[private] slipped the surly bonds of earth

[Alcinder]

i have slipped the surly bonds of earth
on laugh-silvered wings

"Pops?" Alcinder floats above the mountaintop on outstretched wings, calling for Castile with uncertainty. The yearling boy hadn't seen his father since the Dragon King since Aunt Lepis had called them all together at the heart of Loess, naming herself the new Queen. He, of course, had been jubilant for the blue-and-gold woman ─ he with no knowledge of his father's plans to present the throne to his dam, but things had seemed amiss since that day.

Admittedly, the young boy had lapsed on his diplomatic studies with Lepis and had instead taken to exploring the foothills on his own. The perpetual ache in his chest, the space where Oceane should be ─ here, home ─ ebbs and flows like the tide. He has preferred to lick this wound in private, but today he finds that he needs comfort from someone close. Someone who is not Aunt Lepis.

Failing to find the piebald dragon, Alcinder circles lower and lower until finally he lands (a bit haphazardly) upon a plateau on the mountainside. The winds are strong here, forcing his lithe body to sway each time it assaults him, but they are warmer than expected. And with the wind comes the scent of his father, prompting a small and sheepish smile from the young colt.

"Pops?" he calls again, his silvered eyes sweeping the outskirts of the plateau for the familiar, and gigantic, dragon.

─ @[Castile]

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