"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
03-07-2021, 06:04 PM (This post was last modified: 03-07-2021, 06:05 PM by holocene.)
at once i knew i was not magnificent
The only reason she knows what a twin is is because of her father’s twin brother, Garett. The uncle she tried to trick sometimes when they played the game where she’d think of a plant and he would create it out of thin air just like her father. Sometimes she’d change her mind at the last second, but he’d always catch her no matter what kind of complicated thing she tried to conjure up. Her uncle brought his son, too, his son who could do funny things to her dreams when she made the mistake of falling asleep in his company.
She thinks about telling Ellie all about them but she gets distracted thinking about Taiga and where she lives. “I don’t think we live anywhere,” she says, wrinkling her pale blue nose.
“My dad likes to keep me close to the trees, but he also likes the sky because he says I can make light with the moon.” He’d told her she’d done it once as a baby but she has no memory of it. She shrugs, unaware that this is no ordinary talent.
“What’s Taiga like?” she asks. “Maybe me and my dad can live there, too.” It does not occur to her that there are enemies and allies. That there are borders and pacts. That, though she and her father move freely in the common lands, nomads are not always welcome in the kingdoms and their territories. She does not know that her father had a home once or that he gave it up to chase whatever place clung most fiercely clung to autumn so that she would feel comfortable.
If Ellie was a mindreader, she might have shared with Holly how her family wasn't so different. There was her twin, Luminesce, who always had to be right (and though Elegance won't ever admit it, her sister usually was). There was her pale mother that their sire liked to explain was a cloud-catcher. Her hooves aren't made to stay on the ground so long, her striped father would say with that lop-sided grin. As she has gotten older, she likes to roll her eyes but Nashua's grin becomes a reflection of her own, tugging to one side to reveal a dimple. And then there would be her winged father to explain: duty-bound to two places, divided between the Isle and Taiga.
For now, she sets about explaining the latter.
The young pegasus lifts her head proudly. "The trees are the tallest in Beqanna," she says, with a twinge of pride flaring in her small chest. Her blue eyes peer curiously at her friend and Ellie shares that, "and there are alot of them." If Holly needs to be near trees (or simply enjoys their arboreal company), they have plenty to share in the Northern wood. It's only the second part that makes her young brow crinkle in concern. "It can be hard to see the sky there," she explains. "It's why I've been coming here."
Her fledgling wings flare for a moment.
"No room to fly," says the young filly. (Not that she has, but Ellie determinedly keeps trying.)
But her new friend has planted an idea in Elegance's mind and every second she remains with @[holocene], it blossoms with hope. "Do you think your dad would like to see them?"
04-10-2021, 08:05 PM (This post was last modified: 04-10-2021, 08:06 PM by holocene.)
at once i knew i was not magnificent
The longer Ellie talks about her home, the more convinced Holocene is that she must see it. Not only because the trees sound like the most extraordinary in Beqanna, but because it’s obvious that her best friend is proud of her home and Holocene isn’t all that well-versed in pride but she knows that it must mean something that Ellie’s chest swells when she speaks of Taiga. It doesn’t matter as much to her that the sky isn’t always visible as much as it matters to her father and her best friend, because she doesn’t have wings and she hasn’t mastered whatever magic lets her bend moonlight to her will yet. And she’s not convinced she will ever love anything more than she loves the trees anyway.
“Maybe we should just live here forever, you and me,” she says and her leaves rustle when she shrugs. “It has trees and and room to fly.”
To her, it is the most obvious solution and, as far as she’s concerned, the only one that matters. “Lumi can come, too, if she wants.”
But she tilts her head, considering Ellie’s question and nods. “I think he’d love to see them. He loves looking at all the trees in Beqanna. That’s probably what he’s doing right now.” She giggles, the sound tinged with fondness for the odd stallion who traveled Beqanna and collected flowers and named the trees and loved them so much he created a daughter who looked like one.
