"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
hold me in this wild, wild world 'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
It’s been a few months, and the Brothers are starting to settle in. They’ve found some sort of purpose, if not all peace and happiness, on the island Brennen has chosen for them. He’d like to see more growth, but at least it is not as dead quiet as it was before. However, there are a few issues Brennen feels he has left unresolved. And one of them is not so much a thing, as it is a who. He knows of Kylin, though they do not know each other well, and he has caught glimpses of the mare and hints of her scent as he goes about Kingdom business. It seems, as time flows on, that she had not chosen to follow Krone, Klaudius, and their children to Tephra.
Odd, because the purple stallion had seemed so sure they would all go.
She has kept to herself as far as he can tell, and he thinks she is relatively harmless, but it’s not enough for him that she exists. If she is to stay, regardless of whether she joins the Brotherhood or becomes some sort of permanent visitor, now she’s his. His responsibility; just like the Brothers, and Galilee, and the children. In the quiet moments, he worries about her, but the quiet moments have been few and far between and with four littles under a year, he’s been busy as a father as well as a King. Not to mention his Queen is pregnant again, and growing larger by the day as winter progresses.
Finally, today, he has stolen a few moments to go look for the little purple mare. The children are half-a-year-old and have grown close to many of their babysitters, and will spend the day fending for themselves. Galilee is content to much on salt-sweet grasses in their little inlet, and Brennen can go looking. His dark wings are tucked tightly to his sides, and he strides nimbly across the uneven ground as paths grow narrower and more tangled. He’s gone deep into the jungle and the trees are just beginning to thin for the shore on the side of the island farthest from any landmass when a flash of purple catches his attention.
Brennen halts, head coming up, and he nickers gently before calling her name; “Kylin?”
hold me in this wild, wild world and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
Ischia now is busier than she had ever been since Kylin’s birth. Back then it has basically been just been their family, together with Queen Ea’s family, and a handful of others. Later, when Father claimed Ischia for them as home, it really had just been them. Father, Mother, uncle Reilly, both her siblings, and Badden, who had been adopted into the family.
Things had instantly changed from the moment Circinae had set foot on the island. With her others came, and the wolf had inspired enough to make Ischia more active, more alive. Kylin had shied away from the navy-green she-wolf, and under Krone’s rule she had tentatively met some others. Met family too. Klaudius, and he had also introduced him to his twins. It had been both wonderful and confronting at once, her own twin, who should have still been at her side, was lacking.
But now, under Brennen’s rule, Ischia seemed to have gotten even more populated. It is no longer the private island she once knew and although Ischia the island hadn’t changed, Ischia the kingdom has gone through massive changes. Kylin has met a couple of the Brotherhood’s brothers, Takei and Trekori – who ironically are blood brothers too – but she still did not know where she stood with the Brotherhood. Trekori had been right about one thing though; Kylin had not been fully devoted to Ischia’s prior habitants. Not since Circinae had first come. And he had also said there was room for female Brothers. Now all what was left was to make it official, by talking to Brennen.
Something Kylin has been hesitant about. Something is holding her back. And that definitely is not her desire to leave for Tephra. Just thinking of that makes her heart ache, and her fins tighten against her sides, no longer able to hide the slight swell of her stomach. She misses him. And it crushes her heart that he still chose to leave her, for them. But who was she, to keep him from his family?
You might expect to find her on the shore facing Tephra, but instead she stands on the shore at the total opposite of that. Her back to the jungle – no dangers coming from there, not in the form of prey hunters – and hooves just a little into the sea. Winter had set in elsewhere, but Ischia’s climate is still pleasant as ever. And thus the water has a nice temperature too. No cold or crisp.
Her ears flick back towards the sound, then slowly her neck bends a little so she can glance across her shoulder. Just a matter of curiosity, because surely, who would seek out her presence? Surprise is all over her face when Brennen actually calls her name. In a short second, all kinds of different emotions are displayed upon her features; surprise, shock, fear, anxiety and even some levelled excitement. Kylin dips her head in silent greeting, her throat suddenly blocked by a lump. She turns her body around, to face him, as her hazel eyes study his features and body language. Had he come to send her away?
