"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
When Oceane leaves him and Alcinder behind, Leilan honestly would be scratching his ears if he knew how to do that in his horse-shape. Alas, he lifts and stomps a hind leg and discovers it is an itch that a horse must scratch to a tree - besides, it’s just the phantom itch of being unsure what just happened -and, what to do next.
Fortunately the two-year-old had already made his own request, so it was a tad easier. ”Ischia, then. Too sandy for my taste, but the jungle is quite alright.” he agrees somewhat with the young male, or rather, sounds like he’s convincing himself to accept that as their next destination.
Thankfully Cinder is winged, a trait he would be most likely to have inherited, true - it had taken Leilan considerably longer to achieve flight in his life, and only through a different kind of trait at that. It’s functional though, and that’s what counts.
And so, they fly, skipping past borders where otherwise the ice-clad stallion would have to go around for political reasons perhaps - as a leader there was no way to do anything right - but it made the whole ordeal with travelling so much easier.
Leilan’s baritone rolls like a wave from the sands through the trees; then, he settles in for the wait. He eyes the young male, wondering if he should dismiss him yet; honestly the roan couldn’t be bothered if he spent a day away, feeling that he would keep his promise - if not to Leilan, then to his mother. But he’d promised training - which should probably include politics, if even for a bit.
nothing burns like the cold
Leilan
@[Alcinder]@[Cormorant]
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
Despite the airborne departure of his mother, Alcinder is more excited than anything else to be exploring outside of the familiar borders of his home territory ─ and to not be trapped within the confines of the Isle, as he had been in Pangea. Leilan had kindly agreed to make the trip to Ischia, which meant that the young boy would finally get to see his best-friend-turned-brother after far too long on the opposite side of the continent.
Alcinder can't help but to make a comparison to his father as he flies beside the ice-dragon. His silvered eyes occasionally flick to the side to look at Leilan, but he does not press the dragon into flying in loops or daring spirals the way he usually does with Castile ─ besides, the moment his flaring nostrils pick up the scent of a humid jungle, he's far too thrilled to worry about acrobatics or making conversation with his new liege.
The blue-and-white pegasi stretches his feathered appendages wide and uses them to buoy himself as he glides towards the sandy realm of Ischia. His eyes are bright and wide as he searches for Cormorant upon the shore, and though he does not see him right away, Alcinder lands with a resounding whinny to call for the other boy. His body shifts to and fro with excitement as his hooves sink into the warm sand beneath him.
"Do you think he heard us?" the son of Oceane asks Leilan eagerly as he turns his silver eyes to peer up at the dragon. "Maybe if you roar again?" His request is lilting and hopeful, and his gaze lingers on the man as he waits for a response.
Cormorant had been lazing in the bay. The water was cooler than the air above, and he found it easy to rest off shore on days like this. Far away from the chaos of the surface world. No, it was far nicer here, nestled into the soft sand and watching the sunlight filter to the sea floor. The sea colored stallion blinked sleepily as shadows flickered through the dancing water, birds coming between him and the sun.
It was perfect, or very close to it, and he was seriously considering spending the whole day down here, when a rumble of sound broke his plans. It echoed from the surface, loud and insistent, and Cormorant groaned in reply. That definitely sounded like the kind of thing his mother would chew him out for not looking into.
With a fizzy sigh, the slick skinned fellow rolled to his feet. May as well get on with it. He walked along the sandy seabed, avoiding rocks and propelling himself forward every few paces with a flick of his rudder tail. The land sloped upward with a steady incline, until his head broke the surface. The rest of him quickly followed, rubbery dorsal fin leaning over his back slightly without the water's support.
Shedding water onto the beach, Cormorant trotted forward, looking for the source of the earth-shaking sound. It wasn't a volcano, he would have felt that beneath the waves. Still, it was loud enough to get attention. Even his. Nose in the wind, he breathed in. Blinked. Inhaled again. Suddenly his steps had urgency to them, his gait breaking into a thudding canter on the sand.
