"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
With all the lands so recently falling into the sea, it has quite abruptly become much more urgent that Fox visit other lands while he can. Fortunately, to his mind, that is quite an exciting and intriguing venture. As it happens, he had already managed to find his way to the lake (though as he understands it, it has recently changed names), which had been quite an interesting endeavor.
Despite that adventure though, it seems his penchant for exploring cannot remain satiated for long. Despite the relative recency of the visit, he is already itching to head out again. Unfortunately, he doesn’t quite have an invitation this time.
Still, how much trouble can he really get in? Well, no doubt quite a lot. But the real question is how much trouble would he have to get into before he couldn’t get himself out again? That particular questions remains, as yet, unanswered. You see, as it happens, young Fox has quite the singular ability to squirm his way out of any tight spot he might have worked himself into. Of course, his rather interesting ability of making other laugh might play a part in that too.
Either way, he really has no qualms about intruding into a place he really probably shouldn’t be. In this case, the newly named Hyaline. It’s fresh and still relatively unestablished. With any luck, they wouldn’t be as keen as some of the older lands to see him kicked out simply for stepping foot over the invisible boundaries that mark it as another’s territory. Besides, he’s a rather innocuous fellow. With a rather mundane red coat flecked with white, plain amber eyes, and no other spectacular features, he really doesn’t stand out too much from a crowd. He might have winter and Christmas and all its associated magics upon his side, but really, who needs to know?
Despite the unassuming color of his frame, he is a rather handsome fellow. His dark russet features are lean and defined, his solid frame rapidly gaining both heft and girth as he grows into his formerly too gangly form. His red locks have grown long and sleek, and his eyes, though a rather plain, uninspiring shade of light brown, sparkle merrily with warmth and good humor. A pretty enough picture, even if not overly striking. Certainly not enough to inspire outright distrust or (heaven’s forbid) violence from a stranger, even he has come uninvited to their land.
Still, he doesn’t come as boldly as he might have. He takes some caution in his approach, red ears pricked sharply forward, amber eyes watchful despite the curiosity lighting their depths. A half grin lingers upon his lips, his body tense with excitement, but still lined with the happiness and good nature so integral to his being. A curiosity in a foreign land perhaps, but certainly, he hopes, not threatening.
With the constant flooding of visitors in and out of Hyaline, Iset couldn’t exactly say she was bored.Yet, here she was. Bored. Amet was off doing his diplomatic duties, and had left her behind after her recent not-so-successful stint with Nayl.
Well how was she supposed to know she was the Queen? All she saw was a nosy mare and her son, and Iset calls them like she sees them. The metallic filly stomped petulantly through the brush, tamping it down with decisive and remorseless steps and grumbling to herself all the while.
She wanted to go exploring, to see the world. Alas, Amet was too busy running Hyaline to come with her, and Sakir sightings had been few and far between since they had met up in the Forest. The sandy earth beneath her hooves became the enemy, and before she knew it she was throwing it in the air, stomping and kicking at it with sharp, shallow strokes. She may be a year older, but she was still capable of a full blown tantrum.
I mean, really though. Who wasn’t?
Movement from the brush behind her caught her ears and drug them forward before she had even realized that there was yet another newcomer to Hyaline.
Great. Just great. Another horse she would be expected to be kind to. But…-the wheels of her mind began to spin- Amet wasn’t here at the moment, so who would hold her to it? An excited grin touched her lips.
This was going to be fun.
A russet boy stepped out from the shadows of the red maples and the underbrush, his growing frame nearly quivering with what she could only take to be excitement and his eyes shining a with a curiosity that was apparent even from her position a few yards away.
“Hey! Rusty!” she barks, guiding her lithe frame to face him. The coppery tint of her coat reflects the sun as she shifts in front of the boy, ramping herself up for their interaction.
Ostensibly, were he pressed, he could say he is here on a diplomatic visit. As a newly minted diplomat for the oldest kingdom in the newly made Beqanna, he does, technically, have a duty there. Not that he's truly here for duty, but still, semantics.
