"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
no one understands me, too scared to command me. walking through an empty underworld of demons dancing.
Autumn had settled in over the weeks and with it came the dew turning to frost and the glistening wetness on rocks as it melted in the morning sun. Wind blew harsh and bitter, chilled enough to leave the more delicate blossoms little more than reminders of the beauty they’d once been. Yet? It is not simply a time of death, for with the flood of color spreading across the leaves and trees: the brush and bushes, there came a green flood of pine and conifers- a burst of life in the hard growing roots and briars. A glimmer of moonlight or a well placed sweep of the sun brought it forward too as hardier flowers and vines remained and all the world continued in it’s cycles.
Such it was that the path from the top of the Mountain had become more dangerous- become riddled with fallen stones and ice, and wet leaves; but also sparked by newborn life as babes took their breaths for the first time before the winter freeze. Foxes and voles played games of prey and predator, and hawks dove wildly before owls snatched their targeted squirrels and carried them to nests with fluffy chicks. Briella knew, more than most, that this was why the Barn Owl watched her- why it waited to see if her footsteps would rouse the life of some sleeping creature… but nothing came and so the bird, went.
Absent ideas of where to go she stood amidst the strange base of the great climb- considering the Fae Creature and it’s request: considering the nature of it’s question as she mulled over where and how to find the others. With certainty she slipped away into the wild and woods, and steered herself through dark forests with her gemstone eyes alight and maw brushing each tree as if searching for something.
No matter, she found herself drifting and nomadic, and Briella cast her gaze across the meadow with a kind of familiarity. Grasses and ferns touching her belly and the brush scratching at her legs as she waded into the green grass sea from the conifers surrounding it. Patient and quiet she noted the sparse burst of sunlight between the grey clouds- the odd highlight of gold around the silvering edges. Timid and unsure she hesitated then, found herself looking out and exhaling softly.
In shorter brush and foliage she stood, a seemingly matted down area likely bedded by deer; but she remained: thinking on who she might find.
She has tried to settle into Tephra, and somedays she finds that she can, but most days she still finds herself in the sky. It is home, and it will always be home, and though some part of her screams against the loneliness of the sky she finds herself itching to return to it often. The day is gray and cool, but beautiful, with bursts of gold between the clouds and the treetops like fire. She leaves Tephra early to explore, uncertain where the day would take her but without a worry for her destination. Rae has rarely worried about the destination, since life has always been about the journey.
Eventually, she spots a mare in the meadow standing alone and perhaps like she is looking for something. Or perhaps Rae just imagines that, but still, she cannot help but this mare is on a mission. For what, she cannot say, but curiosity peaks her interest and so she dives toward the earth. Showing off, perhaps, she hurtles toward the earth, spreading her wings wide at the last moment to level out. Her feet touch down on the ground gently, and she hardly looks like she’s just free-fallen toward the ground.
Rae has landed just far enough away that the other mare may not have noticed, if she didn’t care to pay attention. Though Rae may be a bit of a show off, more of her is simply playing in the sky as she always does. She was born to the wind and the waves, and she would never be less than the storm that started her days.
Making her way across the distance between them, Rae offers a nicker of greeting. She stops before the other mare with a nod. “Hello. I’m Rae,” she offers, and then falls silent waiting to see if the other mare was seeking company.
you said you'd wait forever, but I blinked and the world was gone
As a girl she’d dreamed of wings, of horns, and of magic… she’d dreamed of impossible colors and shapes; but never before had she been so confident to imagine herself with them. Unremarkable, she had thought herself, a scrawny legged girl whose color was little more than pale wheat and sun with nothing denoting a special quality to her. Time had changed that, and so had life, the darkened coat glossy and shining- mottled by milky blues and white flecks and jewels fastened themselves to her body in place of hooves and eyes.
Even ice, long and curly in thin strands, had become mane and tail as she knew them… frozen, eternally.
Rae though, she was beautiful, and Briella’s breath stuttered in her throat as she heard the sound of wings beating and of feather stretching as the mare landed and took place not far off. Glorious was the sheen of her coat, the mottled colors, and it was hard to take her eyes off the birdlike woman as she moved in manner of ways. Stretched wings or folded, it all seemed impressive, and Briella could hardly suppress the giddy chuckling or wild expression of wonder and childlike curiosity that blossomed in the pale blue gem-eyes.
“Rae?” she chirped in response to the round, almost birdlike, stumbling on her word. “Oh, I’m Briella- you… wow.” she blinked, gesturing to the feathers and studying them. “I’ve never met someone with wings before. You… they’re beautiful.” it’s mellifluous in a way, her voice, and she speaks with an accent far older than most of Beqanna’s populace now.
Ancient and strange the familiar tone of the Valley lingers in her words, and Briella minds the distance but closes what she can. Standing near and aware of the other mare. “Did you fly far? If… if you don’t mind me asking.”
Rae has never quite gotten such a greeting before, and it brings a smile to her lips with a soft chuckle. Not at either one of them, just simply a sound of pleasure and kindness all rolled together. It is hard not to be flattered, and she can’t help but stretch out her wings to their full span for a moment, letting the other mare see them. They are more than pretty, they are freedom. Not that she needs them, technically, she can fly without their aid, but she has always loved her wings. She uses her trait to fly in weather that should otherwise be impossible, but she rarely flies without them in at least some capacity. Her wings were no different than the legs she used to walk.
“Thank you,” she says. “You are beautiful too,” because she is. Jeweled and iced, the mare is other wordly in a sense. Rae does not consider herself anything special, and in Beqanna, she is almost plain. The color of her mother, splashed with her father, and dipped into the sky. Her touch of blue is ordinary here. Brielle glimmers though, and Rae hopes the other mare doesn’t sell herself short. Beauty is not everything, but the other mare has it all the same.
The mare’s voice too...there is something almost familiar about it, though Rae would likely have been too young to remember the sound of the Valley dwellers. The accent is like an itch though, sitting just out of reach, lost to time and memory. “I have flown all my life, but somehow I ended up where I started. I suppose that is far, but I’ve been back for some time.” Rae is sure she flies far more than the average, but she is not a creature of the land but the sky. She sleeps on clouds and moves from one place to the next. Even now she does not settle, cannot settle, when some part of her equine nature would love to finally belong. But the sky is home, and she cannot forsake it.
The accent nibbles at her still though, and so she asks, “Have you walked far?”
