"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
She was raised and resides in Loess, she remembers being stolen. She remembers being handed over to the then king, her brother Titus enjoyed Loess now and the new king....but Venus just could not get on board, something about the kingdom made her wary. She wanted so bad to visit her parents again, to see them and let them know that she and Titus were okay. They probably moved on in life though, forgotten there first two children. She would not leave Titus, he was her everything, if he liked Loess she would remain in the kingdom for him, so long as he was happy. She did get them into this situation after all....
Today she decided to break away for a bit while Titus was off exploring. She got away to the river, it was closest to Loess and the water was a nice relief to the humid summer heat that surrounded them. The pale spotted mare stopped as she reached the lip of the river, she lowered her neck to moisten her pallet. The cool water was refreshing after her journey, she stepped into the water but her head jolted to the left as she heard something....someone. Hello She snorts as she looks closer I can hear you she yells out, a hope to show she was not scared.
08-21-2018, 06:25 PM (This post was last modified: 08-21-2018, 06:25 PM by Santana.)
They could have been sons of Loess, if things had gone a little differently. Not that he knew, of course, just how close it had been that he had been raised in the land of his conception, in his father's home. Instead, fate had taken he and his brother to the islands, where his mother had once dwelt. Such was life. And, life was such that they were meeting now.
He had been following his nose all morning, that particular feature having been keener than usual lately. It had lead him of island after a family of sea otters, across the forest spying on a family of deer, deeper into the forest following a bear's tracks, quickly out of the forest once the bear had been located and judged (extremely) unfriendly. The palamino colt had enjoyed the stretching of his leathery wings as they carried him beyond swiping claws and up into open air. He lazed over the air currents, heading west for a change of scenery when another scent caught his attention. Sweet and female and not entirely horse. Mostly horse. But there was an intriguing undercurrent that sent his curiosity burning.
The scales of his wings glinted multitoned blues as he drifted lower over the shining silver band of river beneath. There she was. A pale creature, almost his own tone, though her cream pieces were spotted instead of the broad swaths of golden hair he sported. Yes, that was definitely a horse, his eyes told him. No, there's something else, dummy , his nose insisted. Something tasty? His mismatched eyes blinked at the odd thought. But yes, that's what he felt. Something small, that would crunch between sharp teeth and wet his tongue with copper blood... whoa. That was a new train of thought. Still, his curiosity once piqued was not soon quenched without exploration. So that was what he would do.
He dropped to the earth in a graceful series of light steps, wings folding against his sides with a papery shushing. How she hadn't seen him overhead he didn't know, but she was looking at him now. Maybe. A little miffed at the landscape, he sidestepped away from the denser-than-it-looked brush, grinning at her called remark. "Good job, you have working ears." He quipped lightly, taking her in as he approached. He dipped his face to the river's surface, slaking the thirst he had built on his flight. Lifting his head again, now with beaded water clinging to the hairs around his muzzle, Santana dipped his head in greeting. "Hi... I'm, uh, I'm Santana." It was an awkward greeting, but really, she was much prettier up close. And that little tantalizing smell was much stronger. If Raul hadn't drilled it into his skull so hard when they were small that licking was rude, he might have tried to taste her already.
She still had droplets of water on her maw, the cool water trickling down. No sooner than she finished talking was she joined by another, he dropped from the sky. His wings were different than most, they were pointed at the end and they did not have feathers. Her eyes gazed in on them, it was truly interesting but then there was his tail! It also was not like most equines, his base was solid, it was not hair like her own, she flicked her tail just to remind herself that hers did not look like his. She was curious of the world around them, she knew of traited horses but never has she met someone quite like this young colt.
Good job, you have working ears charming, she rolled her eyes at his response. He dips his head and she returns a slight dip to him, she thought announcing she could hear him would keep him away but instead he approached. His body was pale, it was a similar shade to her own but even lighter, nearly white. She was curious of this colt, though he did not smell like a Loess horse, in fact she did not know which kingdom he belonged to. Venus was deep in her own thoughts but was brought back to reality when he introduced himself Santana he said. She repeated his name a few times in her head, engraving it to memory.
Well Santana I am Venus, I come from Loess what kingdom is your home? she steps closer closing the gap between them. She was born in Nerine but stolen from her home kingdom at a young age. She and her brother were taken to Loess, leaders changed shortly after she was brought here and the damn mare who stole them disappeared and never returned. They could essentially return home but Titus was mad at mother and father who never came to find them.....perhaps they were looking...or perhaps they moved on. Either way, she was born a Nerinian but she calls herself a Loessian. Are there others your age in your kingdom?! her voice carried an excited tone, the thought popped in her mind and she quickly got excited. Loess had a few foals but they were mainly the descendants of the last ruler, the bastard who aided in stealing her away.
