"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
Not that he minds though - it was time to make a change, and if someone had to be the first-ever king to rule over the former Amazons, who better than to pick an Amazon Prince?
Not that the title ever had meaning to him, or to anyone he suspects, but there was that little fact. It added up to his own mule-headedness, which may or may not be on the same level as Everthere’s. He supposes he should find out, some day.
Today though, is a day of new beginnings. He makes a round - by air - through the North and it’s Territories, calling them to the Isle. All, but most certainly the three women who’ve crowned him. (Their mistake. Now they have to swim. All but Lethy shall loathe this idea.)
He waits for them, scaly, winged and clawed - unbothered by his appearance, he lounges on a large black rock, near a blackened beach and a burnt black forest. This part of the Isle had everything dark, and he sticks out like a coal in the snow (but vice versa, of course; he still has a flair for dramatics).
When they finally make it, he huffs above them, teasing them with tickling snow. ”So. I guess trips towards the southerners are in order.” he tilts his head at the women; his tail moves casually behind him in a cat-like manner, and he doesn’t bother with further rules or introductions.
They’ll see.
I am the dragon and you call me insane
Image commissioned by Vanilla, made by AshesDrawn on DA
@[Neverwhere] @[Izora Lethia] @[lilliana]
A council thread and yes he’s forcing you to swim. <3
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
She doesn’t shy away from the waters edge anymore, where she once only dipped the tip of her hooves into the bone freezing water now she finds herself submerged. When the fairy’s purple swirling magic touched her on top of the mountain it had been the most unusual, most natural feeling thing she had felt. Like that first breath after escaping the womb of your mother. Where her fur had been was now covered in thick, smooth scales that glimmered in the sunshine and reflected in the water the color of amber and dark, smokey quartz. It cradled her just below that dull purple glow, just another physical shield to mimic that which she safeguarded her emotions with. She had been surprised to find that she could manipulate these physical traits, summon them when ever she wished and banish them just as easily. Had she not been called to this meeting with out a pair of wings she may never have came to find out that she also possessed the ability to breath beneath that cold, ice water. She took one step off the shelf beneath the ocean and her scales she had summoned to protect her from the fridged cold had unexpectedly dragged her down. Her gills, that had appeared, worked effortlessly on her neck just behind the curves of her cheeks. The water passed through her mouth pulling the oxygen to her lungs while her gills expelled the water. Her eyes widened in surprise and excitement as she kicked off towards the isle.
She felt solid ground beneath her feet, she dragged herself from the water - ice and frost forming in crystals along her dragon scales as she ascended into the brisk northern winds. Her purple eyes, bright and determined scanned the land she said she would one day see. It was black and charred, it’s scars proudly displayed for all to see. The beach crunched beneath her hooves as she made her way down its side. It didn’t take much to find the new Dragon King, sprawled about as if he own the place. As she approached her bright eyes wandered to the forest taking in the damage she had heard about. It was weird, how many times she had stared at this exact land from her perch upon the waterfall, up close it seemed different. Defiant. Powerful. Lonely. By now she was to close to Leilan to pretend that she couldn’t see him, a half smile pulled at her lips as snow floated softly around her and the others as she pulls closer. ”What do you have in mind, Leilan?” she says her soft voice as smooth as the water she now craved.
09-01-2020, 10:13 PM (This post was last modified: 09-01-2020, 10:20 PM by Neverwhere.)
Hey all you cool cats and kittens
She should have gone there ages ago, of course, but the dappled mare doesn't much care for swimming - she'd spent too much time traveling blind to have a taste for water higher than her knees, though it's been more years seeing now than not. Habits die hard and Neverwhere glowered at the grey autumn sea for some time before answering Leilan's summons. She had watched him slip through the air like a snake through the grass and considered simply not going at all - indifference had worked for her so many times in the past.
"Everything changes," she grumbled quietly to the squabbling terns. Even Neverwhere changed, like the granite walls, slowly receding against a century of wind and wave, she eroded, too.
But she certainly wasn't about to admit it.
Those blue eyes, light as the thin, pale sky of the northern autumn had turned back to the Isle's cold coast and she'd made her decision. This was not something she could ignore. Not due to fear of or respect for the roan dragon king, but because Lilli would never let her rest if she skipped the meeting, and so she had decided that she must not miss it, though the idea of bending to someone else's will in this way curled distastefully against the back of her throat.
