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  • Beqanna

    COTY

    Assailant -- Year 226

    QOTY

    "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


    [open]  golden days; Leliana and any
    #1
    Isilya

    yet it was not that nature had shed o'er the scene
    her purest of crystal and brightest of green

    After a delightful meeting with Leliana in the meadow, Isilya was all too happy to accept her invitation to come to her home. It had taken a little while to get here, and she had to ask for a few directions along the way, but she was fairly certain she had the right place now. A big clue, of course, was the large volcano rising out of the earth.

    The gold-pointed mare was still buzzing from the high of meeting another magician AND making a new friend so even though the trip had taken a while, she hadn’t minded one bit at all. Plus, it had been rather fascinating to travel – though also sad as well. Everything looked so different than the Beqanna she remembered and she had to wonder about these new lands and kingdoms that now made up the world. Were any of them the Dale renewed? Would she recognize the mountains and feel at home, even if everything else had changed? Just how significantly had the world changed?

    Alright, so maybe she was buzzing with questions as well as the excitement about her new friend.

    Isilya vaguely remembers borders being an important but difficult-to-determine part about living in a kingdom and hopes she hasn’t accidentally wandered right into the heart of Tephra and caused any tension.

    She does not get far because she is stopped and is fascinated by the first lava flow she comes across. She stays way back, as curious as she is (and though she knows she could probably protect herself from harm). The sight of it makes her forget that she was going to send a messenger ahead to find Leliana and let her know she had arrived, or to see if the queen was even around.

    The floral-maned mare has seen many things in her life and experienced a few, but this lava is beyond anything she had ever come across. Her world is meadows and forests – she simply never had the chance to be fascinated by something like this before and it reverts her back into a curious filly.

    At least she’ll be easy for anyone to find.


    ’twas not her soft magic of streamlet or rill
    oh! no, it was something more exquisite still


    table by Laura | art by Nikkayla


    @[leliana] and anyone who might want to say hello to Isilya!
    #2

    In so many ways, she can easily feel the other magician when she arrives in her home. Perhaps it is because they have such a familiar pattern to the beat of their heart. Perhaps it is the kindred spirit of their magic calling out to one another. Perhaps it is simply because the woman of plants had seen her at her lowest—at the moment when she struggled to find a hold on her own magic—and that kind of vulnerability breeds a certain kind of loyalty. Whatever it is, she feels her heart race when she senses her.

    Her wings flare at her sides and then shift and before she can take another breath, she is launching into the air and then arcing across her kingdom. Her wings catch the light and then absorb it, turning from crimson feathers into pure sunshine, taking the sun and forming it by her sides, stretching it further and further out.

    When she lands near the mare, the light remains, although she dulls it so that it would not harm the other. She folds them in by her sides, golden and translucent and the pale endless blue of the sky, and then steps forward into the other mare. She presses her nose into the mare’s neck and breathes in deep, embracing her with a warmth that she had not been capable of the last time that they had found each other.

    “I am so glad that you are here,” she says gently, her voice calm and measured—always such an indication of the steady rivers that course through her heart. She steps back and looks toward the rivers of magma that course through the kingdom, laughing softly. “I see that you have found the sister to the water that feeds into Tephra.” The heat is not uncomfortable, but Leliana knows just how dangerous it is for her to be around the magma for long. Such a contradiction: the magic she has planted in Tephra surrounded by the one element that poses the most harm to her. “You get used to it after a while.”

    it's only you and me there until the darkness calls
    let's face the dawn together; we'll brave whatever comes



    @[Isilya]
    #3
    Isilya

    yet it was not that nature had shed o'er the scene
    her purest of crystal and brightest of green

    Although Isilya could, if she wished, create wings of her own – her breath catches at the sight of Leliana flying towards her. She was literally flying over on wings of sunshine! The golden-pointed mare may shimmer in the sunlight herself, but the sight of Leliana flying towards her was the most beautiful sight she had ever seen – the very embodiment of a sunrise in a living and breathing mare.

    Just as Isilya was being dazzled by the sight of her friend landing and coming to greet her – Leliana doesn’t just land and stop the usual distance away. She moves closer!! She embraces her!! The greeting from Leliana is so wonderful, so absolutely exactly what Isilya had been hoping for, that the sweet girl almost chokes up. She’s grateful for the hug in more ways than she can count – how long has it been since she has been hugged? She’s embarrassed to count the years – but most of all because it gives her a chance to blink away the small welling of happy tears that form in her eyes.