As soon as the pair of winged stallions on the beach came into view, the sea bound fellow let out a ringing bugle. "Al! Alcinder!" His heart leapt to see his friend, not particularly caring who he was with. Sand flew from his feet as the last few meters were eaten up, and he came to a sliding halt before the blue painted boy. With a nicker of greeting he bumped his nose against Alcinder's, prancing feet unable to stay still.
"You're here! Is everything alright? Your dam, is she well?" He couldn't help the words from spilling out in a torrent. Grinning madly, he spun a circle in the sand. This was so much better than he'd expected from his day. From any day since they'd left Loess behind. At last he came to a rest, still smiling. How could he not smile, when his best friend had so suddenly come back into his life? When his heart was so suddenly whole.
He laughed abashedly, turning to the brown winged stallion in Alcinder's company. "Sorry, it's just that it's been ages since we saw each other last. I'm Cormorant." His tail batted at the air happily.
The bay roan narrows his eye at the blue tobiano colt when he mentions álmost innocently that perhaps Leilan should call again. The dragon shifter debates not responding at all for a moment, and he shuffles his wings and then lets them disappear, fully shifter back to his horse-self. ”I’m pretty sure the Ischians aren’t deaf and like to keep it that way?” he blinks at Cinder trying to estimate him. ”Maybe you try.” he offers, but it is unnecessary.
Cormorant’s heat signature, shape, and then voice and thunderous hooves make clear why not; though Leilan is never entirely sure when someone with normal vision picks out someone else’s shape exactly compared to his. As the boys circle one another and shout questions left and right, the silver roan stallion takes one step sideways to stay out of sand-buffeting range, but otherwise isn’t particularly bothered by the colt’s behaviour. ”I thought so.” he responds to the young male, his eyes taking a more aqua green gleam when he looks the boy over - aquatic, like many Ischians were because the island attracted those watery horses. He wonders silently if the Resort is the same, but stores the idea away for later. Last time he went to the Resort only Ruinam was there, but who knows what it had turned into now.
He is vaguely aware that Brennen uses Ischia as a vacation home too, though he doesn’t know exactly where. In fact he knows very little about the island at all, apart from the fact that it technically belongs to Tephra. ”I’m Leilan - Freyr of Icicle Isle.” he only uses the title because the boy might not know otherwise. Leilan then gives Alcinder a sideways look. ”This one here accepted my terms for Loess, so he’s staying as my guest for the year and we hope he picks something useful up. Of course, that doesn’t exclude his right to visits.” the ice-scaled roan shrugs a little, pretending he cares little if Al actually pays attention to what he says and does, and looks to Cormorant. ”I haven’t been to Ischia since I left it for Nerine... about a decade ago maybe. Perhaps you know of someone who can fill me in about the changes?”
nothing burns like the cold
Leilan
@[Alcinder] @[Cormorant]
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
Alcinder is too excited to finally be standing on the warm sands of Ischia to notice the delay in Leilan's response or the almost sardonic tone that lingers within it. But he is nervous, too ─ that Cormorant has moved away from the island or that he will be too busy guarding the perimeter to spend time with the former Loessian boy. His worries prove to be for naught, and are instantly swept away on the sea breeze when the distant silhouette of his finned brother rises from the crystalline waters. A shrill, resounding whinny erupts from the pegai's maw as he spreads his azure wings wide in excitement, flashing them much in the same way a peacock would.
"Mo!" he calls through his own laughter, thrusting his navy nose forward to connect it with his best friend's aqua one, his own legs prancing and kicking up warm sand with each excited movement. For a brief time, he forgets that he is in the company of the Isle's Protector and is transported back to his childhood. To see Mo again fills his heart to the brim, filling the empty crevasses that he hadn't even realized had developed. "Yes! Everything's fine, she is great! How are you and your mom and Hal?!" he laughs freely as Cormorant spins in the sand, remembering the ice-encrusted stallion's presence as his finned friend turns to introduce himself. Alcinder excitedly shifts his weight as Leilan explains their visit, and Al's own habitation on the western side of Beqanna.
