"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
12-05-2017, 12:00 AM (This post was last modified: 12-05-2017, 12:00 AM by Ryan.)
I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory
He is reluctant to leave Tickaani behind, but she had been of an adventurous mind and wanted to go to Ischia and then possibly onwards. Ryan was ready to find a place to settle, at least for a while; to find himself a place he might love as much as his mother had always spoken lovingly of her Falls. Keeper had come from a land he thought thought he had left behind as a boy – but he had liked keeper, and surely no one would even remember the quiet boy who had not stayed more than a year. Surely even if they do, they will welcome him back. So after spending some days on his own, considering, Ryan makes his way to Hyaline.
Perhaps his horse would cover more ground, but he runs along the paths in his cat form. He is following Keeper’s trail from some time ago, and his tracking his better in this form, and it’s fast enough. He doesn’t need to track her at all. He knows his way. But the practice is good for him. Sure-footed as well, and silent. He runs in the night, because it is cool and the darkness is comforting, but when he reaches the borders of the new place, Ryan stops to wait. It would not make a good impression for him to announce himself in the middle of the night.
He curls up in a tree and waits, dozing, until light has firmly embraced Hyaline. Then he stretches, luxuriously, and drops to the ground. His landing is light, his cat-form lithe, and then seamlessly he becomes a horse again, shaking his mane and tail into place and lifting green eyes to the sights of the familiar mountain. For a moment he considers changing color, hiding his boyhood identity, but he wants to be able to find Keeper and have her recognize him, so he stays gold-and-mulberry despite growing nerves, and wanders into the Kingdom.
She found solace in ritual, and no matter how strange the day which followed, her mornings were much the same. At dawn, she would begin her customary hike along the border, trotting and walking until she had covered several miles and the sun had dried the dew. It was usually peaceful, helped her warm up and place her thoughts in order for the day.
So it is that the young Queen finds the shifter not long after he had dropped to the earth.
This (she is not sure if she should label him as a colt or stallion) is mulberry and gold, like fruit stains on her mother's lips, and she smiles when she sees him patiently waiting. His musky scent reminds her of Keeper in the way that something darker then equine seems to clings to him - something predatory. But this does dilute her friendly greeting or gentle smile, it is only noted in the back of her mind.
"Hello, Welcome." It had taken time, but she had come to know the faces of those she who shared her home. Hyaline was a vast kingdom, stretching from the ocean into the clouds and she had explored much of it - but his face was new.
"I'm Solace, the Caretaker. Are you here to see Amet?"
The crown still fit her head a little awkwardly and she often found herself mentioning Amet when speaking with newcomers - it reminded her that he was still here to help if anything went wrong, and that allows her to speak with more confidence than she would have commanded on her own.
I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory
He does not find Keeper first.
He is, by nature, skittish. But it is not your typical horse-skittish. Something about that predator that some part of Solace can sense makes him less equine and more feline; instead of fleeing he is as likely to jump and hiss and strike out. Now, though, he hears the mare coming long before she reaches him and makes the conscious effort to pause, to look at the gold-and-white mare, green eyes tracing the streaks of blue in her otherwise normal coloring. He is not frozen and stiff in the way wary horses are, but frozen the way a cat goes motionless – appearing to be only a freeze frame, half still in motion.
“Hello, Solace,” Ryan smiles back, relaxing fractionally when she offers no threat, no recriminations. “I’m Ryan.”
The other half of her question is considered, mulled over the way he usually overthinks things. It’s a trait he inherited from his father, or so mother had always said. Ryan had never met Woolf, and thus thinks of him very little, though not little of him. Nairne had built Woolf up into a grand thing for her young child to imagine, and so he will always be thus in Ryan’s mind until reality proves him otherwise.
“Ah….no.” Should he be looking for Amet? He’d rather not. The stallion might be one of the very few who would recognize him from his first stay, and he wants to make a new start. “I’m actually looking for Keeper? We met in the Field. I don’t suppose you know where I might find her.” The smile now is shy, his eyes questioning. “In the meantime, I suppose, could you show me around?”
He’s curious to see it now, from the eyes of a new Keeper.
It has been days since she parted from the company of Tickaani and Ryan.
Tick had made her mind up to go with Caw and explore. Ryan… well, he hadn’t said much but Keeper had a niggling little worm of suspicion in her brain that he might just make his way here. Here, of course, being Hyaline. She tried not to believe that she looked for him sometimes, the buckskin and mulberry of him would stick out like a sore thumb amidst the summer splendor of the land but she found that her black eyes often searched and came up with nothing, not a hint nor a hair of him.
