"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
Spring, a time of change. Not that change needed the excuse. It came in any season, in all forms. It came to Sabra often. Sometimes she wished the world would just hold still, let her catch her breath! But no, it didn't work like that. Santana, and to a somewhat lesser extent his brother, were outgrowing the kingdom of Ischia. That had been made perfectly clear as of late. So it was time to move on once more. Nerine, childhood home of their sire, seemed to be a logical choice. Safer, anyway.
The gemstone woman flew over the sea northwards. Springtime weather was unpredictable, but today favored her with mild breezes and high clouds. She took it as a good omen for things to come. Nerine was unfamiliar to her, a rocky peninsular land full of cliffs and edged in mountains. Far more rugged than the lush jungles of Ischia, still she found a beauty in it as she soared lower over it. This was a wild kind of land, untamed and unforgiving. Much like its occupants, or so she'd heard. Perhaps this at last could be a place to call home, for all of them. A nice thought. Time would tell if there was any truth to it.
She alighted in a flattish place, hooves clattering on slate. The warm sun coaxed fragments of rainbow from her coat where it landed. It had been two seasons since she had returned, long enough for a good diet and peaceful living to improve her appearance. Her mane and tail flowed once again, feathers plush and glossy coated. The only physical indication that something had once gone terribly awry was the lacy crosshatch of white scars that ran across her face and down her shoulders. A roadmap to nowhere. Hopefully someone had seen her enter the kingdoms bounds. She did not feel much like hunting.
{ and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }
I'm visiting her again, in my dreams.
It's not a true visit, in the sense that she is more hologram than any ounce the real version of herself. But it is her, or the her I have stored in my memory from our meeting long ago atop the peaks of Hyaline, that I visit: swathe in vines and tattoos, my very likeness and my very name. Kagerou - Queen of the Amazon Jungle, the land within which I was raised. In my dream, I follow her about her kingdom, visiting old haunts and reimagining my childhood as if she had been with me all along: it will be painful to wake up to later, knowing I never had that and never would, but it feels good in the moment.
I wish I could be in your kingdom with you, I say in the dream. I know, dear granddaughter, comes her reply. I know.
As the dream falls away and dissolves, I expect to awaken to the comfortable (though hugely overpacked) family grotto in Hyaline: but instead, I am suddenly perched atop a mighty cliff, the powerful scent of salt water burning my lungs as it comes without warning. "God's damnit!" I mutter as my blinking eyes swing from side to side, finally identifying this place as Nerine. I've not visited often, but I recognize it, and more easily, I recognize my homeland's mountains due south. "When I'd wished to be in your kingdom, I hadn't meant literally."
Sometimes, dreams are fickle like that - and besides, this is a minor offense compared to what's gone wrong with this magic in the past.
Sighing, I turn to begin the journey south. But the rising sun illuminates what appears to be a gemstone in the shape of a horse, her facets reflecting rainbows like prisms and diamonds. I'd heard of Sabra, opalescent queen of a kingdom some years ago, but we'd never met; I remember also hearing vague stories of her illicit fun with Krone. The thought makes me smile a bit, mostly because I've done far worse with my own wife - in the privacy of our dreams of course - but I wipe the lustful expression off my lips as I approach the gorgeous mare.
"I don't believe we've met, Sabra," I say as I stop next to her, eyeing her from beneath the mighty crown of my antlers. "I'm Kagerus."
Long ago a lesson had been learned: expectation is the mother of disappointment. And so she had come without preconceived ideas of who she might meet once within kingdom bounds. Funnily enough she still managed to feel a thread of surprise at the face who greeted her in the clarion light of daybreak. Sabra's own face remained as pleasantly neutral as fresh snow as she took in the majestic figure approaching. With markings more at home on a wildcat, and a crown of antlers that might be more at home on some mighty stag, Kagerus was lovely in the morning light.
A series of expressions had crossed the approaching mare's face, settling at last on similar neutrality as her steps halt nearby. Sabra's elegantly dished head dipped lightly in acknowledgment of Kagerus' greeting. "My reputation precedes me, I see. Yours follows suit. A little far from home this morning, are we?" Her silver voice lilted in mild amusement. Kagerus, Queen-Consort to Solace of Hyaline. Her memories of the lakeside kingdom were not very good, but Solace had been a kindness to her when it was sorely needed. Surely one such as she should have good taste in spouse.
