and i heard your voice ringing in my head; any

[Izora Lethia]

She watches the other three interact with soft, gentle eyes. Spider webs of crinkles were beginning to adorn her face, and to her this was a happy thought for most of them were happy, content crinkles which was never what she would of expected her life to be before Aten found her in her misery and brought her to Taiga. They were strikingly beautiful paired with the pale pink scar that would forever be present across her muzzle.

Owin pranced around as Turul alighted to Aten's side, he had promised to keep his secret and told the bird as much. When Turul came to him he giggled in pleasure as he scoped the birds mind with his own. Obviously he could not understand the bird as well as Aten but he could feel the presence of his mind well enough to guess accurately at the emotion behind the unknown words were. He followed after Turul in youthful leaps, the words of stars and messages and dream walkers trailing after him, falling from his lips. He decided he would not be very good at keeping secrets.

Lethy turned her attention back to the other two, confident that Owin was in capable company. Her ears perked at the mention of Hyaline, My friend Kensa once offered me a home there. It is a beautiful place. Maybe I can accompany you sometime, it has been far to long since I've seen her. It really is a great thing to have family around. her gaze ghosted to Aten for a brief moment. I've only been here for just over a year. Aten found me when I had nothing, and who would of guessed he'd be right that I would find just what I needed here amongst the ancient redwoods. she teased softly, her tail swishing to graze against his one golden coat.
@[Aten] @[Lilliana]

[Aten]

Lilliana answers Lethia's question with affirming; she desired to have a place to call home long enough so that she could be found by this cousin that she has in Hyaline. Aten smiled at her, and would have more to say after he himself and Lethia answered Lilliana's question.

The buckskin tells the chestnut a brief version of how Aten found her and essentially... saved her from nothing? Had his lucky arrival that day at the River truly saved this mare more than he would have guessed? He had just assumed she was looking for a new home but had something to return to, unlike himself. But... well, her words denied that.

The stallion felt Lethia's tail brush against his golden coat, and he felt his cheeks heating up slightly at the intimate action. He brushed it off with a smile and nuzzled the mare's cheek before answering Lilliana as well.

"I've been in Taiga for a number of years, both prior to and after it's destruction when it was set ablaze. As you can see though, it has recovered well," he emphasized this by looking around at the giant redwoods. 

"You are welcome to stay here for as long as you'd like Lilliana. Whether or not you decide to make this wonderful forest your permanent home, know that you will always have a place here." He'd mostly phrased it like that since, for all he knew, perhaps after a few years of living here, she may get tired and tell her cousin she would look for a new home. But he sincerely hoped she would stay; she seemed like a nice mare who was good company for those like Lethia.

@[lilliana] @[Izora Lethia]

OOC: Terribly sorry this took so long; very many things kept me busy.

[lilliana]

Between the noble Aten and the kind Lethy, Lilli can’t help but feel they are another gift sent her direction by the morning breeze. As far as first encounters and introductions go, they have been nothing but compassionate and considerate to her. It has made some of her first memories and impressions of Taiga’s inhabitants pleasant.

Owin’s laughter rings in the backdrop of the air around them as he continues to play with Aten’s winged companion. The earlier shock is replaced with amusement when Lilli manages to sneak a few glances in their direction. But the mention of Kensa demands Lilli’s attention and the young mare brightens, excited to make a connection between herself and Lethy. ”My cousin, Elaina, she speaks glowingly of Kensa,”comes her eager reply. There are other questions that Lilli wants to know but a glance to Aten makes her decide that they would best be asked in the company of the other mare. (Part of her is longing to know if the Primarch is really as beautiful as her cousin has said.)

Her ears come forward at Lethy’s suggest and her smile emerges again as Lilli nods her agreement. ”Please,” she murmurs. ”I would appreciate the company.” And the chestnut mare couldn’t agree more with Lethy – her agreement at that statement is written all over her face like an open book. Family was everything.

Lilli continues to listen. She learns that Lethy herself has only been in Taiga a year and that Aten was the one who had brought her here. Her heart twists at the buckskin mare saying she had nothing. Her eyes widen momentarily at the statement but another mindful glance to Aten confirms what the buckskin mare tells her. Whatever distress that Lethy was in, Aten had clearly rectified it. And the romantic that lingers with Lilli’s soul wonders if perhaps Lethy might have saved Aten in some way as well.

The conversation takes on the shape of so many that she has had before. Lilli expects more pleasantries, perhaps some small talk before they all go about their day. But Aten’s words catch her off guard and concern clouds her face then. ”Do you mean,” she starts, ”that it was razed intentionally?” The shock comes clearer as she looks around, searching for the traces of the fire that the golden stallion had mentioned. Her gaze follows his to the proof that still exists all around them.

It is another reminder of how little she knows about Beqanna, about this forest that she is intending to call home. It triggers another thought in her mind. ”Have you heard of a place called the Forbidden Dale, Aten? Do you know what happened to it?” Her head turns to his then, her blue eyes raising to meet his. Lilli doesn’t know much about Beqanna but she has some fragments of history of the Dale and she thinks that perhaps, just perhaps, she might be able to place some of the puzzle pieces together.