Grinning wide, Al tries to reign in his excitement in the name of diplomacy, but it feels like far too much work for the overflow of glee he is experiencing. "I think this means you should come explore the Isle with me sometime soon, now that I'm over there!" He tosses his head skyward, flinging his damp, sea salt-flecked mane out of his eyes, "But obviously, you're going to need to show me the best parts of Ischia first!" He'd been so excited when his Mother had spoken of visiting Aquaria and his best friend on the island, but so much had happened that it had just been pushed further and further back ─ politics, he had come to learn.
To finally be here feels like a blessing, and he is overcome with appreciation as he turns to Leilan and offers the stallion an affectionate muzzle-bump to the neck before turning his silvered gaze back to Cormorant with a wicked grin.
A L C I N D E R @[Leilan] & @[Cormorant] " "
i have slipped the surly bonds of earth
and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings
A grin as wide as the horizon was making Cormorant's mouth ache, but he couldn't stop. Not when his best friend and soul brother stood here at last. With a final snort, the young stallion at last came to a halt and let the polite introductions commence.
His head bobbed in cheerful greeting at the ice flecked stallion's greeting, though the political background to their visit was less interesting. Ma had done her best to convince him that politics had an influence on theor lives, that he'd be wise to pay a little mind to the world outside. Nonsense, to the boy who's world was this island, and the waters around it. But if that was what Al wanted to focus on, well, he'd try to keep up.
With a sharp toothed grin, he let his body relax into the warm air. "My mother's the Dame here. My aunt stepped down a few moons ago. Other than that, it's just Ischia doing Ischia. Same sea, different day, ya know?" He shook a wash of gritty sand from his back, the sun hot on his painted skin. That was the trouble, wasn't it? He was getting tired of the same sea every day.
His deep green eyes lit up at the mention of the northern isle. Another island, yeah, but a different one from the keys his mother presided over. Something new. "That sounds fantastic," he chuffed, adventure already nagging at his belly. "I can't wait!" A little prance of his forefeet illustrated the point, his joy needing a physical outlet.
A sigh then flew from his lips. Oh yeah. With a salty chuckle, he shrugged. "Eh well, I can show you around now if you want. And Ma will never forgive me if she doesn't get to see you. And uh, she'll probably want to see you too, 'slong as you're here, Freyr Leilan." His nose wrinkled slightly, duty digging into his belly. The sea stallion hated it when that happened.
He knows exactly what Cormorant means, he muses while he watches the two over-excited boys enhance each other’s presence by far. They are both too wild for a place like this - too young, perhaps, might be all, but Leilan never grew past it either. He offers a knowing grin to the kids, amused by Alcinder already... what’s the word, recruiting? - his fishy friend to the north. ”You’re welcome to visit or to stay, just don’t go complaining that the water’s cold.” Thinking of Lilli’s son and of Kulin, he suddenly realizes that he has a lot of young boys up there to train there, at least, if Cormorant’s mother would actually agree with him leaving. Enough though to have them entertain one another, at this point - and to have a diverse enough amount of youngsters from the lands on Beqanna’s main island, to answer any political questions regarding that fact. Heh, the Isle might one day get busy. What a strange idea.
Right now though, between the two firecrackers dancing around one another and towards the island, his main worry is this Dame. It sounds like she would be someone ingrained into the island, and if he’s not mistaken by Cor’s appearance, likely to have a trait matching the place. But he’ll have to deal with that later - or, if he’s lucky and they have an easy understanding, not at all.
The ice-scaled roan brushes these thoughts aside with an amused snort at hearing his title fired right back at him. ”Just call me Leilan, please. But yes, please do show us around - or leave me with your mother if we run into her. I’m sure you two have enough... activities to do between just your selves.”
nothing burns like the cold
Leilan
@[Alcinder] @[Cormorant]
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
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