Of course, had he truly been here for duty, he would have come much more openly and much less furtively. Not that he's much of a sneaky sort. Unfortunately the young red stallion doesn't seem to have an obfuscative bone in his body. Again though, semantics.
So really, it's not at all surprising that he is quite rapidly discovered. He hadn't actually been trying to hide anyway. Exploring is always so much more fun when one has a friend with which to do so. And never once does it occur to Fox that this new mare might not wish to be his friend. As far as he is concerned, everyone is a potential new friend. They just don't know it yet.
So despite the way she kicks so vehemently at the sand, despite her barbed greeting and the irritated mien, she is greeted with a rather impish grin from the rust coloured stallion she had so aptly nicknamed Rusty.
Tipping his head slightly, he pauses a few feet from her, considering her with open curiosity and delight. Any antipathy she displays seems to roll right off him like water from an oil slick. Grin widening, he finally responds, humor evident in his tone. “Rusty, hmm. That's a good one! It's actually Fox though. I've been told that one's particularly apt too. So who are you?”
After a moment, it seems to occur to him that she had actually asked him questions. “Well, you see,” he continues brightly, as though she were not thoroughly annoyed by his very presence. “I actually just came to check things out. Curiosity, I suppose you could say. My biggest weakness.” His smile turns a bit self deprecating at that. “Some company definitely wouldn't go amiss. If you care to join me, that is.” Bright amber gaze shifting, he finds her eyes with his, hope shining bright in those light pools. “So, what do you say? What to help me out?”
Unlike so many of the others that had crossed the path and faced the wrath of Iset, this boy, Fox, was undeterred. His curious smile never drops, and it is this that catches her off guard. She has never come across someone that was immune to her callous venom, and it is this shock that renders her almost speechless.
Almost.
Her eyes narrow as he responds to her jab with goodnatured humor, something her sarcasm hasn’t been combatted with up until this point. “I think I’ll stick with Rusty,” she grumbles, unhappy with being caught off guard. She straightens and raises her head high, determined to gain the upper hand in the conversation once more, “My name is Iset. My brother and I rule the Lake,” a brief shake of her coppery head clears her mistake, “Hyaline, I mean.”
Still growing accustomed to the change in name of their home, she often slipped and called it by what it once was. She barely has the words out before the boy is speaking again, rambling even.
He sure talks a lot, she muses as he speaks of his curiosity, and it being his biggest fallacy. Her mind wandered while he spoke, her own curiosity prompting her to wonder what her biggest downfall might be, and if she would ever grow so comfortable in herself to be able to admit it to a total stranger. She doubts it, and then makes a valiant attempt to redirect her focus back to the words spewing from Fox’s mouth.
He then does something even more foreign than his extended patience with her attitude; he asks for her company. No one, besides maybe Sakir, had ever asked for her presence or aid in anything. Once again, she found herself knocked off balance by this stranger that she has barely spoken a handful of words to.
Her temper rushed quickly to her defense, and although her words were infused with a little bit of extra bite, they lacked her trademark creativity, and in the end all she could come up with was, “Well, I suppose I have to now. I can’t let you just wander around poking your nose into things and fuck something up, now can I?”
A bit of uncharacteristic excitement leaked into her tone as she addressed him once more, “So…” she begins again, trying and failing to sound completely nonchalant, “What sort of exploring did you have in mind?"
oml how adorable would it be if they became travel/adventure buddies (once she stops being bitchy that is)
It seems to be particular talent of his, turning sour natured women on their ears. It’s really not something he had ever practiced much (I mean, why would he? Why would anyone?), more a natural ability. Perhaps it is his perpetually good nature or his careless charm. Or perhaps it’s the nature of his gift, to infuse anyone he might come in contact with with happiness. He hadn’t been doing it purposely, but maybe it’s a bit… leaky?
Hard to say, but whatever it is, he’s damned glad for it. He rather likes teasing grumpy women from their ill humors. There is something very satisfying about it.