A breeze touches the serene landscape, drawing light fingers through the fiery curtain of Sabra's hair. Silently she promised herself that once she had settled her business today, she should give herself over to the skies for a while. Stress had tightened the muscles of her back and neck. A world of tension making her feel brittle and exhausted. The release she found in the air was second only to that she found in a skillful lover. Neither event had been plentiful recently. Perhaps that accounted for the built up tension she felt...
Returning her attention to the bay woman, she smiled politely, uncertain as to the goal of this interaction. Kagerus had no say in whether or not she would reside here. Still, she knew the need for decorum and pleasantries when it appeared. "What brings you to Nerine today?" It was small talk, but what else did one do with a stranger? Her mind wandered, a daydream threatening to take her attention. Really, she was out of practice with this kind of interaction.
a dragon who couldn't be hurt on the outside could have so many ragged holes inside
There’s nothing more important than making sure Nerine is the safest place in the world (ideally, without Breckin noticing because she would start ranting about giving the world a strong image of herself and blah blah blah queen and all that). Anyway, that means he needs to know everybody who lives in the kingdom, and everybody who doesn’t should be picked out easily. And when a sparkling mare lands and enters, then goes about waiting, then surely she is a visitor, and hopefully she has no ill intentions.
However, he spied her from quite a distance. His new eyes are wonderful like that but, it also means that he still has a long distance to cross before reaching her. By the time he does, she has been joined by a flecked mare, antlered, and when he closes the distance betwene himself and the two who are conversing, he picks up that she also isn’t a Nerinian. But at least, Hyaline is a peaceful enough kingdom and he believes that they have been granted right of passage, so it doesn’t really bother him. Still, he needs to find out why they’re here.
”I’d like the answer to that, too, if you two would be so kind.” he says, entering the conversation with his usual confidence, hopefully not coming off actually threatening - yet. Cocking his head at the antlered woman first but only briefly, it’s perhaps obvious when he moves to the sparkling woman, that he is more curious about her answer - she carries the smell of Ischia, and he hopes it doesn’t mean she brought a message that he’s needed back there already.
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@[Kagerus] @[Sabra]
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
{ and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }
My reputation precedes me, I see. Yours follows suit. A little far from home this morning, are we?
The opalescent woman's words are svelte and comfortable, coloured silver by an amusement that leads my own lips to jaunt pleasantly upward. The salty sea wind that runs its fingers through our manes give me pause as I answer, chuckling as my head turns to consider the vastness of the ocean before us, only a cliff's length away. My eyes close against the way, forgetting for a moment my company's question; it's lovely here, and perhaps in another life, I would have ruled here, as my grandmother had.
"Sorry," I say laughingly as I return to the present world, shaking my head bemusedly as I return my nutmeg gaze to Sabra. "I guess when you said home, I just got a little nostalgic. This was my grandmother's home - or at least, sort of? Not geographically, but in spirit. The spirit of the Amazons lives on here." My eyes go to the pine forests at Sabra's flank, wondering if somewhere in its depths a certain silver leopard flitted, half ghost and whole legend. "I don't know if you were around back then, but they were a great people. Still are," I add hastily, cocking a brow in her direction as if to say you too, if you indeed are living her now. Sighing, I settle into my hips, a pleasant smile gradually taking its place on my lips.
What brings you to Nerine today? "I could ask you the same thing, once-Queen of Sylva."
When I turn to gauge her reaction to this statement, my eyes snag on an approaching stallion. I don't know him by sight, but I certainly know him by name, not that he gives it yet; but he is the father of one of my member's daughters, and as Queen, it's my job to know these kinds of things. For now though, I cool my disposition right down and flare my nostrils uninterestedly at the man, ears flicking to the side as he inserts himself into our conversation with an all too self-righteous question.
There is an instant camaraderie between us. Slowly some of the tension leaks from the my crystalline shoulders in response to the unexpected ease with which conversation flows with the antlered queen. After an interlude of companionable silence, I find myself smiling at the parallels in the reactions Nerine kindled within us. It was homelike in a way that was startling in such an unfamiliar land. How was it that something so new felt so right? A chime of laughter flew before me at her self correcting appreciation of the Amazons of time gone by.
"Such a close link! I'm not terribly familiar with the lore and history of this kingdom, but the Amazons certainly carved out a distinctive niche for themselves in Beqannan legend. That's a proud heritage to carry." I acknowledge with an impressed tone.
