everything we are, it just went away
with a slide of the tongue and a sour taste
Everything is changing, and Dawn isn’t sure she’s ready for it.
The children inside of her squirm and struggle and fight each other for room as she heeds her Queens’ call, her hooves traversing the terrain effortlessly. She has come to feel at home here in the Cove, and though it isn’t Hyaline, she loves the kingdom all the same. Her love for Hyaline is something different now – she loves it and loves the land, but all of the horses she has loved have moved on, either to the Cove or to other places. She has found herself growing beyond the reaches of the mountainous kingdom, and the Cove has filled so many spaces in her heart.
She falls into the gathering crowd easily enough, smiling at the familiar faces that join their queens. Her nose bumps Clayton’s shoulder as she fondly remembers their time in the Playground as children, and she settles in near him as she turns her attention to Kagerus and Solace. Whatever is coming, it can’t be good. Kagerus looks... almost dazed as she faces them, and there is a calm acceptance on Solace’s face that Dawn finds herself not liking. What is going on?
And then they speak their pieces, and everything snaps into place.
No wonder Lie had seemed so agitated when they met in Loess. Kensa had been tense the last time they spoke, though she had hidden it well. Everything in the Cove had seemed so uneasy as of late, with the queens growing more and more quiet, drawing away into solitude.
Tears prick at the corners of her eyes, and she can’t even blame pregnancy hormones for these. She swallows hard as Clayton speaks up next to her; the blood is pounding in her ears and she barely hears a word he says.
She finds herself stumbling forward – something she will kick herself for doing later – to address the former queens, desperation written into every line of her face. “You two have been like mothers to me, and I cannot thank you enough,” she manages, every word a struggle. “You have held me and comforted me and taught me to be a better diplomat, and I have cherished my time learning as your subject. If it is not too forward, or too brash of me, I would offer myself up to rule as your replacement, or act as part of a council to continue your great work. The Sanctuary is my home and my paradise and I would like to prove that to the rest of Beqanna.”
Tongue running dry, she steps back, abashed at her forwardness. She knows her mother had made similar claims lately only to have been crushed – why, oh why, would she do the same thing?
Dawn
oh, it's gonna be a long night