[private] Sink in the river the lessons I learned; Djuna

[Leilan]

Leilan

He hasn’t been to the Forest in years, but when he enters it, it feels like coming home. Had he not had his ties to the North, to the Isle specifically, the scaled roan thinks that the Forest would make a good second. If all else fails... but he shouldn’t think like that. There’s much at stake with his wandering these days, and so far he hasn’t quite found a way to finish his quest, other than to keep looking.

He’ll have to make sure to cover the land of the living before he tries anything else; it is already a matter of life or death, and hopefully it is the first. He remembers how the Afterlife had never let him in; the one time he had been granted passage was by exception - by the magic of the fairies, of Beqanna itself - and the veil had been torn then.

He does have new tricks up his sleeve. But to enter, himself? He’s not entirely sure that it would work - or, if it does, if he’ll be able to get back. So he’d rather scout all of Beqanna’s lands first, before making such moves.

The gyrfalcon is entirely out of place in the forest, though, now that the days are short and the nights cold, the ice-clad roan knows the white bird is quite content with its location. No, with winter around the corner, the pair is free to roam practically everywhere. Everywhere that is not Tephra or its territories, anyway. That’s too hot no matter the time of year, for his magic. No teleports had been a downer last time he did.

The long shadows of the trees envelope the white and spotted bird of prey and soon it is out of sight. If it were to find the chestnut here, then Leilan would know; but he lets the animal roam and hunt on its own. Instead, the stallion momentarily closes his eyes and finds the nearest heartbeat of another horse; when he opens his eyes, they are molten silver, and the stallion teleports to where he found one. Or, he should say two, but perhaps she doesn’t know yet, and it would be impolite to point it out. Right? Right.

”Hello, you two.” Ah, oops. He must have slipped. So terribly sorry.

something so right
doing the wrong thing

@Djuna

[Djuna]

Djuna

the would-be queen

She misses home more deeply and more achingly than she thought she ever would.

It surprises her to learn, after these first few weeks in Beqanna, that it's not her riches or her crown or her handmaids or her comfortable bed that she misses most; it's her family. Mother's harpy-like voice had never failed to grate at her nerves, but now ― she would give anything to hear it again. To be able to roll her eyes when mother tells her to stand up straight, or adjust her robe, or stop fidgeting at the feast table.

Of course, there are things she doesn't miss ― her wretch of a former husband is most certainly at the top of that list of things. He might have been a king, but he was not fit for the title. He was old and senile, and his ugliness was matched only by his cruelty. His sunken face is etched in perpetuity into each crevice of her memories; the awful smell of his breath and the skin-crawling milkiness of his mutilated left eye stand out in vivid detail in her mind's eye.

She wants to forget him, forget every wretched detail of the old man. For awhile, she had managed to. Her tryst with the azure stallion had been fun, but ultimately forgettable. He'd been just what she needed in that moment, a convenient way to get her mind off less-than-fortunate circumstances. She'd meant for nothing to come of it, and for a long time she believed nothing had.

Until she comes across a silvery stallion in the woods one day. He's not the strangest character she's come across in Beqanna, but the way he greets her certainly qualifies as one of the stranger things she's heard so far. Confusion flits across her features, an amiable smile curling pale lips upward.

"Two?" she asks with an airy laugh, the true meaning of his words not quite sinking in yet, "what do you mean?"

@Leilan sorry this took me a minute to get to! hope it's okay <3

[Leilan]

Leilan

The painted mare is confused and for a heartbeat longer, the question lingers in his head like a clear silver bell’s echo. He smiles - amiably so, waiting for her to renounce her question, but she doesn’t and it becomes more of a joking grin. The quicksilver of his eyes change to a bright emerald green, his head tilts just a tad and he continues. ”Ah, you know, the ancient miracle. What has four ears, eight legs, two hearts, and didn’t remember it was that time of year?” Another pause follows, waiting for her to catch up. Still, he can’t help but feel a little sorry. ”First one, huh?” he offers with a more friendly, near worrying tone. Not that he thinks she couldn’t handle it though. Most mares are perfectly capable of raising their offspring without any help.

His eyes take on a more neutral, light blue color as he makes a shoulder motion, letting go of the subject if she wants to, too. ”You’re new to Beqanna?” he asks - he knows, but he makes it sound like something that he estimates from her behaviour and smell, not something that could be plucked from the mind like a ripe apple (similar to her name, actually). It’s not polite - well, he wouldn’t have cared about that but he does feel a little sorry for her pregnant self being in a new environment. It must be hard being homeless and not knowing your way all too well. Besides, he shouldn’t spend his time bullying people. He’s a man on a mission. ”By any chance have you seen a chestnut mare, skinny, star marking, bright blue eyes?” Probably not - Lilliana had been missing a long time now and it would be pure coincidence. He doesn’t want to sound too eager, so he keeps his face neutral. It was his problem, not Djuna’s.

something so right
doing the wrong thing

@Djuna