunite them.</I> "I suppose I'm supposed to get you to go through it with me. The Magic says Craft is there, and if she is, then it's my best chance at getting back to Lilli, so <I>I</I> am going, and <I>you</I> can do as you please." Nev pauses once again, her tone softens, "I'm sorry, I don't think whoever is running this scheme cares about Aida. But my offer stands. If she can be found, then Heartfire can find her. She won't do it for free, but you may find you can live with her price."
Neverwhere turns away from the cliff, towards the open portal she can hear but not see, a mysterious, crackling ring of fog swirling against the wind. After a few steps, she looks back, grinning.
"And if you can't, well, like I said, there's plenty of cliffs in Nerine, too."
<div class="nev_name">Neverwhere</div><div class="nev_quote">...</div></div></center></div>
"And why should I trust you, Neverwhere?" The words are muted by the swirling obscurity around them. Neverwhere pulls back so that only the wind-braided tendrils of their tails connect the two. The black mare is not looking at her.
"You shouldn't," and she shakes her bald-faced head emphatically, "You don't know me, we aren't friends, and I <I>don't care</I> one way or the other." The dappled mare scuffs her hoof at the fragile edge they stand upon, lowering her muzzle so that her breath stirs the dust and her half-ears twist to catch the distant sound of rock breaking on rock as the bits of stone that cracked away land far below, "But you don't need to <I>trust me</I> to know I'm telling the truth. There's nothing here for you but loss and death."
As she peers into the gloom, her vision clears and turns to somthing else, familiar shining sands and an intertwining of black and gold. She recognizes that other mare, she is the one Lilli ran to save and her thoughts turn to the chestnut mare. The vision tells her nothing on how <I>she</I> fares, if she has succeeded or if she is another body beneath that raven stallion's hooves. Neverwhere's ears pin against the silent command that booms in her head, she sneers at it, imperious, impersonal, demanding.
<I>Reunite them.</I>
She is not inclined to listen.
"I <I>hate</I> magic. I was wary of it before, we didn't have it where I came from but it is rampant in Beqanna." She speaks to the fog that has returned, but loud enough for the mare beside her to hear. "There's magic everywhere here, and no care for the disruption it causes. I heard the Fairies took it away once, but nobody seems to have learned any lessons from that, Fae included, hidden away on their mountain."
Neverwhere turns to the sound of tearing, a portal opening, but to where? Home? Back to the desert? She does not go to it, not yet, still deciding. The only place she wants to go is wherever Lilliana has gone, to make sure the copper-red mare is safe and well. She worries that she is not, and that tugs at her more strongly than her sea-cliff home where she takes advantage of the magic as much as anyone else even as she professes her dislike of it.
"Magic brought me here. To save you, although I don't know why, and I've done my part. I just want to get back to my friend. She was already unwell and she ran to save your palomino mare." She pauses and turns back to lock pale eyes with sharp green ones. No doubt it is unnerving for a stranger to mention your lover when they have no reason to know her but Neverwhere gives no explanation for this knowledge. That her journey here has been magically induced should be reason enough.
"<I>Craft</I>," the dark mare says.
"Do you hear that? A portal opening and where it goes... anyone's guess." <I> Reunite them.</I> "I suppose I'm supposed to get you to go through it with me. The Magic says Craft is there, and if she is, then it's my best chance at getting back to Lilli, so <I>I</I> am going, and <I>you</I> can do as you please." Nev pauses once again, her tone softens, "I'm sorry, I don't think whoever is running this scheme cares about Aida. But my offer stands. If she can be found, then Heartfire can find her. She won't do it for free, but you may find you can live with her price."
Neverwhere turns away from the cliff, towards the open portal she can hear but not see, a mysterious, crackling ring of fog swirling against the wind. After a few steps, she looks back, grinning.
"And if you can't, well, like I said, there's plenty of cliffs in Nerine, too."
<div class="nev_name">Neverwhere</div><div class="nev_quote">...</div></div></center></div>
