the ground did fold, and eat us both; any

[Eld]

Just throw it back, for one more night On a starlit and moon-struck night. In Autumn's wake, I seemed to explode onto the scene. Where once there were leaves, freshly fallen and crisply brown, they were a torrent, a whirlwind of yellow, orange and gold. The dying grasses, scorched from the summer's reign made them crisp and splintered beneath my hooves as I fell through the clearing at a charge. All strawberry feathers flying around my sturdy limbs as I go. thick tendrils of red as a sea of bloody foam against the shimmering waterfall in the background. It was nice to stretch, to run and charge, albeit every few strides I would trip over some unseen lump of dirt, stumble a little and continue as elegantly as one could, when one was quite on the large side. A monstrous giant of sorts, throwing her weight around yet still trying to take care for the delicate flowers beneath her feet. Perhaps I was a walking contradiction. I was no longer an exhausted mess; my stay here, within the beautiful Falls had given my coat a new lustre, my eyes a new fire. Viridian green eyes swallowed the landscape, the sturdy trees, the crisp grasses beneath. Vast open land, and I took advantage. My canter swallows the ground, long, purposeful. Not that I have anywhere inclined to go. It is good to feel the autumnal breeze tangle my locks, bless my coat with a nice, comfortable breeze. Not the sticky, blistering sun that beat down upon me and made every little crevasse sticky with sweat. I was still no amazing wildflower; not as pristine or well kept as the primroses and lavender. I was more like the climbing flowers that clung to the trees, hidden in the depths of the Falls. Vast and aplenty, all over the place with no real coordination. Of course they were pretty to look at at a distance, but up close you saw the entanglement and felt that even they didn't know where they were going. so, like the trailing vines with pretty little flowers that bloom in adversary, I crawl over the clearing, long strides eating up the ground, head high and neck arched, squirrelly ears, tufty red lobes perked forward and listen to all the autumnal day's sounds. A few chirps here, some darling lark's song there, and the rush of the wind as it whispered sweet nothings into the trees. For once, for once I was not skulking the trees like some shadow, I was there, I was out in the open. Oof. I trip once more, a large stone in my way. Ah, perhaps, perhaps it is safer me to lurk the shadows. Oh, but then there are the roots of gnarled trees that threaten to capsize my vast vessel, the hidden concealment of rabbit holes that long to take my leg. Perhaps, perhaps I should have flashing lights, like twinkling astrals warning others away. A walking hazard. Ah, but that would be no fun. And a rather lonely existence. A few butterflies whispers past, riding the air current with pretty little wings. How I longed to be so small, so fragile. Able to be cupped closed in gentle hands. But we can dream, can we not? The ground did fold and eat us both But all my love, I did devote. - resident of the falls -

[Texas]

The immorality that had been leached from him for the past decade is slowly returning. It is faster than the initial draining, of course, but Texas had not been as fortunate as the monarch of the Falls in this particular regard. Shatter Me had gotten her water-bending back immediately and his trait is, for whatever reason, delayed it its return. Perhaps because it is because he is so old, and the magic of immortality needs time to repair a body that was never intended to last as long as his has. The silver remains in his mane and around his eyes and nose, he is no longer a slab-sided, bony-looking creature.

He looks nearly like his old self again, he thinks, peering curiously at his reflection in the silvery water. Long-legged and lanky, with a roman-nose and eyes so brown that they seems black. He is so leggy as to look as if he should be clumsy, but he spins quickly at the sound of hooves behind him.

It’s the red mare from the kingdom meeting – Eld. She looks infinitely better than she had on their first meeting Texas notices. She’d been scruffy and dirty then, and while even now she’s still a bit roughed up from her stumble, her looks have certainly improved. Texas is, of course, the very best judge of feminine appeal. It’s been a few years since he’s heard news of any children resulting from his trysts, but he’d been comfortable blaming that on old age. He no longer has that particular excuse, and wonders if that means it’s time to test the theory. He’s to go to the Amazons within the next few days, and while he doesn’t doubt that he could find a willing warrioress there, there’s no time like the present to test his charm.

“You look much better,” Texas calls out, stepping away from his spot beside the water and closer to the roan mare. He comes closer, nodding his head in what appears to be a friendly greeting. “Did I introduce myself before? I’m Texas.”

