"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
if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes
The Forest remains cool in the summer heat, a welcomed reprieve from the inescapable sweltering sun of Beqanna. Even Hyaline, whose last summer had been more comfortably temperate, was growing close to a level that reminds Amet of the Dunes. The rays aren't uncomfortable against his golden scales, but the memory is bothersome, so he takes to venturing away from the crystalline lake and towards the dense Forest that sits as a buffer between the Field and the Meadow.
Part of him hopes that he will find some indication of his sister.
She'd been absent since her confession and apology, though the golden Akhal-Teke hadn't much expected her to return after his retort. A twinge of pain flits through his chest and he exhales shakily, though his bright amber eyes still look for Iset as he wanders through the tree trunks. The leather-plated stallion moves leisurely and when the trees open up into a small clearing, he halts in the shadows, curious why this place feels so familiar.
Sakir, his mind whispers, and it clicks - Iset had found Sakir here, fatigued and unwell, after he'd followed her from the Dunes. The dragon King's lips curl into a frown, his brows furrowed as he inches slowly into the empty clearing. The long summer grasses tickle at his legs and underbelly, but the lithe stallion pays no mind to them.
Instead, he halts in the middle of the clearing and nickers quietly. His voice reaches out, tentative and uncertain, as the inkling of a familiar scent finds his nostrils.
08-16-2017, 01:47 PM (This post was last modified: 08-17-2017, 08:02 PM by Iset.)
Iset
goddamn right you should be scared of me
She missed her family more than she ever thought herself capable of missing anything. Missing Sakir, of course, was a given, but what really surprised her was the pit that grew heavy in her stomach anytime she thought of Amet. The look of disappointment, fear, and shame that rested upon his face over a year ago when she had first fled Hyaline would be burned into her brain forever, and be recalled to the forefront of her mind during moments of particularly deep self loathing.
Her explorations with Fox were pleasant, sure. And she had to admit that she was growing fonder of him every day. But he was just so happy all of the time! I mean, seriously, how is someone constantly that cheerful? It was exhausting. With a mumbled excuse about needing some time to herself, she had turned away from the young stallion with a promise to return to him after she was able to catch a breath of air.
She wandered for a while with no particular destination in mind, but letting her feet guide her away from the chatter, the excitement. She needed silence.
She felt a ghostly memory of hope bloom deep in her chest as she wandered through the heavily wooded area her subconscious had guided her to. She stops just shy of a clearing, eyes closed and breathing deeply as she tried to place the flickering hope to the memory it belonged to. Something about the heady scent of the Forest mixed with her own had her craving two more, and suddenly the memory surfaces. She had found Sakir here after she had stormed away from Hyaline.
Of the many smells that had been present in the Forest that day, only three were worth remembering. One belonged to her, one was missing completely today, but the third…it could be her imagination; her desire to see her eldest brother again manifesting into something tangible, but the scent that she had grown so familiar with during their years in Hyaline seemed to be present in some way, shape, or form.
Eyes still closed, still hidden in the snarling vines and branches of the Forest, she hears something. Sure, it could be the whisper of the wind tricking her just as her mind seemed to be recalling Amet’s scent only to punish her.
The call was cautious and timid, so unlike the ruler that she had left behind in Hyaline. This was her first clue that the voice and the scent lived inside her head; Amet had never been timid. Quiet, reserved maybe. But he always managed to act with dignity. This voice sounded more like the brother that she had known in the Dunes. Her second clue was the words he said, Iset. Her name. But why would he be calling out to her? He hates her, and rightly so.
Nevertheless, her curiosity and desperation guides her forward, closer to where the hesitant question had come from. What she saw before her shocked her into silence. Amet himself, not a hallucination or a memory, was standing in the clearing where she had once laid by Sakir’s side and screamed at their brother for abandoning them. She froze, unable to move or speak, as the siblings laid eyes on each other for the first time since she had destroyed their home.
if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes
A chill runs down Amet's plated back, brought on by the cool shadows, he thinks, but then it happens again - cold, tingly, strange. He freezes mid-clearing as the feeling grows and grows, leading him to believe he's being followed or watched. The King of Hyaline frowns uncomfortably and urges the nihilism within his mind to reach out beyond the treeline, its invisible fingers sweeping and searching for anyone who may be using a trait to keep themselves hidden away from the view of his amber eyes. Nothing.
Suddenly, though, there is movement.
Thub thub, his heart beats heavily. Iset appears from beneath the thick vines and leafy foliage. Her metallic coat shines as the occasional ray of golden sun sneaks between the leaves, dancing across her frame. She looks the same, but different. Older, maybe. Uncertain, definitely. It looks odd on her face, he realizes, as their sad eyes connect.
Thubthub.
He remembers the day she'd come to him, dejected and ashamed as she confessed her involvement in the attack, before she'd run from Hyaline. His own words had been harsh. Too harsh, he thinks, but he'd been scared.