Of course, he still has a ways to go here. Shouldn’t count his chickens before they hatch, as they say, and the young and pretty Iset still seems to be a bit on the grumbly side, even if she does appear a bit off balance now. Still, his bright mood is not dampened in the slightest. No, in fact, the mention of her status here in Hyaline serves better to put Fox in an even more gregarious mood.
“Oooo, a queen.” His grin widens a bit as he waggles his brows. Or at least tries too. He’s a horse; hard to say how effective it actually is. “Just my luck, that.”
With a jaunty tip of his head, he turns to continue on his path, undeterred by her stubborn refusal to soften towards him. She’d tag along, and then he’d have plenty of time to work on her. To show her the delights of laughing a bit at the vagaries of life. “No indeed, can’t have that.” He glances briefly back at her, offering her a cheeky wink before turning back to his careful perusal of the newer kingdom.
Finally she seems to come around a bit, going so far as to even sound perhaps the tiniest bit excited for their adventures. Abruptly he turns, offering her a slightly crooked grin as he tilts his head, eyeing her much more openly. “Well, what do you suggest? You know this land better than I, and I want to see allll the sights. Every bit of it,” he ends with a decisive nod.
She sees an opportunity in the boy in front of her. An opportunity to escape Hyaline and the trouble she had caused. An opportunity for her brothers to be free of the burden that is Iset. His smile was infectious, or it would be if she hadn’t just resigned herself to leave the only family she had ever known. She winces lightly when he calls her a queen, knowing she is less than deserving of the title and wondering if she ever was.
“The mountains are my favorite. We can go there first,” she blurted, her voice still hoarse from screaming (and maybe a bit from crying too, but no one had to know that). They would go to the mountains she would show him around for five minutes or so, and then he would be her one way ticket out of Hyaline.
With a sharp pull of her head, she stumbles away, wincing at the pressure her steps put on her raw and bruised legs. “Lets go Rusty. Its a rough walk,” she gives him a once over, “especially for those who don’t know the terrain.” The sun began to scale its way down the cloudless sky, and Iset craved the anonymity the darkness would soon bring her. She stumbled more than she normally did when scaling the sides of the craggy peaks; the water that had ensnared her legs had caused her much more damage than she had previously thought feasible.
She checked behind her once or twice to make sure Fox hadn’t fallen off into a ravine at some point during their hike, but otherwise ignored his presence. He was needed as a guide, a ticket out. She found a ledge that she knew could hold her weight and stopped there abruptly, the view of the place she destroyed, the place she once called home, taking her breath away. She stood there, frozen, enraptured by the damage she had done.
The moment she accedes to his wishes, he is nearly bounding off. A wide, delighted grin upon his red lips, he follows her with alacrity. When he notices her hesitant steps however, he slows to fall in step beside her, keeping his pace steady to match hers.
Fortunately he is a nimble young stallion, practiced in the ways of treacherous ground and adventure. As a product of Tephra, it would be nearly impossible not to be. One misstep and you might stick your hoof right in a puddle of lava. Of course, being the overly brave and adventurous young colt he had been (and still is, despite his added years), he may have burned himself a time or too. May even still have the scars along coronet and fetlock to prove it. Still, he had gotten wiser as he aged, and much more nimble. These mountains present no problem for him, and so he keeps up to her with ease, either alongside or falling behind when the paths narrow too much for two horses abreast.
Naturally, Fox is not quiet for this trip. Did you expect it of him? He really doesn’t need nor even anticipate much of a response to his words, from the excited “Alright then, let’s go!” at the beginning of their quest to the various offhand comments he makes along the way. Comments on the loveliness of the landscape, to an excited exclamation at the sighting of a mountain sheep some ways in the distance. “Oh! That sheep! Ovis canadensis. My dad taught me that one,” he says with a wide grin.
He carefully avoids commenting on her seemingly injured state, understanding it was something she would need time to share with him. Despite his often frivolous tendencies, he does have a rather more sensitive side. When finally they are nearing the top of the mountain, when she is leading him towards a sturdy looking ledge, he releases an excited breath before bounding far too near to the edge for comfort. Once there, the wide, excited grin slips a bit, a hint of concern entering his amber gaze. “Oh my,” he says a bit hesitantly. “That doesn’t look good.”
