"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
04-24-2018, 09:39 PM (This post was last modified: 04-24-2018, 11:15 PM by Khaeli.)
Khaeli
"No, I don't need to take a bath - could you stop - MOM!!" Khaeli's little voice became piping with the last word as she pushed away from Galilee's pestering tongue, which attempted in vain to sooth the fur which was not only ruffled, but tangled up in burrs and mud, too. The grown mare snorted indignantly at this rebuttal of her parental rights, but before she could get a word in edgewise, her frolicsome daughter was zooming away at top speed. "I gotta go find Egg!"
Smiling and shaking her head softly, Galilee watched her daughter's speckled rump disappearing through the opening of the thicket which encircled her lagoon. Sighing, the mare turned and trundled away, perhaps in the hopes of finding Brennen; though they were quite sure they'd managed to create another life this autumn, one could never be too sure - or at least that's what Galilee told herself as she sought out her king, with some quite unqueenly thoughts on her mind.
Closer to the beaches, little Khaeli galloped whooping through the underbrush, a grin splitting her girlish lips. The newly-functional and very spotted wings at her very spotted side threatened to unfurl and launch her tiny figure into the air, but she caught herself before lift off could occur. She had to find her friend!
Pulling up short (and nearly falling flat on her face when her hoof got caught in a root in the process), the little princess swiveled hear head with perked ears, flaring nostrils, and eyes wide enough you could swim in them. Frowning and sneezing, she half-reared to try and see through the jungle. "GRYE!" She yelled, impatient, figuring that he ought to have known she would be looking for her playmate nephew/brother around this time of day. Whichever that time might be - Khaeli never bothered keeping track.
Returning to all fours, the cute and clumsy girl continued making her way toward the beaches, singing as she went.
"Egg is late! Egg is late! Egg is late! But Egg is great so I loooove him..."
If all the world were apple pie ,and all the seas were ink, and all the trees were bread and cheese, what would we have to drink?
Though Brennen is usually pretty good about finding a babysitter, and Galilee is an honest-to-goodness saint about picking up where he fails (even when it comes to children and grandchildren that aren’t even hers), Grye has the advantage over Khaeli, Drax, and Dario in that he’s the newest and most likely to be overlooked, and also that he’s the most unobtrusive of the bunch. Drax is a menace, Dario is more likely than not glued to his twin’s side, and Khaeli is the one with the most numerous devoted babysitters.
Also, Khaeli is loud. Loud like his mom, or maybe louder. But despite that – or maybe because she reminds him of Dagny – Grye does really like his aunt.
Likes her enough that he’s not even miffed when hearing the faint echoes of her yelling his name, even though he means it’s the end of him trying to sneak off to explore another of the islands before any of the adults can catch up with him. Sighing, he straightens out of his half-crouch, trades talons for hooves, and trots back in her direction, using the rising strains of her song to find her. “Hey Khaeli,” he greets her with a grin. “Grandpa’s busy making sure Dario and Drax don’t set the Island on fire. You want to try and fly to the next island with me?”
No reason to totally change his plans, if he can get her to go along.
Before her song had even reached its second verse, little Grye popped through the underbrush to greet her. A little squee of delight erupted from the filly, and she rushed forward to sniff his nose and then to reach out and playfully tug on his wings. But he's talking to her then, and she squashes the rush of energy that threatens to explode out of her every pore, nearly vibrating as she listens to her cool, calm, and collected nephew.
And boy she's glad she did! At the little hypogriff's invitation, Khaeli squealed again and bobbed her head with all the energy a little filly should. "Yes, come on! I'll race you!" Without waiting for him to agree, the spotted girl raced off through the underbrush. In truth they weren't far from the beaches to begin with, and so the race is short lived; but still, the exhilaration of running through the jungle like that would never get old. Never!
Turning to face Grye (without having even noticed who won the race), Khaeli was about to speak when suddenly it was as if something in her throat wouldn't let her. A little frown marred the pretty girl's expression, and her eyes dropped sheepishly to the sand where her hooves shuffled the granules absently.
"Grye..." she whimpered quietly, all abashed and shy. "I've never flown that far. Do you think I can make it?" Her eyes dashed suddenly to the sea, where she could just make out the perimeter of the next island over. "It's not that far, and if Dario and Drax are setting the island on fire, we'd better hurry!" Her voice regained some enthusiasm and spunk as she spoke these last words, and a grin slowly returned to her lips. She was game! But, she would need a bit of a pep talk before she put herself way atop those fearsome waves...