She was pretty, and she was irritated by his attitude. It was an expression he'd gotten very familiar with being on the receiving end of. She got down to business with brisk efficiency, returning his introduction. Venus. A golden girl named Venus, who smelled like sage and juniper, and sun warmed stone. Little feathers spinning to the ground. He tossed the white shock of forelock from his face, smiling distracted with a look around them. "Hallo, Venus of Loess. I live in Ischia, but I was born... close by here, actually." He had only realized it moments ago, but this was indeed near where he and his brother had been born, and where Uncle Ivar had found them when their mother had disappeared.
It was a pretty area, he could see why his mother had chosen it. Sparkly water, plentiful willows and occasional clusters of wild rose. This wasn't the exact hollow she'd found, but it wasn't far. Later, he would need to come back, maybe bring Raul. For now, the spotty girl was talking again. He blinked twice as he processed her query. "Uhh, yeah, I guess so. Kyvi and her little sister. I think Adria, but she's kinda a loner. And Kyvi said she met Adria's little brother. My brother, Raul. There's a few of us." He shrugged, finishing his list. There might be others, but those were the ones he knew. With a flash of recognition, he figured what she was maybe getting at. "D'you want to come visit? Kyvi probably wants another girl to hang out with, usually is just her and her baby sister and us boys." He shifted his wings, suddenly feeling like he was under intense scrutiny. Was there dirt on his face? Probably. And he knew there was a grass stain on his flank, and sand in his hooves... urg. Not a great first impression. Raul would have been at his best just now.
It wasn't until they got further into there conversation that he made her feel a way she had never felt. She could not exactly describe the feeling, perhaps it was excitement? Or perhaps it was curiosity, either way she was intrigued by the scaled stallion. He repeats the sentence she just spoke which made her giggle, He than added that he was from Ischia but was born close to the river. Her eyes opened slightly wider, she was fascinated, he was so young but already has moved from one kingdom to another? Or was his mother a nomad before moving?!
Ischia? What is that kingdom like? She had never heard of Ischia, but then again she usually remained within Loess. She scanned the river, leaving her gaze from Santana, the water sparkled and provided the perfect relief from the summer heat and also the perfect source of water in the winters icy season.
Her head finds his gaze once again when he speaks, this time he responds to her question about others living in his kingdom. He listed of multiple horses and her eyes truly grew wide this time Woah the word slowly escaped her mouth. He adds in that he has a brother name Raul, was he a twin just like her and Titus? Before she could spit out another question he asked if she wanted to come visit, he noted that a foal named Kyvi would be excited to meet a girl. A smile tugged at her lips, grinning from ear to ear I would love to come visit! You would have to show me, can you use those wings? her eyes gaze over the opaque wings. With that she shifted from her horse form into a brown sparrow, she flew over to Santana and sat on his lower back Lets fly! She was not gifted with wings in her equine form, like her brother Titus was, though she could fly in her sparrow form.
Santana shared an appreciative glance around, before turning back to her. His teeth glinted in a shadowed smile as she quizzed him further on his home. Ischia was nice, but it was getting boring. "It's alright. Lots of sand and trees and parrots. The beach glows at night. I think you'd like it." The cream velvet of his nose wrinkled in a vaguely embarrassed way. His raggedy tail switched back and forth mildly, watching her expressions play across her dainty features.
The initial irritation had been replaced with interest as he described Ischia and its inhabitants. Clearly, the thought of traveling so far from home was a lucrative one to her. Maybe they had this in common, that lust for adventure. Every breeze held tastes of new discoveries, samples of what lay beyond sight. It was what brought him this far from the islands in the first place. Meeting her soft honey gaze with his own ice and fire vision. His muscled wings flexed slightly as her eyes slid over them. "Of course I can!" The discussed appendages flared out in wide display momentarily, only to snap back shut as her metamorphosis drew his attention.
Flames glowed behind his eyes as a sharp ache flashed across his jaw. In a blink fast trance his neck whipped up and over, trailing the sparrow-that-was-Venus in an arc over his back. Newly jagged teeth snapped just shy of brown tail feathers. For the space of a heart beat, the pale colt deeply wanted to swallow the little bird now perched on his rump. Just as quickly his lips covered the serrated edges of his teeth. His stomach tightened, suddenly a bit queasy. Had she noticed? It had happened so fast, he wasn't sure it had happened at all, except for the bitter tang of blood on his tongue. From his tongue. His neck was bent around until his nose hovered mere inches from her tiny body. "Uhhh... yeah, yeah, let's go." His wings stretched out again slowly.
Silty muck clung to his hooves as the leathery membranes filled with air, pumping hard enough to lift him skyward. Whether or not his avian passenger remained clinging to the fine hairs on his back was mystery. Right now it was the release of flight that he needed. Something was happening to his body, and he didn't like it.