    It just would not do for her to go around, crying like that! Not when she was here with her new and, already, very dear friend.

    “I’m glad I’m here too.” Isilya whispers as she wraps her neck around the other mare’s neck, enjoying the embrace – enjoying this moment – and she’s beaming with a smile when they part.

    Her hazel gaze follows Leliana’s back to the rivers of fire that had drawn her attention “They are fascinating..." And then, a little softer and a little more honestly - "if a little daunting.” And then, because she can’t help but ask at least one question about them of the hundred or so that are humming through her mind. “Do they run all throughout Tephra?” 


    ’twas not her soft magic of streamlet or rill
    oh! no, it was something more exquisite still


    table by Laura | art by Nikkayla


    @[leliana]
    #4

    Even if Isilya would never know the difference, Leliana grieves for the first time that they had met. She grieves for the way she had been so different in that moment—how her heart had been locked beneath the magma of her magic and she had been incapable of embracing her as a sister. She looks at her now with a softened gaze and she feels the pangs of that guilt, the wish that she could have been herself then.

    But the logical part of her sweeps away such guilt.

    She doesn’t give it roots and instead focuses on the fact that she can be herself in this moment. She focuses on the warmth that spreads throughout her when the woman returns her embrace and she feels her neck wrap around hers. For a second, she feels nothing, just feels the well of her own magic open up in the presence of its sister and rush through her, leaving her skin tingling and sensitive and ears ringing.

    When they step back from one another, Leliana smiles—wider than usual. “My magic likes having you here almost as much as I do,” she muses, her voice rippling and calm as she wonders at how it feels to have her gift behave so much of its own accord. Growing up, her healing had always responded to her. It had been a piece of her, but her magic—that had a mind of its own. That acts as it wishes sometimes.

    Not that she minds the way it rejoices to be around like.

    Her chain of thought is interrupted though by the mare’s admission and her smile dims slightly, grows a touch softer on the edges. She reaches out to press her nose against the mare’s neck. “It does,” she thinks of how the heat threads across the volcanic land, “but it’s not everywhere, and it is relatively contained.”

    She glances up at the trees that are beginning to populate Tephra again, the flowers that blanket the curves of the land, and the water that twists and rushes as much as the fire. 


    “And there are plenty of places where there’s nothing but green as far as the eye can see.”

    it's only you and me there until the darkness calls
    let's face the dawn together; we'll brave whatever comes



    @[Isilya]
    #5
    Isilya

    yet it was not that nature had shed o'er the scene
    her purest of crystal and brightest of green

    Isilya feels dazzled, almost drunk, on these first few moments of her reunion with Leliana. It’s everything she’s wanted for so long, the first strong bond out of what she hopes will be many. And she wonders if it’s also something similar to what Leliana has said, how her magic is also happy Isilya is here. Is the roaring happiness within her not only her heart, but that magic singing in the presence of it’s twin? She thinks it must be possible – and her gold-green hazel eyes just shine with joy at the prospect.

    The news that the fire-rivers aren’t everywhere and are contained sooths the worry in the gold-pointed mare. She perks up noticeably at the mention of areas where there is green as far as the eye can see.

    “Show me one of those places.” Isilya requests with a gentle smile, gesturing subtly for Leliana to lead the way. It’s not that she’s really afraid of the rivers of fire, but she wouldn’t mind getting herself lost in one of those patches where there is nothing but green. Her heart yearns for it, no matter how often she spends time in forests. She’ll never get sick of how every single inch of a forest or a meadow is different than the last.

    “You’ve done such a beautiful job breathing life back into this place.” She remembers Leliana’s offer for Isilya to come help her rebuild after a war had scarred the land. Isilya can feel the richness of the soil beneath her hooves if she focuses on it, whispering to her about how happy the plants are to be growing here, and she wonders if it has anything to do with the volcano.

    The compliment is chased by a hesitant look that causes the rampant happiness to flicker a little bit. “Do you still need help?” She’s not sure why she feels shy about asking what she wants, what she hopes for – that this place, with Leliana, could be her new home. She could make friends, create a family to expand upon the one she has lost. Isilya isn't too sure where she fits in with this new Beqanna but she knows very well where she hopes she could fit in - but only if she's wanted.