“Can.. What.. What do I owe the pleasure of... your visit to?"
hold me in this wild, wild world 'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
Brennen is a formidable warrior. He has the fighting experience to back up every threat he has ever made, and the scars across his hide to prove it. The scars that speak to every time he has clashed with the hooves and teeth and magics of another, whether for practice or for real. Some are quite recent, war wounds from the ongoing Alliance battles that have been given cursory healing, but will be flesh-pink until they take on the dark or silvery tones of old scars. When he chooses to be, he can make himself threatening in stance without ever opening his mouth, despite his relatively modest stature. All good traits for a King in such uncertain times as these, and all excellent traits for the General he was until quite recently.
But Brennen is also a father, and a brother, and a grandfather many times over, and he can be the opposite of all of that. Despite the scars and the overlarge black wings, he knows how to speak gently and walk quietly and soften his honey-brown gaze to soothe the nightmares of frightened littles, and somehow he knows that Kylin will need to see more of Brennen-the-patriarch than Brennen-the-King, and he holds himself accordingly as she turns away from the seascape at his approach, and offers him a greeting with marked reservation.
Honestly, Brennen can’t blame her for a little apprehension. Her family had left, and with the way Klaudius and the other one - the brown one - had carried on, it would have been easy for her to get the impression that only men were to be welcome in Ischia henceforth. And their quiet island is now quite full - which is how it should be, how Brennen wants it to be, but it’s still quite a sudden change. And with her family gone, has anyone been checking on her? Certainly this is the first time he’s had a chance. “I just wanted to see how you were faring,” he answers, and there’s nothing but honesty in his voice. “It’s a big change, for everyone.”
Be careful, a cynical voice in the back of his mind says. Word of things like this will get out and they’ll stop thinking of you as Brennen-the-warrior-King, and starting thinking of you as Brennen-who-is-swayed-by-any-pitiful-expression. There’s a grain of truth in that, just enough to sting at him, but he doesn’t allow even a hint of it to cross his patient face. It’s true that they have decided all who dwell in Ischia must pledge themselves to the Brotherhood, but the part of him that considers how he’d want some future ruler to treat his children acknowledges that she’s lived her longer than any of them, and honestly is she any threat to them? Unlikely. He would not be so cruel as to force her to leave unless she was a threat to them, but he hopes she might be willing to join them fully rather than dwell in the strange gray area of semi-permanent-visitor.
hold me in this wild, wild world and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
Her hazel eyes are locked on him. Ever so slightly her head tilts to the side as she studies him. Although they had technically met before, Kylin had never really gotten to know the former general now king. Neither had she ever really taken a good look at Brennen. The only thing on her mind when they met had been to flee, and hide from all the changes. She’d even try to pretend it never happened. That, of course, did not work out.
She sees all his scars, and fresh wounds, rather befitting for the king of an unruly band of bachelors. But his wings. His wings remind her of Kharon, and Klaudius, and how tender they could hold another. She’d spend hours tucked underneath Kharon’s wing, and Kylin had longed to feel Klaudius’ caress her sides. The look upon his features is different from the warrior too. Almost fatherly, reminding her of her own father, Kerberos. For the first time Kylin holds true hope that he isn’t as bad as she had initially feared him to be.
His words make her hope a little more solid, and although Kylin still holds herself somewhat reserved, she visibly relaxes too. As her voice is still stuck behind the lump in her throat, she finds herself nodding. A lot had changed, again. Her hazel eyes find the horizon again, there where the sea meets the sky, and where the sun would set in about an hour or so. “It is..” she murmurs agreeing, after a sigh escapes past her pale lavender lips. “I.. I miss them..” she confesses, still not looking at Brennen, keeping her gaze fixated on the horizon. Kylin cannot understand why they left in such a rush. Ischia is still Ischia. She hadn’t ran when Circinae had come either, right? Nor had really left when Ischia had chosen Krone to lead her. So why would she leave all she know behind just because Brennen had mutinied against the crown?