After a moment’s silence, his gaze slides sideways, landing upon Iset’s frozen expression. A rather large part of him suspects that she had some involvement in whatever had destroyed part of the mountain kingdom, given her reaction and rather painful stride. The guilt fairly radiates from her.
Abruptly, animatedly, he steps forward, the tips of his hooves pressing their luck at the edges of the cliff as a glint enters his amber gaze. “Hmm, let’s see here. We can fix this.” As the last is spoken, a storm begins to gather about him.
It’s so easy to forget, given his easy nature and good humor, just how powerful Fox truly is. But with little thought and even less fanfare, he demonstrates just how much lingers beneath the unassuming surface. A storm of ice and snow is building, blurring and chilling the air around them, before cascading down the mountain to coat the ruined landscape below. Swirls of glittering white and glistening crystal undulate and expand, rumbling and building, twisting into fantastic shapes. When finally he is done, when the ice and snow dust have cleared, a large magnificent tree stands in the midst of the destruction. It’s icy limbs and glittering leaves tinkle faintly in the breeze, a beautiful, gleaming shrine in the midst of a blanket of white that hides every trace of destruction.
Finally, Fox steps back, a faint trace of sweat darkening his neck from the incredible amount of energy it must have taken to create such a thing. “There,” he states, a small, satisfied smile upon his lips as he admires his handiwork.
He never stumbles, never wavers in their journey to wherever it is they are venturing to. This impresses Iset far more than she would expect it to (and far more than she would ever admit to), for it took her quite a few treks into the mountains to traverse it’s surfaces as effortlessly as she did now. His meaningless comments pass right over her head, and though the sound of his curious voice reaches her, her jumbled head has no room to spare to make sense of the words. She stays quiet through his chatter, for once her rudeness unintentional and a mere byproduct of the clustered state of her mind.
When she stopped in front of him he did the exact opposite, instead leaping in his merry way to take in the view that Hyaline provided. Once there, his happy-go-lucky expression faltered for the first time since they had met and his tone betrayed the confusion and concern that had arisen from the ashes. He turns towards her, but it feels almost as if his gaze goes straight through her. She is so focused, so honed in on the kingdom before them that his sudden movements startle her, and as he makes his way closer and closer to the edge of the cliff she finds some of her old curiosity reaching out to her again, imploring her to figure out what it is that Fox might be doing.
Head cocked, her attention had finally been drawn to something other than the destruction of her home (if she could even still call it that) for the first time since Levi and the other lost boys had intruded. The breath she had been about to take in caught in her chest as clouds gather around them, twisting their icy hands around the pair of them before dropping lower, to envelop the ash that blanketed the land.
She couldn’t quite figure out what made her stay calm and silent as his power (whatever it was) descended over the land. After all, she had no way of knowing it wouldn’t bring even more destruction to those below. Perhaps it was because he seemed to be the opposite of Levi; Where Levi brought heat, fear, and destruction, Fox brought the cold, joy, and healing.
At least, this was her first impression as she watched a clean, white blanket of snow drape over everything that had been touched by the terror she caused. Tears sprung unexpectedly to her eyes, but she dismissed them as a result of the chilly breeze and blinked them away before they could be seen.
Realizing that Fox was still focusing hard on the white canvas before them, she watched him curiously, seeing his neck darken almost imperceptibly with a thin sheen of sweat. A pleased smile touches his lips and his eyes fall back to her, making her blush slightly when she realizes she was caught staring. He seems to be awaiting a response, and because of this Iset tears her amber eyes away from his to fully survey the scene before them.
The icy tendrils the wind had carried tied themselves into branches and a trunk, and Iset stared in wonder at the new life that stood as a beacon in the center of Hyaline. “It’s beautiful…” she whispered, unable to force any more words through the tears clogging her throat. She glanced at him, his carefree smile and joyous demeanor infecting her own morose one and a small forgotten smile forced its way to her own lips.
