Maybe it would be harder on her if she hadn't been born more or less normal. As it is, it's far from easy – it didn't hurt when her magic was ripped away, it didn't tear her to shreds, but learning to live without it is about the same as trying to live with an amputated limb. For so long, so many lifetimes, she's held those around her on strings, making them dance to her whims. Almost from birth she's had all the cards, and she's played them as she sees fit.
She still holds all the cards – or she will, once she's got this new system figured out. She knows enough to know that they've all been stripped of everything. But when she stands within the breath of the mountain, when she feels the magic flow back through her veins, she knows that it's not gone forever.
And so she has hope.
And in that hope, she finds her path.
She will seek. She will meet and she will talk. She will learn. And one day, she will know what it takes to get her magic back. Not because she needs it – Camrynn needs nothing, no one – but because she wants it. Because she wants everything. And always, always, she gets what she wants.
She starts her quest without direction. There's nothing to suggest what she should do, where she should go. And she's not about to break down and actually ask; that's never been her way. And so, she simply starts walking, trusting her legs to carry her wherever they will. She has to fight the urge to use magic at every turn, so much so that it becomes exhausting quickly. She would normally fly, would normally force herself into the minds of any horses she needed to in order to get the answers she wants. But now? Gone, gone – all gone.
She's so accustomed to feeling ahead with her magic that she almost misses the presence of others. Something feels familiar about the woman, as though perhaps they'd met, once. The once-magician tries to reach back into time to recall before realizing just how futile it is. Luckily, her memory wasn't lost with her magic, and she can recall a time when she went looking for magicians, for those like herself. She'd plucked them all out of time and space, never calling them to her, but learning their names, their faces. Harmonia – Harmonia had been among them, a wraith amongst the consciousness of Beqanna, a magician like herself.
Well, former magician.
Like herself.
And in that moment, she understands exactly why the other woman has crumbled. She doesn't need to be a magician, doesn't need mind reading, doesn't need anything but her own experience to inform what she's feeling.
It's hard, this world they've been dumped into. Even if Cam is feeling more optimistic than Harmonia, even if Cam is able to let go of things with slightly more ease, it's hard. And just as she's about to speak to greet the three, a fly lands on her perfect black haunches, biting down with annoying force. It's been a long time since she's had something sneak up on her and bite her. Like, a really long time.
It's all she can do not to yelp in surprise. But she flinches, hard, and twitches her skin to detach the offending insect. When that fails, she remembers her tail can help too, and flicks that across her black haunches once. The fly dies, but it leaves a small trail of blood, a tiny wound, in its wake. Camrynn tries wholeheartedly to heal it, but of course it's to no avail. She looks back to the other three, her expression flat.
"I have yet to see any horse unaffected." She answers, although the question hadn't been asked to her. "Tiphon." she greets with her velvet voice. He still looks similar enough that she knows him, although they'd only met once, ages ago, before the world had taken its most recent strange turn. She looks similar too – same deep black, same lovely mane and tail. She's still beautiful, but now she is unadorned. She looks to Harmonia, and the look is not without pity.
"It's affected all of us." there is a tightness to her voice, a warmth and sadness. But when she speaks next, her tones are hushed, matter-of-fact. "And we have no way to know what's coming next."
She still holds all the cards – or she will, once she's got this new system figured out. She knows enough to know that they've all been stripped of everything. But when she stands within the breath of the mountain, when she feels the magic flow back through her veins, she knows that it's not gone forever.
And so she has hope.
And in that hope, she finds her path.
She will seek. She will meet and she will talk. She will learn. And one day, she will know what it takes to get her magic back. Not because she needs it – Camrynn needs nothing, no one – but because she wants it. Because she wants everything. And always, always, she gets what she wants.
She starts her quest without direction. There's nothing to suggest what she should do, where she should go. And she's not about to break down and actually ask; that's never been her way. And so, she simply starts walking, trusting her legs to carry her wherever they will. She has to fight the urge to use magic at every turn, so much so that it becomes exhausting quickly. She would normally fly, would normally force herself into the minds of any horses she needed to in order to get the answers she wants. But now? Gone, gone – all gone.
She's so accustomed to feeling ahead with her magic that she almost misses the presence of others. Something feels familiar about the woman, as though perhaps they'd met, once. The once-magician tries to reach back into time to recall before realizing just how futile it is. Luckily, her memory wasn't lost with her magic, and she can recall a time when she went looking for magicians, for those like herself. She'd plucked them all out of time and space, never calling them to her, but learning their names, their faces. Harmonia – Harmonia had been among them, a wraith amongst the consciousness of Beqanna, a magician like herself.
Well, former magician.
Like herself.
And in that moment, she understands exactly why the other woman has crumbled. She doesn't need to be a magician, doesn't need mind reading, doesn't need anything but her own experience to inform what she's feeling.
It's hard, this world they've been dumped into. Even if Cam is feeling more optimistic than Harmonia, even if Cam is able to let go of things with slightly more ease, it's hard. And just as she's about to speak to greet the three, a fly lands on her perfect black haunches, biting down with annoying force. It's been a long time since she's had something sneak up on her and bite her. Like, a really long time.
It's all she can do not to yelp in surprise. But she flinches, hard, and twitches her skin to detach the offending insect. When that fails, she remembers her tail can help too, and flicks that across her black haunches once. The fly dies, but it leaves a small trail of blood, a tiny wound, in its wake. Camrynn tries wholeheartedly to heal it, but of course it's to no avail. She looks back to the other three, her expression flat.
"I have yet to see any horse unaffected." She answers, although the question hadn't been asked to her. "Tiphon." she greets with her velvet voice. He still looks similar enough that she knows him, although they'd only met once, ages ago, before the world had taken its most recent strange turn. She looks similar too – same deep black, same lovely mane and tail. She's still beautiful, but now she is unadorned. She looks to Harmonia, and the look is not without pity.
"It's affected all of us." there is a tightness to her voice, a warmth and sadness. But when she speaks next, her tones are hushed, matter-of-fact. "And we have no way to know what's coming next."