“Can I stay?” Sounding more like CanIstay, by the quick way she says them. It is as if Kylin does not really dare to ask her question. It shows in the way she holds herself too, anticipation tensing her muscles and gaze still stark on the horizon, except for that she sends him quick glances out of the corner of her eye. Her head is held low, and tailbone clenched tightly between her buttocks, and her fins are tightly folded against her swollen barrel in a similar fashion.
hold me in this wild, wild world 'cause in your warmth I forget how cold it can be
Brennen had so carefully cultivated the air of the somewhat ignorant warrior, dropping the act only amongst his family and closest friends, that he should not have been surprised when some of those he had changed the world of had not bothered to look for something beyond that exterior to see what the warrior-King truly cared about. If they had bothered to look, perhaps Kylin would not be without her kin today, for there was really no reason for any of them to have gone. Not even Krone, though her departure is the one he understands best.
The purple mare says she misses them, and Brennen gives a little ‘hm’ of acknowledgement, and glances across the open horizon where her gaze is fixed. “Tephra is not so far away,” he answers after a moment, voice quiet. “And Ischia maintains a friendly relationship with that Kingdom, even now. I’m sure they would welcome you for a visit.” It’s one of the easiest points to cross to the mainland, at low tide, and the easiest swim if you are to cross when the water is high. Brennen has a strong interest in keeping Tephran-Ischian relationships friendly, even if he didn’t find himself liking their diplomat and their King, as well as having Warrick’s daughter Solace a close friend.
She still won’t look at him, and he has to flick his ears forward and focus to catch her rushed words, though perhaps he could have guessed what they would be. He doesn’t rush right to assurances, because that would be the too-honeyed-sweet taste of falsity. The truth is usually the better answer. “As long as you offer no harm to the Brotherhood, no one is going to ask you to leave your home.” Is what he offers after a pause, but then he gives her an encouraging little smile, and continues. “But Ischia belongs to the Brotherhood now, and full membership is contingent on swearing our oaths. We would welcome you to our ranks, if you are interested.”
hold me in this wild, wild world and in your heat I feel how cold it can get
Unlike Brennen, she does not understand why they left. Yes, Ischia is under different leadership, but it is still Ischia. Nobody had left when Circinae had disappeared, and Krone had accepted the crown, either, right? Except those who had left in the company of the green and navy she-wolf. Sure, a sudden change of leadership is never fun, but was it a reason to abandon your home? Kylin definitely does not think so, and thus she is still there.
His words have her hum back in return, in the similar way as he had done, and she nods once, before her hazel eye find him out of the corner of her eye. “I might..” she says, she wants to, but is fairly sure that she wouldn’t. Not because she cannot – on the contrary, it is very easy for the lavender woman to travel to Tephra’s shore, no matter what tide it currently is – but simply because fear holds her back. Klaudius had left them – her and their baby – for the sake of his other family. Kylin is afraid to face the reality of that upon visiting Tephra. “Would they be welcome here too?”
Her is flick back, not in aggression or fear, but to catch all the words he speaks. Kylin does not turn to face him right away, giving herself a moment longer to allow his words to really settle in. Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Had she really heard that correctly? A soft, relieved sigh escapes past the barrier of her lips and when she bends her neck to settle her hazel gaze upon Brennen, a small – shy – smile lies upon her lips. “Thank you..” she murmurs softly, slowly turning around ninety degrees so she is properly facing him. Her lavender and white head dips ever so slightly. “I – we – won’t be in your way.. Nor will we get involved in anything that might harm Ischia, or the Brotherhood..” she offers. Glancing away for a short second as she realises that her words turn down his offer. Her loyalty is to Ischia, not the Brotherhood, and that is a painful truth that lies between them. At least for now, who knows what the future might hold. For now, her first and sole priority was the child safely hidden in her barrel.
“I.. I’m sorry..” she mumbles, glancing – but not turning – away.
@[Brennen]
I would love Kylin to get involved with the Broterhood slowly, but consider her idk a permanent visitor of some kind? Since I guess that 'resident' would have to be sworn to the Broterhood?