My next question felt innocent enough, but suddenly I am given insight into Kagerus' value as Hyaline's co-ruler. Her reaction is vaguely defensive, flipping my inquiry on end to face myself. I raise my brows in a mildly amused (or exasperated) way, but forgo the words to go with it in favor of the strange stallion who approaches us. His name I do not know, though he carries himself with enough importance. More intriguing still is the flare within his eyes that betrays a nature I am growing familiar with. That strange backlit iridescence that shone with dragon fire.
Kagerus is cooled considerably towards this stranger, and while she may feel it's warranted, I have no such predilection. "Come now, Kagerus, has Hyaline courtesy changed so much since I visited last? You and I know as well as any the virtues of border security." My face is softly open as I turn to the speckled man. My head bobs politely in his direction as I take the opportunity to answer them both at once.
"I am Sabra. One-time Queen of Sylva, currently harbored by Ischia, now seeking residence here in Nerine for myself and my sons." It is a brief description, if somewhat formally worded. I look up at them both, wondering just how my words will be recieved. Once before, I tried to live here, and was rebuffed. But that was a time ago, under different leadership and different circumstances. Home. Kagerus had used the word so lovingly before. That longing has filled my chest as of late, constant reminders of all I'd been missing. Home. Do not fault me for wanting what you have.
@[Kagerus] @[Leilan] sorry, she demanded to be in first person lol
a dragon who couldn't be hurt on the outside could have so many ragged holes inside
The scaled roan’s gaze hardens a little at Kagerus’ snippy refusal to reply, and he thinks to himself, not so kind then, words he almost speaks aloud in a tone so similar to hers - but it is the other mare’s answer that gets his full attention, and she gets a much more polite and slightly thankful nod (though he makes sure the bay overo doesn’t get to see this expression), as well as a softer colour of aqua blue in his eyes.
Making a point not to talk to Kagerus right away, for fearing he will slip something completely out of line just as much as the antlered mare did to him, he continues the conversation with the mare now known as Sabra. ”I’m Leilan. Formerly of Ischia also; I am very sorry that it seems that we missed out on one another on the islands. I am certain Breckin would love to have you, and perhaps it may be more of a home to you than the sandy jungle.” His head cocks a little as he considers. ”If you want to join a caste, I can go find her if you like,” but then glances at Kagerus, ”Is there anything a Nerinian could do for you, too?” It’s a polite enough question (he seems to have found his patience today, or at least after Sabra’s little reprimand he has nothing to add), though his eyes show he’s not too amused with her behaviour. Waltzing in like that was one thing - explicitly refusing to answer a question about it was another. If she wasn’t so obviously from Hyaline he would probably already have ushered her to the borders, but besides a politically aggressive move, she hadn’t been threatening his home. Yet. (Because he wouldn’t put it past her.) Still, he doesn’t outright say it, so that’s some kind of inprovement on his end anyway.
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@[Kagerus] lol it’s Nerine here, not Loess, go sass someone else
@[Sabra] thank you for smoothing ^^ also I loved her first person
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
{ and in my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times }
Perhaps if I'd not woken up hours from home and if I'd not been having such a nice conversation with a fellow Queen, I'd have been nicer; but I was just about to gush about the Amazons to Sabra, a seemingly keen listener with eyes that glisten like crystals, when we were interrupted. And in fact, as I stand with an ambivalent expression and disinterestedly twitching ears, I'm not even one bit sorry. Solace is the diplomat Queen; these folks are talking to the alliance runner up.
But then Sabra is chastising me in that mellow, humourous tone of hers, and I figure I'd better grow up and be the adult in the situation. Turning to her with a sweet sweet smile - and yes, I can see you over there Leilan making faces at Sabra as if we aren't all standing within ten feet of each other - I allow a chuckle to ease the tension in my breast, gentle shaking out my locks as I sigh and consider her words. "Ah, courtesy. Forgive me my impudence." This I say directly to Leilan, a brow cocked in playful humour to see if he might be receptive to friendship. "I woke up in a different kingdom by accident, the wrong side of (the) be(d)qanna." Sid laughs as she writes this. She thinks she's funny; I succeed in not rolling my eyes at her antics.
Sabra and Leilan go on to exchange names and titles and information, and I am happy to listen as they do, tucking the information away for later though I doubt I'll really need it. When Leilan asks if there's anything he can do for me, I snort quietly in surprise; I'd woken up here by accident! But then I run my mind over some possibilities, figuring that if not now, then when?
