"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
At first, there is little to behold. Slight tremors in the night are easily overlooked by those who are not bound to the rocks below, instead soaring on the winds. They could have only noticed the trembling of the pine needles when such a wave passed, but they would have been minor, degrading with each root and branch that was affected.
By the time the meagre ring of light that nowadays represents the sun peeks her rose-golden rays over the horizon, the trees are shaking with much more aggravation. A local earthquake upsets the rocky floor beneath and around the moorlands, causing ripples in little fens, shaking birds to rise up just after they land. The whole ordeal can be frightening to those who do not know what lies below, but Nerine had never birthed wimps and wussies alone, so technically that chance is very low. Nerine, now - she births daughters of amazons, whom are made up of rock and ocean spray, perhaps with a touch of wild wind among them and fire in their hearts; but not fear.
The earthquake comes in waves, just like contractions, as if the land is in indeed birthing such a daughter.
Yes, it's me. I'm awake.
I don't know how I became pregnant; some trick of magic I suppose. There is no way otherwise that I could have been reached in my rock cocooning, but right now there is nothing to do about it. I wake, I contract, and only when I'm done birthing, and my daughter and me lie in the middle of a huge mess do I realize what I've done: I've subconsciously pushed my birthing pain into the rocks, creating ripples and waves of an earthquake. The rock I once buried myself in is open, the sky is eerily dark and yet pretty, with the cold morning sun illuminating very little but just enough of our surroundings.
I've made a crater and I don't think I'm sorry about it - I'll clear it all up some day, I suppose. Right now, my attention is with the white girl next to me, and I somehow find the strength to stand up and wash her, to encourage her to do the same.
It is then that I realize it is not night: that it is not a crescent moon behind clouds that barely illuminates my foal and me, but a ring of fire in the sky - the sun, blocked out. The pink-ish yellow light finds the iridescent spots on my daughter, and catches the rainbow that hides in her mane - but only briefly so. She looks so much like me - I have no idea where she came from, other than from Nerine. Her name will be Muirín, born of the sea, for I have no other explanation than that in my time in the rocks, she was given to me by the very land I now stand upon.
As I take in my surroundings, I wonder what happened during the battle. As my daughter nurses amidst destruction and darkness, I am lost in time.
02-11-2021, 10:26 PM (This post was last modified: 02-11-2021, 10:27 PM by lilliana.)
She doesn't come to Nerine often. Not since Popinjay had stolen what remained of Brazen, Lilliana was afraid of any further interaction between herself and the new Khaleesi. The little bay could burn as many bonfires as she liked; Lilliana had been content to stand in the dark in Taiga.
But then the ground had trembled, a faint disturbance that she felt from the borders of the Redwoods.
Lilliana had gone North as the quakes continued, crossed the border of the kingdom Neverwhere had once ruled, and tried to discover the source of the ground shakes. At first, some part of her had assumed that it was due to the current dilemma: that it had something to do with the Eclipse or worse, the monsters. She knows that she is getting close to the epicenter when a flock of shadowy birds flees into the dim sky and the refined mare stops, watching to see if there is an obvious explanation to be found.
When nothing immediately presents itself, Lilliana closes her eyes and waits. She frees her mind of the sorrow of Brazen and the ache that she associates with Neverwhere. She moves past the fear of what she might discover and waits. The ground shakes again and then Lilliana feels something, a familiar feeling that comes in waves. It comes crashing against her like the angry ocean that has carved a proud Nerinian coast.
After delivering five children into this world, she knows this feeling.
The chestnut opens her eyes and ventures forward. The ground is ripped apart here and there are angry gauges across the terrain. Like something has clawed its way out of the Earth. (It's a rather chilling thought, considering the whispers about the things that have come from underneath them.) But her blue gaze lands on a spotted form and the Taigan stops, glancing at the mother and daughter pair before her. "@[Eurwen]?" Lilliana asks, almost disbelieving what is right in front of her. The Diplomat had been missing since the Battle of Nerine.
She looks to the little filly nestled beside the spotted woman. Pain flashes across her memories - golden Aela pressed tenderly against her, ice-scaled Roselin asking why she had no sisters - and the Guardian pushes it away. "What-," she starts, reaching for an explanation and an embrace of her friend. "Where have you been?"
