"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
The last time she’d discovered Agetta in the meadow, she had remained safely in the shadows. However that encounter had left Anaxarete with questions. Agetta’s memories had been tampered with. The shadowmare knew because she had been absent from them.
Upon this realization, Anaxarete had quickly seized upon the opportunity that had afforded itself. Even now, again veiled in shadows, Anaxarete could sense the dual heartbeats fluttering within Agetta’s womb - her sides swollen from the burden of carrying two children. However, Anaxarete had retreated to the shadows after their last encounter, letting her presence go unnoticed.
She had needed time to digest the implications of this realization. So she had returned to her home to consider the possibilities.
Again, Anaxarete probed the white mare’s memories from the shadow. Again, she found all memories of herself absent. Not just masked or hidden away or suppressed but gone. They had been wiped away. A clean slate.
The shadowmare was not one to allow opportunities to pass her by. So this time...this time she stepped from the shadows, angling herself to intercept the white mare without making it obvious that was her intention.
And when their paths did cross, the shadowmare turned to face the white mare. “I’m sorry to bother you, but you look so familiar,” she began, pausing for effect before adding, “Have we met?”
— I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night —
At first, Agetta sees the dapples and she thinks of Kensley - a soft smile already warming her features. It falters a little bit when she realizes that it is not him - though the smile does not fade entirely. Instead of her dear friend, it’s a mare that pauses and speaks. She has blue eyes, but while Agetta’s are deep like the night sky, the dappled mare has eyes that are so icy they almost burn. She searches these eyes and the face of this stranger, looking for something that might spark a memory somewhere. Certainly those beautiful eyes stand out, and the missing ear and scars are another sign. Scars mark Agetta’s flesh as well and she wonders if this is someone else who has fought in battles.
But there’s nothing. The area of her mind where Ana had once existed has been swept entirely clean. Anything tied to her - like the son they shared - taken too so that there is not even a hint of a trail to follow to rediscover what has been lost.
So the only thing Agetta is currently fretting about is whether or not she could be so rude as to forget someone entirely when they seemed to vaguely recognize her!
“I don’t think so, but you’ll have to forgive me if we have - it’s getting harder and harder to remember everything the older I get.” She laughs, quiet and short, but genuine like the kind smile that appears on her expression.
The shadowmare cannot relate to this difficulty with memory. She had no difficulty with over a century of memories - the only one that had tampered with her memories was herself. But a smile does creep across her lips. Likely reassuring to Agetta, but oh that smile meant so much more to the shadowmare. Because as they spoke, Anaxarete again invaded the white mare’s mind. And she was utterly and completely absent from the other’s memories. “I must have been mistaken. I’m Anaxarete, you can call me Ana,” she replies, far to good naturedly to be normal for the dark dappled mare.
“Not to be invasive, but I sense you’re carrying twins,” she began, her cold glaze flickering from Agetta’s rounded sides to her face and back again. Agetta had always been sentimental about her children, and she assumed the same was true now. Agetta’s motherly instincts had always been stronger than Anaxarete’s. This was not something that the shadowmare lost sleep over. Instead, she continued - weaving her web ever tighter. “Something else we have in common,” the shadowmare offered - gesturing to her own swollen sides. Carrying her children herself was not something that Anaxarete did with any sense of frequency. Her magic gave her the ability to incubate her children externally which she very much prefered to pregnancy. But these children were special and she had decided to keep them close, which was somewhat out of character for her.
”Forgive me if this is too forward but, was the father a magician?” she asked, feigning curiosity. She only hoped it was enough for Agetta to take the bait. She would plant the seeds of doubt ever so carefully, ensuring the once-protector of the Gates had no indication that someone else was pulling the strings.
— I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night —
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ana.” Agetta replies with absolute sincerity - half because so far, it’s true, and half because it’s just what you say when you meet someone new.
Ana’s next words cause the white mare’s midnight eyes to widen a little in surprise and she breathes out a soft whisper. “Twins!” Agetta had been wondering, but without any way to check, she had supposed she was simply going to have to wait. She did think that she was considerably bigger than she had been last time… but it had been years since Kastiel was born and she just supposed that any size difference was just because it had been so long. “I had a suspicion, of course... but... twins!” There are stars in Agetta’s eyes as she thinks about it. Not once in all of her years has she ever had a set of twins. And it being her and Plume’s first children in so long - it made them extra special.
She drags herself out of the daydreaming enough to speak again, completely forgetting to wonder how it is that Ana might have known about the twins - perhaps she just guessed, though, given their mutual sizes. “Congratulations to you! Perhaps our twins will be friends in the spring.”
The next question throws Agetta for a loop and her smile falters a little bit. Again, though, it is merely in thought. Of all the questions she might have anticipated out of a simple conversation, that was not one of them. “No! He is not… not unless he came back from the afterlife with a couple new tricks like I did.” Still, Plume being a magician surely would have come up.
And, finally, Agetta has the common sense to ask a question of her own. “Why do you ask?”