"Perhaps if you could let Khaleesi Breckin know that Hyaline is on friendly terms with Tephra, and still steadfast in its alliances with both Nerine and Ischia, that would be good." I smile thoughtfully. "Always good to keep one another updated, what with all these wild leader changes going on." At the words, my eyes flash a little apologetically to Sabra, realizing that she had at one point been one of the ones to change; but then I realize that I will be too, someday, and the look lessens some. Life is cyclical, and repetitive: we all live the same lives, just with some different poetry to describe the same means to the same end.
"Who are your children, Sabra? I have six of my own, in Hyaline."
@[Sabra] apparently the only way to go from Bitchkag back to normal Kag is to break the fourth wall so here you are
10-08-2018, 01:24 PM (This post was last modified: 10-08-2018, 01:24 PM by Sabra.)
Oh good, I've guessed her correctly. Yes, it does seem that Hyaline has split its needs precisely between her queens. A broad grin twitches at the corners of my petal pink lips, watching the looks that dart between my newfound companions. I'm half expecting someone to stick their tongue out at the the other, but the moment passes without event. Soon the conversation resumes, and I find that I like these ornery folk. For certain, they would need very little encouragement to lay into each other. Funny how such similar personalities take issue with one another.
Leilan, is it? At his offer to find the Nerinian monarch she nodded in appreciation. "I would be incredibly grateful for that, yes. I hope my experiences will be useful to the... Khaleesi, was it?" An interesting title, but it seemed to convey a similar meaning to my old one of Queen. Perhaps indicative of what seemed to be a more matriarchal society.
I do not miss the look on Kagerus' face as she creates some meaning from her morning adventure. Am I silly, to hold onto a title no longer owned? It's true that I no longer rule anything. Still, the emotions persist, that I must care for those few who still look up to me. To carry myself decorously, with grace. It was, still is, a difficult decision, to accept another as having power over me.
The decision may never have come were it not for the needs of my children. "I have three sons, though it's only the younger two who stay by me. My eldest went his own way two years ago. The twins are not so prone to wandering." I gestured with one wing to the landscape, a comfortable expression on my face. "This would be a place we'd all love, I think." My eyes crinkle at the corners as I take in these new acquaintances. Friends, perhaps.
a dragon who couldn't be hurt on the outside could have so many ragged holes inside
Kagerus irks him in ways he cannot truly fathom, though he finds homour in the way she gets upset as well. Sure, he interrupted their conversation; but one between foreigners on the ground he’s sworn to protect. Surely she should not be this upset by that. So at her remark to please forgive her impudence, he just smiles at her. Already forgotten; as long as she doesn’t keep reminding him they should be able to move forward from here.
Kagerus asks him to update Breckin on Hyaline’s alliances, and he nods. She has a weird eay of making a sniding remark on the recent changes as if it’s his fault, and he can’t help but smile. ”Ischia, Nerine and Hyaline are still stable as far as I’m concerned. I can carry the message. But if I’m to invite her, you can speak to her yourself perhaps?” Or is she not planning to continue her conversation with Sabra the moment he steps away from them?
His offer to go find his queen for the sparkling pegasus gets more appreciation; honestly he likes Sabra better than Kagerus but perhaps that’s just because she seems much less aggressive. She’d make a great diplomat, but, who’s he to put her in a box. He shrugs at her question for the title though. ”I don’t think she minds the title honestly. It’s a carry-over. At least, she never snaps at me for using her name. But then again I may be an exception.” he muses, almost frowning, then shakes his head. Not important, to them, he thinks.
When Kagerus and Sabra start conversing on the pegasus mare’s children, he lostens but has nothing much to add. With a nod, he backs away. ”I hope so too, Sabra. If you’ll excuse me, I have a(nother) queen to track down.” He grins, then turns to where he came from.
After all, he never really lets the spotted mare out of his extended eyesight for long, so it’s a quick canter taking him to where he last saw her.
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@[Kagerus] @[Sabra] I figured they can do some private talking.
@[Breckin] can join when she sees fit, or maybe you and Sabra should have a new thread
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
![[Image: kag]](https://78.media.tumblr.com/2e8039018ce4dff6112c167ec23e886a/tumblr_p72zjit7wC1s5a0qvo1_100.png)
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