LILLIANA

i left home on account of snow
(buried all the things i know)

@[Aten] @[Izora Lethia]

[Aten]

Aten was always troubled with how to answer this question, because if there was one thing he wasn't certain about with Taiga's history, it was that. It made perfect sense though; a fire razing through Taiga shortly before the Plague struck?

So, he huffed some air through his nostrils, "Though I cannot say with absolute certainty, I am inclined to believe that, yes, it was razed intentionally." A momentary pause, "I can't say by whom or what, but having it happen shortly before the Plague was just too much of a coincidence."

Lilliana next asks of the Forbidden Dale, a name of which he was indeed familiar with.

"The one piece of knowledge I lack about the Dale is exactly what land that exists now sprung from it following the Chamber War enacted by Queen Straia," he began. "I know that a horse called Kain was one of the last rulers, along with Tiphon, Ramiel, and Ea. A majority of it's history extends back years. The Dale was destroyed during the Reckoning. That is where it's tale ends. Knowledge of it's past I can give you, but not of what came after."

Aten may have been born only shortly before the Reckoning occurred, and did not have much knowledge of this war when it started, but the knowledge he held had been acquired over years of speaking to other horses to learn of Beqanna's history. What Lilliana wanted to know, he'd give her; she seemed to have curiosity for it.

@[Izora Lethia] @[lilliana]

[Izora Lethia]

There was so much about Beqanna that Lethy did not know. She had not been one to question where she had found her hooves upon solid ground, or what it had been like before she had arrived. As the conversation progressed she found herself wrinkled brow and intrigued.

She had no information to offer and so she simple stood and listened, amethyst eyes darting back and forth between Aten and Lilliana. She could tell this information was important to Lilli, but a part of her could not wait to have their own conversation and trip to Hyaline.

Her ears swiveled intently towards Aten as he talks of a chamber war and the reckoning. She had not realized that Beqanna had endured so much, even the fire here in her home she knew little of. Aten never seemed eager to talk of the period in his life and she never wanted to push him about it. She imagined while the two talked what a place called "The Forbidden Dale" would of looked like, it sounded utterly magical and equally terrifying all at once.

@[Lilliana] @[Aten]

Sorry for the hold up. Lethy is just a bystander right now lmao.

[lilliana]

Her expression is troubled as she looks to Aten. Those blue eyes of hers darken with concern and she hopes that her question will be dismissed. She hopes that the golden stallion will tell her something else but his indignation comes out in a puff of air and Lilliana can feel her heart sink into the pit of her stomach.

How little she knows of this place. How little she understands.

”That’s horrible,” she concedes, wishing she had some other comfort to offer. Lilliana has lost a home and lived in a few others. The thought of anyone burning her beloved Murmuring Rivers, of turning the wildflowers to ash and dust to make the clear, crystalline rivers turn brown with the remnants of her home makes her stomach twist. She knows that evil exists and that it is capable of doing great harm, of wreaking havoc but it never makes it any easier to hear it.

She swallows this knowledge but it goes down hard. Ask and you shall receive.

There are so many questions she wants to ask Aten. There are so many things she wants to know about Beqanna and the Forbidden Dale. She has asked and searched but so many of her generation merely shrug their shoulders, shake their heads that ‘no, they know nothing’. When she had placed the desire at the back of her mind, the fates have delivered Aten with a wealth of knowledge that he didn’t seem to mind sharing. The path of life rarely go straight but she is glad to have had hers cross with his and Lethy’s.

Aten speaks of many things that dance in her mind: Chamber War. The Reckoning. Plague. But those thoughts fall silent when shes hear him speak of the end of the Dale. It seems such an absurd thing to mourn a place she has never known. But the Dale represented the last link between herself and her family, something to keep herself tied to them.

Now she was truly adrift.

She hadn’t expected it to hurt this way but the places where the hope had once been reveal places that are still too raw from the desolation that came before. She is not her warrior father and she is not her iron mother – Lilliana is transparent as glass. The crimson girl still manages a smile, tilts that chin up a little higher because she refuses to let herself dwell on more things she can’t change. ”Thank you Aten for sharing with me what you know,” she speaks softly, perhaps too soft. Lilliana looks away from the stallion, his words still running through her head. She has more questions, more things she wants to ask but she knows not to push herself today.

Another morning perhaps.

Tenderly, her maw reaches out to gently touch the shoulder of Lethy and Lilliana offers her friendship. ”I’ll come find you when I next travel to Hyaline,” she murmurs. ”Who knows, you might even know a short cut.” Her smile brightens for a moment as she looks to the buckskin mare, ”And tell Owin to keep practicing his mind-reading. I doubt I’ll be able to keep any thoughts to myself next time I see you both.”

LILLIANA

i left home on account of snow
(buried all the things i know)

@[Aten] @[Izora Lethia]