[Eld]

Just throw it back, for one more night On a starlit and moon-struck night. The Falls were quiet in a way that the beaches were at the end of a long, summer's day. When the sun was just about to stretch it's last rays of light across the shoals. It is peaceful in the way that wandering the woods in the afternoon sun was, yet lonely like the long, cold nights in winter. I had met few, and perhaps, perhaps that was what the Falls had to offer in it's residents. That both pleased and shocked me. Pleased, because let's face it. I was not the most flattering of creatures to make friends, and shocked because the Falls was a place full of wonders, of a beauty unrefined and yet polished at the same time. I spot him, the bay steed from the meeting -- I remembered him because his words stuck in my head. Go and roll in the water or something. Oh yes, I remember him vividly. This time however I notice his salt and peppered sprinkling along his face, his mane. He had weathered many things by the look of it, and it shaped him in a way that the wind wears down stone, the way the crashing waves bear down against the chalky white surface. I watched him with moss green eyes, my pace had slowed to a jog, a shuffle of feathers and clunky hooves. He calls to me then and my strawberry lobe captures it; like spider tendrils grasping a fly. A vague compliment, well, that's much better than what he had said to be before. I give a brash snort, nostrils fluttering. 'Wallflowers can scrub up well, with a bit of sun and water.' there is a heartiness in my chuckle, bright eyes ever watchful as they quietly observe him. I step ever nearer until I'm up close. A bearable distance. I nod my head, a dip of my muzzle, deep towards my chest. Texas. I vaguely remembered. Shatter Me had called him such. I nodded again, agreeing in ways. 'No, not quite.' Curtains of red mane fall across my face, eyes just about catching his friendly gesture. 'Texas. It's good to meet you, well, better than last time.' I laugh, a strange mixture of a tone, it is neither the gentle lull of a bird's wing nor the gasping choke of a gull. It is just me, it is just Eld. 'Eld. I'm Eld. Simple.' I pause, then shake my head, a twisting form took my lips, 'Well, not simple just.. ah. Never mind.' My plume strokes my hocks, snapping at the irritating buzzes that bite and gnaw at my tender flesh. 'How is the day treating you, Texas?' The ground did fold and eat us both But all my love, I did devote. - resident of the falls -

[Texas]

Compliments given by the bay stallion tend to be sharp and infrequent things. They are have multiples side, as does most everything else about the old horse, and he’s pleased to see that the red mare hasn’t decided to start a fight over this most recent one. Amazons would, he’s sure, but they enjoy fighting over just about everything.

“I’m alive,” he says with a wry smile and a brief huffing laugh, “So I suppose it could be worse. ”

“Where did you come from?” He asks. She’d not been recruited after all – he’d know as one of three lone gatherers in the kingdom. She seems the type to fit in here. Quiet and soft-spoken, even if she is on the clumsy side. The Falls seems to gather in those with gentle hearts that don’t quite belong anywhere else. Perhaps they have a dark past with secrets that scares them away from the lighter kingdoms, but enough softness that they know better than to try their hand at the Valley or the Chamber. Texas is not sure what the new distribution of magic will do the kingdoms of Beqanna, but he cannot imagine someone that seems so well-intentioned as Eld ever living in a place with a shaded history.

She doesn’t belong in the Amazons either, he decides. She doesn’t seem as power hungry as most of those women are, but he’s still somewhat curious what other females think of that strange group. “What do you think about the Amazons?” He asks. They’d been swarmed quickly upon their arrival by not one but three mares. He does not have the impression that the meeting went particularly well, but that is a matter for another day. The amazons and the Falls have now been back and forth a number of times, and he expects that they’ll have news of the alliance soon enough.

[Eld]

Just throw it back, for one more night On a starlit and moon-struck night. My mother once said to me, I was a spit of sunshine and a large portion of rain. I was never certain as to what she meant, but as I trod through days, seasons and even hours, I was starting to see what she meant. I wasn't the most of graceful of girls. I had a golden heart, somewhere in this vast vessel of mine. A heart that was good, and yet inside of me the barbs of loneliness did capture it. The cutting ice of doubt, of self-loathing. I'd spent the past few days wandering the woods, finding quaint little nodules of beauty, hidden, concealed beneath the rough bark of trees. Perhaps that was what my mother meant, but I'll never know. My sire had been adamant I leave as soon as I was of age -- keeping a place that would potentially house a worthy mare, after all. I was as useless then as a broken rock. But here, here I could take that broken rock and start piling it above more. building some sort of thing, some sort of worth. 'Well, living is always a good start to the day.' I say, fluttering my ears at Texas's words. His wry little grin does not go unnoticed, it becomes quite infectious and my velvety lips turn upward. 'Everything can always be worse. You could lose a leg, an eye... Maybe even your tongue. I can't really see Texas without his tongue now, can you?' I laugh, a sweet little sound, seems so foreign coming from one as graceless and voluminous as I. But looks were always deceiving, I judged this by the silver bay man before me. I took a step forward, tail swishing by my hocks. He mentions the Amazons. I swallow a breath and shake my head. 'Large place. Lots of bugs, uncooperative vines. Not for me.' I shake my head, emphasising the distaste. 'I suppose if you're into fighting off killer flowers and heaven knows what else, then it could be considered... homely? Ah, perhaps that's not the right word. The Falls, this is homely. Quaint little place. The Jungle? It just...' I tighten my lips then, as ever rolling too much onward. I lower my head a little, 'Not for me.' I lift my green gaze back to Texas. finding a little bit of awkwardness sliding over my skin like fly bites. 'You knew how to untangle those awkward webs of vines and trees. What do you think of the Jungle?' The ground did fold and eat us both But all my love, I did devote. - resident of the falls -