"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
02-19-2022, 09:56 PM (This post was last modified: 03-27-2022, 02:52 PM by Areane.)
There are only a few more nights left like this one. Areane can feel it. She doesn’t know how or why; the cool winds of autumn haven’t blown this far west yet. Tephra’s sweltering heat guards them from it for now, and tonight is warm and blanketed in a velvet-dark sky full of stars. The moon is gone, leaving the smaller celestials to guard the night. It nearly conceals the young pegasus mare, her onyx coat and the long shadows from the jungle melding together so that even the faintest of Areane’s glow would have remained hidden.
The only one who might know to find her here is her brother, Starros, because this place isn’t far from where their parents usually rest.
Tarian had only two things that he asked of his children: to be cautious in the presence of strangers and to fly only in daylight.
Areane did understand, and for nearly two years, she has obeyed her father’s requests. The first had been easy to do after Loess had sunk. She had taken her first trip out into the world, ready to explore the Common Lands; but she hadn’t been prepared to leave behind her family. To never see them again would have shattered her. She had been fortunate where many had not. Starros had found her frantically wandering the Forest and the two of them had huddled together underneath Winter’s watchful gaze until their parents came to claim them.
Since then, she hasn’t gone far.
Until tonight.
Tonight she wanders out from the umbra, and ventures towards where she has often spotted her twin. Her glittering wings began to spread out, appreciating the way that the trees had grown more sparse here. "Starros?” she calls out in a hushed tone, loud enough for him to hear her and yet quiet enough to not disturb anyone that may be slumbering nearby. If her voice doesn’t reach him, she reverts back to a foalhood tactic at getting Starros' attention. A creation made of dried leaves and broken twigs twine together in the shape of an opossum - an animal they had spied countless times in Loess - that begins to skulk the shadows in search of her brother.
Starros never really understood the no flying at night rule their dad had insisted on. He didn’t ask for clarification either - but every day brought a new, wilder idea for what the reason could be. Were there large predators in Tephra that flew around at night, waiting for unsuspecting youths? Did wings simply not work as well? Was their family allergic to flying at night?
The light that shone from Starros’ wings did disappear when the sun went down, which gave a little bit of credibility to Tarian’s rule. Enough that it had not yet occurred to the young stallion to ever even try to unfurl his wings at night and take off. He trusted his parents.
And there are many things on the ground to hold his attention anyway.
Though his ability to bend and utilize light doesn’t work well after dark, he’s discovered recently that he can form a shield of moonlight if he really concentrates. Moonlight is hard for him to weave illusions with except for this very particular thing, and he doesn’t understand it at all but it is something for him to focus on at night when he was not tired.
The sound of movement nearby causes the light to extinguish and he remains quiet so he can listen - and then huffs when he hears his sister’s voice and then watches a creation crawl towards him across the leafy litter.
“It’s not fair that you can still make things at night.” Starros says instead of a proper greeting - seeing little point in saying hi to someone he sees all the time.
03-07-2022, 07:56 PM (This post was last modified: 03-27-2022, 02:52 PM by Areane.)
Perhaps it was the wanderer in Areane that thrilled with each new discovery she found the further they went into Tephra. There were creatures that she had never seen before (the puffkeets were her favorite, though she had learned to give their nests a wide berth after a rather terrifying encounter with a brave bird). There were other kinds of birds - one for every color that Areane had ever seen and then some - as well as leopards and a sloth that she had even spied once overhead.
But tonight, it isn’t the creatures of their new home that capture her imagination. The familiar flash of light nearby tells her that Starros is near and the young pegasus smiles, moving through the ferns behind her latest creation. It continues to travel, eventually moving so far that she loses track of it, but Areane doesn’t mind. She is smiling when her amethyst eyes find the light blue stallion, and despite her brother’s indignant huff, it doesn’t spoil her delight. ”Atleast you can do something with your light,” Areane speaks out, letting her voice come a little louder now that she was certain it was Starros out here.
There is very little moonlight tonight - thanks to a waning moon - so as she continues to approach her brother, Areane glows very dimly. She has never minded the way that she glows; but there is nothing she can do with it. Not like Starros can. His ability to maneuver light had fascinated her even when they had been small, and despite growing older, it still continues to do so. He could even craft his own wings out of it, where hers were just plain, dark feathers.
Which brought her to the reason why she had sought out Starros so eagerly. Maybe this broke a rule, but the night was warm and the stars were bright. It was a perfect opportunity for an evening flight, and despite knowing that their father might have been apprehensive about it, Areane thought they should take it.
"There might be lava flows tonight," she murmurs, repeating what a passing Tephran had told her. "I thought it might be fun to see what they look from the sky," comes her excited voice, "Somebody told me you can see their glow all the way from the islands." The air around them shimmers enthusiastically.
"Plus," she adds with a conspiratorial smile, trying to tempt her brother into joining this adventure, "have you seen the volcano yet?"
Starros visibly perks up at the mention of the lava flows and the volcano. It would be pretty cool to see them from the sky - that was something he hadn’t done yet. He’d follow them as they snaked through the jungle, jumping over them whenever he felt brave enough (which wasn’t very often). Their new jungle home was full of wonderful things to explore - and Areane was right, the volcano was one of those things that he just hadn’t had a chance to check out yet.
His feathered wings ruffle at his sides in his excitement at the very idea of it.
“That does sound cool.” His head instinctively drifts towards where the jungle lies.
But then he slowly turns his head back to Areane, narrowing his bright blue eyes and regards his sister with exaggerated uncertainty. “And suspiciously like a plan just to get us back to Tephra where we’re supposed to be.” What were they doing all the way over here in the forest, with the world that used to be Loess between them and their new home, if they were just going to go back to the jungle?
The draw of the lava flows was certainly going to be enough, but he can't quite help needling her a little bit - doing (almost) exactly what their parents would want of them. Minus the flying at night and checking out of dangerous lava, of course. But at least they'd be in the right general vicinity.