“You know,” she began, dropping her eyes as she pressed the words from her mouth, “I think I’ll be traveling for a while. Where do you suggest going first?” She kept her words and her tone light, even as the thought of being alone for the first time since she had escaped the Dunes had her stomach in knots.
I am SO sorry it took me so long, my life has been absolutely insane lately :/
He can feel her gaze upon him, despite his focus upon his creation below. He might be wielding snow and ice, might be creating masterpieces with only a thought, but the heat of her eyes upon him is unmistakable, warming his ice-touched skin and reminding him why he is doing this.
It is his gift to her, that tree. He would do anything to see a smile upon her features, replacing the scowls marring her lips and sadness lingering in the depths of her gaze. He cannot fix whatever is that had happened below, cannot truly make it go away. But he can give her, and Hyaline, something new, something beautiful, to replace it until nature inevitably mends her scars.
From the moment of his birth he has always known his contribution to the world would be to spread light and joy to every corner he touched. And perhaps this couldn’t replace all of her misery, but it is a start. And for Fox, that is enough for now. They could work on the rest later.
Twisting, he fixes his bright amber gaze upon Iset, that crooked grin still tugging at his lips. He studies her for a moment, golden eyes more serious than the brightness of his features might suggest. He turns briefly back to gaze upon his handiwork once more before taking a step back and focusing his attention on the lovely mare at his side. “I’m glad you think so,” he quips in response to her whispered comment. “It’s for you.” A teasing glint enters his intense gaze as his lips quirk upwards ever so slightly more. “Something to match your beauty.”
Her next comment doesn’t surprise him as much as it likely should, but given the observations he had made, he cannot claim it is unexpected. Besides, he could rather do with a traveling companion. If she is amenable, that is. “Wellllll....” he hedges, appearing rather thoughtful for a moment. “Beautiful sights abound in Beqanna, so that’s a toughie. Buuuuut, if you’d like to join me, we could start with Tephra and go on from there.” Tipping his head slightly, he gazes at her in open question, an enticing half smile still curving his lips.
He watches her in a way that no one ever has before; curiosity and admiration tangle with something she can’t quite recognize. He turns sharply, that ever-happy golden gaze fixed solidly on her as its accompanying warmth slides languidly over her body. The tree he commanded to form before them stands proudly and chills the air around them, but the heat that pulses in their own little bubble warms her skin and brings a rosy blush to her cheeks.
She knows that the destruction she caused hasn’t gone away permanently; it has merely been hidden by the pure blanket of snow and ice that stretches out upon the ground. However, it brings her some measure of peace to know that the results of her stupidity and naivety would be temporarily hidden from sight.
His eyes lose some of their jolly mirth as they are trained on hers, yet they don’t become sad: merely more thoughtful than before. His focus switches between her and his creation once more before his gaze steadies and holds her in its grasp. At a loss for words for the first time she could remember, her mumbled, “Thank you,” took more effort to produce that her wordiest of arguments with Him or her her brothers. His next comment has her girlish blush intensifying, though she can’t quite figure out why. She had always fielded the attractions of the colts and stallions around her, but none had made her react in quite this way: the pace of her heart quickened slightly and her golden body seemed to be heating from the inside out.
He propositions her then for her company, suggesting they travel to a place she had heard of in passing yet had not traveled to. Of course, there hadn’t been many places in Beqanna to which she had traveled, so this was not a surprise. Determined to pull the upper hand in regards to their conversation, she injects as much tired haughtiness as she can into her tone. “I suppose,” she says on a sigh, “That you could tag along, Rusty.”
She wasn’t ready to let her guard slip with this one quite yet; he seemed kind enough, and charming, but Iset’s thorny disposition wouldn’t allow her walls to crumble that easily. She side-stepped out of the way, giving him room to sidle up beside her. Though she in no way knew how to get to Tephra, her ample pride would not allow her to be led by Rusty here (or anyone for that matter), so she instead silently directed that the two would walk side by side as long as the width of the mountain path would accommodate them.
“Let’s get moving. It still gets pretty cold here at night.” And with that, she started a slow pace, waiting for him to fall into step beside her before she could stretch out her legs and truly put her past behind her.