Thubthubthubthub.
He remembers her malignity towards him the day she'd found Sakir in this very clearing. He can still picture the flame that had risen, hot and uncontrolled and accusing, in her eyes. But they'd made it past that, hadn't they? You need to forgive that boy, Tang had told him when he'd confessed to leaving his siblings behind in the Dunes, and Amet reminds himself of that to gentle his hammering heart.
The Dragon King takes another tentative stride forward, reduced to the uncertain and scared colt he had once been, as tears fill his shining eyes.
"Come home," he whispers quietly, biting his tongue before he begs.
08-30-2017, 10:15 PM (This post was last modified: 08-30-2017, 10:15 PM by Iset.)
Iset
there's an old man sitting on the throne that is saying I should probably keep my pretty mouth shut.
She is paralyzed; by fear, by shock, and by everything else that was flooding her system and overwhelming her every thought and emotion. Frozen in time, she is a statue standing stiffly in the brisk autumn wind. Two identical pairs of eyes lock from across the field, and the panic that strikes within her heart shakes her down to her very core. He was going to lash out again, and she would deserve it.
She had destroyed their home. Their relationship. Their family. Everything. He makes a move towards her, and unconsciously she recoils and takes a mirrored step backwards, keeping the distance between them the same. From this far away, she couldn’t see the hatred and disappointment that was surely living in his eyes. Though she was determined to keep some distance between them, Iset did not move to run (was she ever the type to run from conflict) but simply stayed as still as she possibly could.
She had grown since she had last seen her brother, matured from the little girl she once was to a woman. Gone were her gangly limbs and awkward in-between frame, now she was tall and leggy, and filled out proportionately while maintaining her slender frame. Her face however, hadn’t changed. If one bothered to peel back the mask of beauty and composure she now tried to wear, it would be obvious that she was still the scared, defiant, and hot tempered filly she had been not too long ago.
Besides the multitude of scars criss-crossing her body, the only defect one would see when watching her was the slight limp that she walked with. Given to her by Maugrim, her stuttering step was her only physical token from the attack she had set into motion.
‘Come home.’
His words were breathy, and would’ve been easily lost on the breeze had all of her sense not been on hyper alert. Her heart quickens at his simple request, because its not really simple, is it? She didn’t even know what home was to her anymore, let alone if she could ever return to one of the past. Moving forward was how she had survived all of these years, and now the idea of going back seemed dangerous, uncertain.
Her head started shaking, seemingly of its own accord. Soft at first, the back and forth motion soon turned violent and hurried, and the words rushed from her mouth in the same way, “No-I can’t! Why would I ever go back to a place where even my name is a taboo? You, Sakir, Nayl, Tang-“ she choked on a sob, “I hurt you all.”
Her head dropped, weighed down with the shame as all of the happiness Fox had brought her over the past few months leached from her body like it had never been there at all.
@[Amet] I'm so sorry this took me a year and a half to get up, life has not been cooperating with me lately
if there's a light at the end, it's just the sun in your eyes
Come home, he'd said.
Come home, he nearly says a second time in the immeasurable moment of silence that spans between them. Iset's eyes grow wide in alarm and he's unsure what to expect - does she think he hates her? Does she think he has sought her out simply to continue fighting? His mouth curls into a deep frown and the Dragon King takes another tentative step forward just as her metallic head shakes from side to side, more vehemently with each sway. Her rushed words hit him flat in the chest and Amet's tears spill over, heavy and fast.
She sobs then (the sound so foreign coming from her mouth) and Amet moves swiftly to lessen the distance between them with the desire to be the big brother he'd yet had a chance to be.
"Iset," he pleads as he looks into her frantic eyes, "We need you to come home. I need you to come home," the Akhal-Teke stallion adds with passion and finality. He had left her behind in the Dunes when she'd needed him before - he wouldn't leave her behind now. Not now that he's come to realize that family is the only thing he will ever need in life. He and Sakir and Iset are all they really have. Beqanna has been a constant for the past two (nearly three) years, but the Fairy has proven that it may not always be as such. "Hyaline is your home, Iset. Sakir and I don't know what to do without you," he chokes out, thinking of the conversation he'd had with his younger brother the day that Iset had fled.
"It doesn't matter what you did. All that matters is what you do now. We were children, Iset. You were a child. You need to forgive that girl," he spews Tang's wisdom onto her, his bright eyes full of hope and sorrow, "You need to forgive her and come home to us. I can't go another season without my sister around. I've missed you so much," his voice tightens again and the young stallion snorts, finding it in him to take another step closer to his sister with his muzzle extended towards her.
"I'm so sorry for the things I said," he whispers to her, willing Iset to close the few inches between them, willing her to come home to Hyaline with him.
Amet
@[Iset] - You don't have to apologize! ♥ I love them. Also sorry for how all over the place this is lmao.