So she spent those days becoming accustomed to the bear now that she knew that’s what she could become. It still unnerved her, especially at night and morning when the bear took over and Keeper fought to retain some measure of herself inside it because Keeper-bear was different from Keeper-pony and the two still had some reconciling to do. It was hard to have a bear’s brain with a horse’s heart thumping away inside the great furry chest but somehow, the two managed a rhythm most of the time.
Other times, parts of the bear surfaced in Keeper the pony and she’d suddenly look down to find that she had great big claws instead of hooves that scratched themselves into the ground. Or a stub of a tail when her own tangled mess of one had been. Keeper had not yet become accustomed to these absurdities that still occurred without her control and if she saw Ryan again, she’d have to ask him how he managed to transition from horse to mountain lion so well and without making mistakes. He’d made it look so easy that day in the field! But it was time to push thoughts of the aloof stallion aside as the little mare took to climbing down from what had surely become her own private nook in Hyaline; a cave on the mountainside, that the bear had chosen.
Morning light spreads from each crook and corner until it has covered a good portion of the land. Enough for her to spot the little queen also up and about. Solace had become a friend too, a good one that had tolerated the arrival of the bear better than Keeper had. She can feel a smile taking shape on her mouth as she thinks of the little queen with a fondness that Keeper reserves for only those she calls her own, which in this case, is quite a few horses that have managed to make memorable impressions upon her that lead to fast easy friendships. From this distance though, it looks as if Solace is not alone…
Curious but not usually one to intrude, Keeper roams ever closer in arc that becomes smaller and more concise by the time her nose picks up the scents of Solace and the stranger who Keeper is elated to discover is no stranger at all! Ryan though, has gone still in a fashion that Keeper is familiar with instinct rises unbidden in her but the instinct is jumbled and confused - protect him or protect Solace? The bear prefers the latter and the mare prefers the former. Here is the trouble with reconciling the two halves of herself, so she blows out through her nostrils to let them both know that she is there .
She is still back far enough in case the bear explodes out of her because her control over it is still tenuous at best. The tension easing out of her as Ryan starts to relax and neither animal in her senses a reason to be wary and on guard. She has to give herself a little shake as he mentions is looking for her and well, here she is! Drawn to him and the shy smile on his mouth that makes Keeper smile in return as she finally joins the two of them at last, brushing her nose companionably against Solace’s shoulder before attempting to rub it against Ryan’s nose.
“You finally made it!” her elation is boundless as it bubbles up out of her in that moment.
12-15-2017, 12:15 AM (This post was last modified: 12-15-2017, 12:17 AM by Solace.)
Solace
She can tell he's trying.
Her brother is the epitome of effortless and this newcomer couldn't be more different. But somehow, that puts her at ease. There is no posturing here, and her formality sluffs away as his tentative smile appears. There is a comfort in knowing that she isn't the only young horse who cares what others think - who sometimes feels unsure of herself in the presence of strangers. But his tension diminishes, ever so slightly, as he gives her his name and she can't help but feel a little more confident in her role as the welcoming hostess.
"Oh! Keeper! Of course, I'm sure we can find her easily." His hesitancy only increases her desire to make him feel welcome. The young mare doesn't encroach on his space, forgoing the usual touching of muzzles and exchanging of scents. "You have to come see the lake and the Whysteria first." Solace begins to turn, to show him the way to the crystalline heart of Hyaline. She is happy to have found a willing participant in a tour.
The scent of Kepper-the-bear drifts to her before the pony mare is in sight and Solace halts mid-step.
"You are in luck Ryan, here Keeper comes now," Solace chimes. As the other mare passes the Caretaker returns her greeting with a bob of her head and a brief touch of her muzzle to her own. The excitement which is apparent in Keepers features helps to widen Solcase's own smile and she finds her gaze lingering on the sight of her friend's joy.
"I will let you two catch up; Keeper is a very able guide." Turning her cerulean gaze to the young stallion, she speaks with a heartfelt sincerity.
"Ryan, you are welcome to stay as long as you wish, any friend of keepers is welcome in Hyaline."
With a nod to both Solace turns to continue her hike along the foothills at the perimeter of the land entrusted to her.
you are my sunshine
@[Ryan] You guys deserve better but I wanted to get this up before I went on away <3
