"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
There have been a few others, not many, which seem to have continued their legacy. Their faces, their strengths, are manifested into the small body of a child that knows only young innocence. During her walks along the shoreline and along the cliff ridges, Nayl has been observing the life quickly blossoming across her home once more. It may fall steadily quiet, but no one ever truly leaves. Nerine’s black sands and ocean calls to them and has seeped pieces of its soul into their blood. At one point in time, Nayl loathed this new place and wanted only to nestle in the viridian sea of the Jungle once more, but somehow this land changed the course of her thoughts. She has been a comfortable coastal queen, a woman no longer hidden away behind a dense wall of foliage.
In the past few days, Nayl has acclimated herself to having another young child shadow her footsteps. Once, it had been Castile, then Isobell. Her daughter, so beautiful and precious, has since gained independence – enough so as to allow Nayl more private nights with Lior underneath the star-studded sky or in the deep depths of a cave. There had been a slim yearning for another child, but she has not acted on it. She doesn’t entirely enjoy pregnancy.
But Kahvi, the sweet girl found abandoned and alone, has thus far sated Nayl’s increased desire for a child’s company. With an ill-humored grin, she recalls hating children, especially those not of her own blood. Motherhood has definitely softened the iron queen.
With a soft bump of her shoulder against Kahvi, Nayl directs her to a stretch of shoreline that she had once watched her son play among others. The web of caves is to their right, the relaxed ocean to their left. Sand churns underfoot as they venture farther until the queen’s voice rings out in the most gentle – and uncharacteristic – of ways. There is a new generation here in Nerine. It’s only right to see them and to let them mingle with one another. While waiting, Nayl draws to a halt and occasionally lips at Kahvi’s mohawk, her eyes laced to the cerulean blue ocean.
queen of nerine daughter of covet & myrina
Any and all kiddos of Nerine are welcome to hop in on this thread. I figured it would be one way of seeing what munchkins are here, but also to have them interact/start having friends/enemies, character development, etc.
So, now the red carpet was rolled out? The queen called to the children of the kingdom and Ard could not help his thoughts running into those dark places of anger. He pinned his ears some and snorted not moving from his spot just yet. He was enjoying some time along the border of his home land tucked away. Ard thought about how he had come here his winged mother showing him around and he had met another mare a bright red winged one. The young stallion tossed his head some and swung his tail around thinking about the other foals he had met also. Why, had it seemed that everyone here rolled in and out with the tide.
Ardashir was used to wandering alone Narine seemed to do that made you used to being alone. He would be coming up on his third birthday in the spring and with that he might slip away from this place. He raised his head thinking a moment about slipping off and finding a place to grow up a bit more. He was too unsure maybe he was just being an angry teen about the whole thing. His ears twitched again as Nayl called and the pale boy snorted and sighed deeply. He had to be the bigger boy here and not just in the literal sense. Ardashir had to go say hello and smile and play the part of welcome party and let go of lingering anger.
He did not travel fast to where the queen and a filly stood but he had traveled to them at least. Arashir bowed his head to the two of them his typical greeting style. “ Hello ladies to what do we the children of Narine owe the honor of this meeting?” He asked as he stood at a respectable distance from them watching with his blue eyes a puff of warm air from his nostrils misted as it made contact with the chill winter air. He shifted on his feet letting his mind sink back just for a moment into that dark place as he looked at them. Well, aren’t we special now.
Ardashir
The blue in an ocean of grey..
You’ve mistaken the stars reflected on the surface of the lake at night for the heavens.
A few dozen meters ahead of the queen and blue filly, a dark head pops up at the sound of the call.
Starlin has been dozing on the sand, flat on her side and utterly relaxed. The pewter grains stick to her left side even as she stands and shakes, adding another shade of grey to her monochrome coat. The grullo tobiano stretches and yawns before stepping around the stone between them and greeting Nayl and Kahvi.
She blinks quickly in the late afternoon sun, her blue-grey eyes not quite adjusted to wakefulness, but she does bob her head suitably low when she says: “Hello, your Majesty. Hello Kahvi.”
When she looks up from her downcast-gazed greeting, she attempts to catch Kahvi’s attention. She gives the blue filly a quick wink that is only partially shielded by her damp black forelock. The shuffle of hooves reaches Starlin’s black-rimmed ears, and she turns to see a pale colt approaching.
“Hey Ard!” She says brightly, remembering the welcome that he’d given her during their first meeting. She’d been new to Nerine, but that was almost a year ago. A year! Really? How time has flown! It’s an odd realization that she’s just had, but there’s barely a sign of it in the way she steps forward without hesitation to nudge Ardashir’s shoulder in greeting. He says what she’d been thinking – perhaps in a more formal way than Starlin might have – and the young girl looks back curiously at her Queen and her friend.
Ever since she had stumbled upon the black and white queen her youth had turned around for the better. Not that she was aware of it, as she was unknown of the motherly capacities of her biological mother, or the lack of it. The iron queen wasn’t her mother by blood, but was more a mother to Kahvi than her real mother ever would.
Whenever she wasn’t in Nayl’s presence, she was shadowing Starlin – which was more and more often. The grullo tobiano filly was a couple of years older, but it had been Starlin’s determination to become a warrior that made Kahvi look up to her. Like an example to follow and match up with. And maybe, just maybe, she would be able to follow in her mother’s footsteps at one point.
The navy girl presses herself up against her mother. Though she had yet to call Nayl that, it was who she was to Kahvi. The lips gently tugging at her poll makes her giggle softly, and – of course – try to bump her nose against Nayl’s muzzle. That was just the start of their, her?, little game. With the tobiano mare’s gaze set on the sea, it leaves a whole lot opportunities open for mischief.
By putting her weight on both her hind legs she is able to raise herself a little off the ground. Her first attempt is clumsy, nothing more than a happy bounce, and she bumps into Nayl’s side. Somewhat annoyed her ears flop and then turn backwards, lips drawn into a line as she tries again. The concentration is all written over her face and just as she’s about to reach higher, a sweet voice greets them.
”Starlin!” she enthusiastically replies, perhaps a little louder than she was supposed to. Bouncing around Kahvi faces the grullo filly, smiling widely as their eyes meet. It’s only then that she glances back across her shoulder to look at her mother, a combination of a ‘caught-in-the-act’ look and a half-hearted apology in her silver eyes.
When looking back at Starlin again, she’s just in time to catch the wink. A smile tugs on the corners of her lips and she’s ready to pounce on the other girl, when the arrival of a colt prevents it. Her dark head tilts a little to the side as she studies him curiously, but something in his posture keeps her from approaching him. Starlin seemed to know him though, so he should be alright? Anyway, the answer that would surely follow the asked question is one Kahvi is interested in hearing as well, making her turn her head to look up to her mother.