    And that, she realizes, is what scares her - that maybe one gardener is enough for this beautiful place.


    ’twas not her soft magic of streamlet or rill
    oh! no, it was something more exquisite still


    table by Laura | art by Nikkayla


    @[leliana]
    #6

    I've never loved a darker blue than the darkness I have known in you

    It is comforting to be with Isilya and to feel so completely herself.

    She doesn’t need to pretend. She doesn’t need to fight against her nature. There are no politics bubbling beneath the surface—no ulterior motives or tension. She can relax with the mare and feel something like kinship in the gentle beat of her heart; she can feel the sweet melody of the earth within her.

    It is different than the familiarity she has found with Vulgaris.

    But it is familiar all the same.

    At her request, Leliana’s smile grows just a touch wider, her hazel eyes brightening. “Of course,” she enthuses, stepping back and then pulling on those strange and wild threads of magic that light up around them both. Without hesitation, she opens up a portal, throwing it wide with a dizzy array of leaves and petals and nods toward her friend. “I will show you one of my favorite places in Tephra.”

    It is relatively new. At least, in this form. The land itself has been around for as long as Tephra has been, but she has taken to growing the private grove for the use of her family. It is tucked away and hidden by tangling vine and tree roots and while you can reach it if you try, she finds that it is much easier to simply teleport here. Which is what she does, walking through the archway and trusting her friend to follow.

    When the portal closes, she breathes in deep, smelling the thick fragrance of the plants that grow here and the churned earth below. “This is a special place,” she says, her voice nearly reverent. “After the war, I lost so much. My husband and my daughter both perished. I was able to travel to the afterlife and pull Vulgaris back, it was not as easy to bring Linnea.” There is something like sadness thick in her throat, but she doesn’t shy from it. “It took me months, but I was able to regrow her. Right here.”

    She remembers what it had been like to wait. To worry. To stand in this very spot over the spot where she had planted her daughter like a seed and waited for her to take form.

    Now she is beautiful—strong and tender as any of the trees here.

    Shaking her head, she smiles.

    “Tephra has regrown so much, but there is still more to be done.” Her eyes find her friends and remain steady as she searches them. “I need friends like you, Isilya. I need as much help as you can offer.”

    like fire weeping from a cedar tree, know that my love would burn with me

    [Image: avatar-1975.gif]
    the heaviness in my heart belongs to gravity
    #7
    Isilya

    yet it was not that nature had shed o'er the scene
    her purest of crystal and brightest of green

    Isilya does not hesitate to follow Leliana through the portal, not even for a heartbeat. Not only is she just incredibly curious to see what Leliana considers to be one of her favourite spots in the kingdom, but her trust in the other mare is already concrete, already her fellow magician has roots within this sparkling mare’s heart. Although Isilya is aware that she is older than her friend, has had her magic longer, the portal’s presence makes her feel younger and less experienced. Not in a way that makes her feel small or sad, but she muses on it all the same.

    She lost so much experience living in a forest, wrapping herself in bark and leaves and losing her mind to nothing but the soil and the sunlight. She’s barely placed a hoof in the pool of all she could accomplish with her magic.

    The place they walk into through the portal makes Isilya release a soft gasp at the beauty – her gold-green hazel eyes widening as though an extra millimetre exposed of them could help her take even more of this precious, beautiful grove. But her attention shifts entirely to Leliana when the other mare begins to speak, begins to explain the importance of this place to her.

    The golden-pointed mare steps a little closer when she catches the words and the sadness at what was almost lost. She’s honoured to have been shown this place that means so much to her friend just as she is awed by how much Leliana has done with her magic.

    “Nothing would make me happier than to give you all the help I have, to be here for you and call you my friend and herdmate.” Isilya reaches out then to touch her muzzle gently to her friend’s cheek, her heart full with a warmth she’s been craving for so long. She has a friend.

    She’s quiet for a minute after she pulls back, her gaze shifting back to the grove around them and she enjoys the peace and the moment they’ve shared.

    But, at heart, she’s still just a youth – so an easy smile begins to spread into her eyes and they dance as she looks to Leliana once again. “So, tell me about your husband.”


    ’twas not her soft magic of streamlet or rill
    oh! no, it was something more exquisite still


    table by Laura | art by Nikkayla


    @[leliana]




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