anyone;

[Tiphon]

We danced with monsters through the night He ran. Like a coward, like a child, Tiphon fled. The loss of his son weighed heavily on him, bringing him down into a shadow of himself. That proud soldier that he was is broken now, but there are pieces of him still holding on. Elysteria and Talulah are the glue in his heart, their love and adoration trying to mend him. Their smiles and their honeyed voices resonate through him, but he doesn’t try to find them. Although they are his light in the darkness Tiphon can’t bear to face them at this moment knowing that he left again. They come together like moths to a flame, but time and time again he fails them. A distant stare holds him at the border of the meadow. He clings tightly to his memories until they twist and darken with Tiberios’ face amidst it all. A shiver runs down the length of his spine. If only his son could still be here, among the living, but at least he is not alone in death. There, in the stars of past lives, is his mother, Miraposa. They are once again united. The prospect eases Tiphon for a fleeting moment until he remembers the maimed remnants of his son and the blood that drenched the sand. Murder. Gritting his teeth, the sentinel pulls himself from his thoughts and melts into the scenery of the meadow, joining the hundreds that roam here. Tiphon infection and starlace

picture by random-acts-stock on deviant art

[Malka]

She'd given up on determining what she was going to do with herself for the time being and succumbed to just simply being a wanderer. She was immortal after all and there wasn't anything she could do now that she couldn't do later. And so, here she finds herself wandering lazily in and out of the Meadow. She had spent the last several weeks poking around the nearby forest, but had done little else. Sometimes her thoughts while she wandered slipped back towards her past. There had been many happy moments in her life (many of them involved the Jungle she used to call home), but there had been some horrors there as well. Her capture by the Chamber where she was subsequently beaten, raped and nearly starved to death topped the top of her list and the next down was watching her father be murdered by a strange stallion. It was her own father's death that had granted her immortality, so she more than anybody should realize that immortality means little in this land.

For the first time in years, she's been a horse for more than a small handful of hours. She much preferred her solitary life as a quetzal. It allowed her to eavesdrop on small conversations here and there while, for the most part, blending in with the scenery. But being homeless meant she had little interactions with others and absolutely no friends - a life she did not want to live at all.

As she walks, her eyes are drawn to a bright white stallion with golden points. It really wasn't his color that pulled him apart from the others, for there were hundreds of strangely colored creatures living in Beqanna, but something about his demeanor attracted the paint mare. Her tail flicks hesitantly across her legs before she starts towards him, coming to a stop a few feet away and offering a gentle nicker of greeting before closing the gap between them.

"Greetings. Name's Malka," she said with a soft bob of her head. She doesn't say anything else for she's not really sure what else to offer. She had no homeland anymore and no fancy titles to go after her name. She was just simply "Malka" now. It was a strange thing to finally put into context, but it was a fact of her new life and until she did something about it, it wasn't going to change.

Malka

Immortal, Quetzal-shifting
Mare of nowhere

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Image by: CoyoteMange

[Tiphon]

We danced with monsters through the night It's funny how truly temporary titles are, especially when you have eternity to achieve them all. Tiphon has been a low-ranked soldier and diplomat just as he has been a King. He has risen and fallen in both kingdoms and life itself. When immortality shields you from age everything seems to lose its urgency. He isn't in a race to be granted respect and power; it can come and go as it pleases. It's just another day, just another blink of his eyes. Unfortunately, Tiphon has never experienced that mortal urgency. He knew what he was the second he and Candle exited the womb. He knew then what difference his life had than most. As a child, however, he thought it a blessing. Now, he sees it for what it truly is: a curse. As the years flutter by Tiphon will watch his loved ones wither and die. Months (or has it been years already?) ago he saw his own son's body maimed on the beach. He realized then how treasured family should be because their mortality leaves them wondering when it will happen instead of if. As his thoughts begin to consume him, clouding over his consciousness, she comes as a beacon. She is the light tower guiding him out of the fog by the gentleness of her voice. Tiphon blinks slowly then turns his head to look at her. Malka, she says her name is, and he wonders briefly if they had met decades ago in a Jungle miles away from here. Most horses he met during his reign in the Dale, but that was already so long ago. No one could possibly still be around from then, and so the idea is dismissed with a smooth incline of his head. "Tiphon," like her, he bears no titles or honors. It's merely his name with nothing else attached. At times, he takes into consideration if that is a good or bad thing. Nothing ties him down. Nothing controls him. A deep sigh is exhaled as he briefly turns his attention back onto the meadow that unravels in front of the two of them. "If I had to take a guess, I would think you've been around quite a bit and have had a part in quite a few rodeos." A low, airy chuckle tumbles from deep in his throat, like boulders in a landslide. His forelock hangs down toward his muzzle, but it's offset enough to show his molten eyes when they lift to find her own. "You haven't always been a wanderer," not by the way she talks or the way she carries herself. No, she has held her temporary titles just as he had many moons ago. Tiphon infection and starlace

picture by random-acts-stock on deviant art

[Malka]

It does not take him long to reply with a name and her ears flick forward gently as he speaks. They pin back slightly as she thinks if she's met him before, but not being able to place him to anything in particular, she swishes her tail and returns her ears to his attention.

He sighs and looks out over the meadow behind her and she let her own gaze drift to follow his. There was nothing particularly interesting back there - just more horses wondering about. The birthing season was coming to an end and so there were a spattering of gangly foals following after their mothers, but for the most part it was the normal meadow sight. His words come again and she breaks her gaze from the others and focuses on him again. "You could definitely say that," she said with a chuckle. At one point in her life, she would not have lived as long as she had. She should've been dead quite a few years ago, but it was her estranged father's murder that had gifted her immortality - and it was definitely a double edged sword. She had watched many of her best friends and family members pass on while she continued on as if she was still very much in her prime. Kagerou, Echion, Scorch and more.

The white man continues on and Malka slowly shakes her head. "No, not always. At one point in time, I called the Jungle my home, but she long ago succumbed to a monarchy I cannot support," she says. It was Scorch's demise and Lagertha's ascent to the throne that had made Malka not return to the Jungle. She'd always had a touch of wanderer in her, but had decided that she wouldn't go 'home' until it changed. Malka and Lagertha had been at ends the last few times Malka had resided in the Jungle - with the majority of issues stemming from Lag's mistrust of Malka's wanderings and Malka's own mistrust at Lag's desire for power. She did not want to go further into detail with the stallion, but she was sure that he would understand. Even though she loved the Jungle with every fiber of her being, she could not support it in her current state - for one could not easily serve the land they lived in while loathing the one who led it.

"What about yourself?" she asks casually. She could tell just from his easy assumptions about her that he too knew a thing or two about wandering and the ins and outs of the kingdoms. Her ears continue to flicker on top of her head as the caught rushed whispers of the other conversations going on around them, but they always came back around to the stallion before her.

Malka

Immortal, Quetzal-shifting
Mare of nowhere

HTML © Zariah
Image by: CoyoteMange