everything we are, it just went away
with a slide of the tongue and a sour taste
Things have shifted so much in a few weeks, and it troubles Dawn. This is part of the reason why she seeks out Litotes and Castile today – and maybe even her mother, once her business today. If she is to rule the East, she wants the relationship between the Cove and Loess to calm, and maybe, just maybe, Lie will listen to her. Rumors have reached her ears, and if they are true, Litotes has indeed slipped right into Castile’s pocket, exactly where the dragon wants him. He seems to be amassing a group of powerful horses and naturally, that worries her. If there is to be war between the neighboring kingdoms, it will end badly for her family.
The East is supposed to be a sanctuary; why would someone set their sights on it? It doesn’t make sense to her, but she does not have a military-trained mind. She’s a pacifist at best; she wants to know their quarrel with her homeland and mend it, if at all possible.
Of course, she isn’t too sure that Lie’s personal quarrel with the Cove can ever be mended. But he was loyal to Hyaline and the East once... surely he’s not so easily swayed?
The lion and his sand cat emerge from the trees relatively quickly, and though their noses touch briefly, there is tension in her neck and shoulders as he greets her. “I have business here today,” she tells him softly, her voice a bit unsure. “The twins are fine – incredibly rambunctious. I know that if I had brought them today, I would have gotten nothing done. They are constantly exploring, and I don’t want to have to wrangle two lion cubs in a foreign kingdom today.” She smiles as she thinks of the girls, innocently playing back home. They have no idea of what looms on the horizon for the East, and she plans on keeping it that way.
“I have to be blunt, Lie,” she continues, shifting her weight back and forth nervously. “What is your business with Pangea?” His challenge had been a blatant threat, and she knows that it is making everyone back home uncomfortable. What if Eight didn’t show to the challenge? Would she have to fight for the East? Clayton? Amet?
She absolutely would, in a heartbeat.
“The leadership of the East holds no quarrel with Loess any longer,” she explains, voice sharpening. “I know you had a falling out with Kagerus and Solace, but the responsibility of that does not fall on the shoulders of Ilma, Clayton, or myself. All we want to do is build ourselves back up as the sanctuary we have always meant to be, yet Loess wants to stir the pot with us as if we have done anything to harm any of you.”
Her gaze softens then, and she swallows hard before continuing. “You are one of my dearest friends, Lie, and I will never forget that you blessed me with the greatest gift of all: our girls. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are threatening the very lands you once swore to protect. I just don’t understand.”
Dawn
oh, it's gonna be a long night
@[litotes] this is rambly and -stern- and awful and i am sorry