It's cold, but it is a familiar kind of cold. Winter has left, but Nerine's air is always fresh. It wasn't when I disappeared, but it is now. With a content sigh I lift my nose to smell the salty breeze, the one thing that hasn't changed. With it comes a scent of burning wood, but it's not the kind of burning that I've known before. This seems like a small fire on the wind, far away, non threatening.
With the sea breeze comes my friend, as well. She seems so much older, or maybe that's just the surprise in her voice. I can't quite see her, not in the way that I should, but I know the hesitation in how she places her hoofs, recognize her scent and her voice to know who it is I'm talking to. I let out a small sound that is almost a chuckle when she starts to question me. "Here. I've been right here this whole time." I tell her. Feeling around further, I sigh. "Sorry about the mess. I'll fix that... tomorrow." I can't do it right now, I feel too drained. I know deep in my heart that I must have caused this - I'd only recognized that I had tapped into the elemental magic when it was too late; when I was already awake and Muirín had slid into the world amidst the earth's thunder.
I call to the salty breeze with a reserve I didn't know I had, and change it's direction just this once. I can't feel it myself, but the distant smoky scent is gone when I direct a breeze from the sea towards @[lilliana]. My soft-spoken voice follows up, warm but with caution, as if there is someone, or something, I instinctively know I should not wake - if I hadn't already. "What happened here?" Why does Nerine feel empty and dark and disconsolate?
Eurwen
what are men to rocks and mountains?
@[The Monsters] Can you mess around with her Wind Exhalation?
Her mind starts replaying the day that the Pangeans came.
She remembers all the chaos - Beryl throwing herself into the heat of the fight, Amarine filling the air with artificial emotions, Eurwen showing a glimpse of her true strength, Yanhua leaping into the fray (and how much was that like seeing herself? Leaping without thinking?) - and frowns slightly at the spotted shape who says that she has been here since the battle.
Eurwen had been here the entire time?
"No," Lilliana says with a gentle shake of her head. Her blue eyes rest on Eurwen's before her expression softens and the furrows of concern smooth away. "Don't worry about it," she states. Who knows - Popinjay might enjoy the change of scenery. The chestnut glances down to the wobbly form who presses herself into Eurwen's side and her mind moves towards the question that her friend asks.
"Something went wrong with the Alliance," Lilliana explains with the information she has been able to gather. "Something went wrong with the magic as an eclipse was occurring." She had grown up with stories about festivals during solstices and eclipses. The veils between worlds were supposed to be thinner and different realms were brought closer together. The living might hear whispers of the ancestors during the winter solstice. An eclipse in the spring might reveal visions of change - the birth of a new child, the discovery of a new place.
"It stalled and it's been dark for almost a year now," she tells the Nerinian, offering a glimpse into the time that had passed. Lilliana is still looking down at the child when she finally looks up into the waiting eyes of Eurwen. "And there are other... dangers." She warns her friend. "There are monsters who are roaming the dark, tearing apart any sign of life."
I'm not sure why @[lilliana] tells me to leave the rocky mess alone; perhaps she hasn't noticed the extent of the damage in the dark. I can feel the wrongness of the splits in the rock - I will fix those so no-one breaks a leg over it, I am in fact stubborn like that; but I guess it doesn't have to be perfect, or returned to its exact previous state.
What the chestnut mare can explain to me is curiouser, however, than the way I'd spent all my magical energy at once and caused my slumber, as well as the way I broke that spell and brought forth this girl. A frown appears on my face because the eclipse being stalled worries me - who or what could have done such a thing? - and then my friend explains about monsters roaming the dark. I shake my head a little, my thoughts with the nursing girl at my side. I still don't know how she was conceived, but that she is a magical thing to me is clear enough. I will not let her be attacked. Here in Nerine, I'm in my element, and woe the one who dares to threaten my family. The hardened glimmer in my dark eyes says as much, and I give a nod to the blue-eyed mare. "If you need anything I can help with, let me know." I finally decide.
I've been underestimated by most, all of my life, but I know I can help my friends and family against monsters like that if need be.