If all the world were apple pie ,and all the seas were ink, and all the trees were bread and cheese, what would we have to drink?
She’s every bit of excitement and verve to his shy and collected demeanor; he has compared her to his mother in his head many times, while he compares himself to his father. But nevertheless he smiles at her greeting, returning the affectionate touch, and then is taken totally by surprise when she challenges him to a race and then takes off running immediately. The champagne-colored colt scrambles to catch up, letting his hooves become talons once more to give that little extra traction on the sandy ground. That, plus dodging around a few familiar trees to a shorter route around one corner allows Grye to catch up and they reach the edge of the trees neck-and-neck, the thrill of the chase making even solemn Grye giggle and turn to his aunt with a mischievous expression.
Khaeli’s not giggling anymore. Her sweet face is marred with a frown, her gaze downcast, and Grye’s heart leaps into his throat. Has she suddenly decided she doesn’t want to play with him after all? She whispers his name and he leans in for the rest of the words, green eyes soft with worry, wishing his feathers could make feelings feel better as well as they seem to work on the cuts and scrapes the children accumulate running wild on the islands. It’s almost anticlimactic when she voices a fear of the flight distance, but Grye is a sensitive child and he knows better than to laugh.
Instead he runs his muzzle gently down his aunt’s neck and catches her eye with a reassuring smile. “Of course you can make it,” he affirms with the utmost confidence. “We’ll catch an updraft off the coast, and glide on over.” Grye was an early flyer, and life on the island has only given him more opportunities to practice island-hopping, usually when he wants to get away from their young relative Drax. Drax had wings too, but he was disinclined to put in the effort to fly a distance just to tease and torment the quiet Grye; better to find easier targets. He knows Khaeli isn’t the most confident flyer, but he really thinks she can do it. “And anyway, the water’s quiet today. If we have to land, we’ll just get a little wet and swim the rest of the way.”
Swimming’s not his favorite, but he’s been practicing. It’s part of becoming a full member of the Brotherhood, after all, so he’ll have to swim the big distance at high tide some day. But of course, flying’s better. He’s been easing them out of the cover of the trees while they speak and now he turns to flash her a quicksilver grin of a quite rare sort for him; a true reckless consequences-be-damned grin. “C’mon, I believe in you!” he calls out and then takes off across the hard-packed wet sand, gaining speed before he snaps his little wings open and starts pumping furiously, keeping up the rapid beat as he rises above the sand and then the edge of the surf until he catches the aforementioned wind and it lifts him suddenly higher, soaring now towards the next island. It’s then that he peers down and back, looking for Khaeli. She’s not usually one to back down from a challenge, so he fully expects her to be airborne behind him.
He is a sensitive boy, and it shows in his every mannerism and facial expression. Feeling a flood of warmth that even simple Khaeli could easily describe as love for the little gryphon, she leaned into his comforting touch and focused in on his words, allowing their soothing affect to overcome the slight nerves she felt about the distance of their flight.
"Oh Grye," She sighed happily, reaching over to nuzzle him affectionately. "I love you. You're the best."
With the reassurance that they can swim any distance they fail to travel while airborne, Khaeli inhaled as if to speak but was cut off by the stunning appearance of a dare-devil grin upon her nephews usually somber and knowledgeable face. What fun!! A shot of adrenaline pumped through her veins, and with a whoop she followed behind the little gryphon, speckled wings shooting out beside her and quickly catching against the pull of the wind.
Before she has too long to overthink it, she's up in the air, climbing higher and higher until the two glide picturesquely across the waters, laughing and whooping and swirling as the craziness of their childhood adventure blocks out any other thought. In this moment, they are happy, perfectly and serenely; and when they land on the next island, bubbling with excitement and pride, the moment seems to last forever.
It's a last hurrah, for little Khaeli; karma's way of giving her some spark before her life's flame is brutally put out.
If all the world were apple pie ,and all the seas were ink, and all the trees were bread and cheese, what would we have to drink?
devin's∇designs
@[Grye] just so you know, that last Grye post gave me way more feels than I'd anticipated. He is so sweet and gentle and loving and kind. I love him. Thanks for this cute thread <3 I figured I ought to wrap it up before she's dead and all.
