O C E A N E
Hath in her veins,
to beat and run,
the glad indomitable sea,
the strong white sun.
to beat and run,
the glad indomitable sea,
the strong white sun.
Dark and foreboding, the summer sky above Loess promises a deluge of rain ─ and with it, almost certainly, teeth-chattering thunder and lightning. Oceane stands in the middle of it all, her golden eyes closed against the weight of the impending storm, and though she remains grounded she unfurls her wings to feel the errant gale play coyly through her feathers. Inside her, there is nothing ─
Numb. Cold. Hollow. Forsaken.
The Loessian Lady is a shell of who she had been the first time she stepped into the foothills; reminiscent of the woman she was on the day she had dragged herself from the confines of Nau-Aib, she is gaunt with skin stretched over the bones of her jaw and sunken eyes, the gleam of her opaline coat dismal at best. Weeks have come and gone without a sign of Alcinder. The canyon she had spent his first few weeks in no longer smells of the boy, and now she can't stand to be there.
Not until he returns, or until she has found him.
Lepis had offered her shoulder and her help, and the Cleric's recent absence from Loess tells Oceane that she has followed through with her offer, but even Oceane herself had searched the common lands for her son without result; she cannot forget the red-eyed stallion, though, who had been awash with the same scent that had been left behind after Alcinder's disappearance. He had been bold (too bold) to try to steal away Castile's right-hand, but then again, they had stolen away the King's son already, hadn't they?
From here, she cannot hear the sound of rocks tumbling from the mountain peak beneath the weight of Castile's talons ─ the terrifying roar and the force of his wings snapping open, however, prompt her amber eyes to do the same and her cold gaze collides with the airborne wyvern. His massive obsidian body is stark against the solid grey of the heavy sky and Oceane's muscles tighten involuntarily as he amends his course to fly in her direction.
She grows breathless as he nears, struck suddenly by the impossibility of his size and the forcefulness of his commanding aura. She almost gasps, her mouth drawn open in awe to display the first inkling of emotion she has felt since her precious boy had been stolen away, and spooks a few yards back as the dragon's claws crash ruthlessly against the earth. The ground quivers, scared, beneath her.
He roars again, a mighty, trumpeting, soul-shaking sound and despite the way her body begs to react, with tight muscles and wide eyes, it's the first sound Oceane has heard that truly describes how she feels about Alcinder's absence. And so she revels in it and in the way it vibrates in her core, her turquoise head held high and her iridescent wings thrown open as she faces the extraordinary dragon.
When finally his resounding roar fades to an echo and he has lowered his magnificent reptilian head to her, Oceane takes in Castile's familiar mismatched eyes and the way his scales ripple from obsidian to piebald. Even in the low light of the impending storm, his reptilian armor gleams as the gilded band appears across his large nose.
His growling voice makes her hair stand on end.
Our son. A shiver.
Oceane watches the black smoke that curls from his flared nostrils, unsure what to say that he hasn't. Unsure how to express what she feels when only his dragon's roar can do that. At the mention of Clarissa, the pegasi's gaze flicks back to the mismatched eyes of the wyvern who looks beyond her and to the horizon. "You know who took him ─ who tried to take Lepis?" she asks, her eyes hardening.
"Castile," she says forcefully, and waits until she has his mismatched reptilian gaze and full attention. When she does, when their eyes have connected, her own amber pair beg one thing ("I am no soldier," she had told him in the past) of the dragon before her:
"You will kill them. Kill them and bring our son back."
@[Castile]
""
Numb. Cold. Hollow. Forsaken.
The Loessian Lady is a shell of who she had been the first time she stepped into the foothills; reminiscent of the woman she was on the day she had dragged herself from the confines of Nau-Aib, she is gaunt with skin stretched over the bones of her jaw and sunken eyes, the gleam of her opaline coat dismal at best. Weeks have come and gone without a sign of Alcinder. The canyon she had spent his first few weeks in no longer smells of the boy, and now she can't stand to be there.
Not until he returns, or until she has found him.
Lepis had offered her shoulder and her help, and the Cleric's recent absence from Loess tells Oceane that she has followed through with her offer, but even Oceane herself had searched the common lands for her son without result; she cannot forget the red-eyed stallion, though, who had been awash with the same scent that had been left behind after Alcinder's disappearance. He had been bold (too bold) to try to steal away Castile's right-hand, but then again, they had stolen away the King's son already, hadn't they?
From here, she cannot hear the sound of rocks tumbling from the mountain peak beneath the weight of Castile's talons ─ the terrifying roar and the force of his wings snapping open, however, prompt her amber eyes to do the same and her cold gaze collides with the airborne wyvern. His massive obsidian body is stark against the solid grey of the heavy sky and Oceane's muscles tighten involuntarily as he amends his course to fly in her direction.
She grows breathless as he nears, struck suddenly by the impossibility of his size and the forcefulness of his commanding aura. She almost gasps, her mouth drawn open in awe to display the first inkling of emotion she has felt since her precious boy had been stolen away, and spooks a few yards back as the dragon's claws crash ruthlessly against the earth. The ground quivers, scared, beneath her.
He roars again, a mighty, trumpeting, soul-shaking sound and despite the way her body begs to react, with tight muscles and wide eyes, it's the first sound Oceane has heard that truly describes how she feels about Alcinder's absence. And so she revels in it and in the way it vibrates in her core, her turquoise head held high and her iridescent wings thrown open as she faces the extraordinary dragon.
When finally his resounding roar fades to an echo and he has lowered his magnificent reptilian head to her, Oceane takes in Castile's familiar mismatched eyes and the way his scales ripple from obsidian to piebald. Even in the low light of the impending storm, his reptilian armor gleams as the gilded band appears across his large nose.
His growling voice makes her hair stand on end.
Our son. A shiver.
Oceane watches the black smoke that curls from his flared nostrils, unsure what to say that he hasn't. Unsure how to express what she feels when only his dragon's roar can do that. At the mention of Clarissa, the pegasi's gaze flicks back to the mismatched eyes of the wyvern who looks beyond her and to the horizon. "You know who took him ─ who tried to take Lepis?" she asks, her eyes hardening.
"Castile," she says forcefully, and waits until she has his mismatched reptilian gaze and full attention. When she does, when their eyes have connected, her own amber pair beg one thing ("I am no soldier," she had told him in the past) of the dragon before her:
"You will kill them. Kill them and bring our son back."
""
neamrel / thedayofshadow
i must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
and all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by
and all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by