The dragon disappeared, back to his roost and the Taigans would soon come north. Neverwhere, not desiring being found atop the icy bluff on their arrival, slipped below, between the channeled cliffs instead.
When shimmering blue eyes open on the Isle, they are met by the sight of Nerine from an unfamiliar angle. The black rock crags seem to snarl at the foggy sky like dark teeth. The dappled mare turns away from them to the center of Leilan's frozen kingdom. It recovers reasonably well from Castile's destruction, it was not much more than rock and snow before that, anyway, but of course, the black tops of charred trees show that not all is as it was. Grey hooves step noisily through the glassy sand and she makes no effort to hide either her presence or the unhurried way she joins him where he lounges within the burn scar, one ear forward and the other turned back, wary, skeptical, frowning.
09-01-2020, 11:28 PM (This post was last modified: 09-02-2020, 10:43 AM by lilliana.)
Where Izora Lethia might not have hesitated to dip a hoof into the frigid waters of the North, Lilliana does. The chestnut mare is often found on their shoreline. She tends to spend short amounts of time soaking her aching joints in the salt water (her previous pregnancy hadn't been an easy one and while this one isn't as difficult as the last, Lilliana is not a mare meant for multiple children or pregnancies). It isn't unusual to find the Taigan mare standing there after she is finishing making her rounds or visiting with other Redwood dwellers, when she isn't with Yanhua or trying to catch a glimpse of golden Aela who grows lovelier with each season.
She has no time for any of that on this winter day. The buckskin Matriarch takes to the water and Lilliana snorts before finally committing herself to icy sea. Where the other Taigan councilmember has the luxury of gills and scales, she has none. By the time that the long journey (no thanks to her growing sides) is completed, her steps up the black, glassy beach are less than graceful. It takes her a moment to adjust to the feeling of solid earth instead of churning salt water below her and the flame-marked mare more or less staggers up the beach with a shaky gait.
Winds, she is tired.
Her companion could be taken as a vision; all shimmering scales, sleek sides, and sure-footed steps. Lilliana is none of that. Ocean water runs down her sides in rivulets and leaves a trail of where she goes. Where Lethy is lovely and light, Lilliana is soaked and sodden. When a cold blast of air blows past them, the thin-coated mare starts to shiver. She has learned to endure the cold in her years residing in the North. It is not something that she can say she will ever enjoy.
Lilliana follows a few paces behind Lethia and a familiar scent catches her attention, making the red mare momentarily forget the cold and the frost in the air that burns her flaring nostrils. Nash, her heart lifts and is followed by the eager rise of her head. There is a swing of purpose in her stride as she starts to glance around the Isle for a glimpse of her striped son. As much as she wants to find her firstborn, he is not the reason she is here. A dragon lounging on the scorched crags before them is. Her head jerks back slightly.
His dragon skin has a purpose outside the North. Inside it? Maybe on his Isle, Leilan grows comfortable. His appearance makes the fire-gold mare uneasy and she shifts her weight, though it does nothing to hide the her current condition. Neverwhere joins and something in the gleam of the pale blue eyes of the other mare makes her frown. Lilliana peers from beneath her curling forelock at the dappled mare and sighs, frustrated.
It makes her turn her attention on Leilan.
"Perhaps the next time you fancy a flight over the Northern territories, My Lord, a meeting there might be as effective as it here?" she quips. Her humor is dry where she is not. She clenches her jaw in determination to not shiver in front of the Dragon King. "It would save you a trip."
The Taigan mare feels her eyes flash up at Leilan. He speaks of the South and between the journey here, Lethy's easy compliance, and Neverwhere's games, her temper starts to flare. "The South?" she asks, as startled by that as Never is vague. "What plans are there for the South?" Oh, her anger blazes. It sparks at the tip of her tongue and threatens to catch flame on this whole conversation. "What of Brennen? How do we keep aiding him? And what about Pangea?"
Remember when our songs were just like prayers
Like gospel hymns that you caught in the air?
They come, slowly, most certainly annoyed, but they come. For Neverwhere it’s not a change in behaviour, and frankly, the dragon on the rocks enjoys staring at the dragon-scaled buckskin. Her transformations are complete, then, he notices. She’s by far the most beautiful of the trio right now, glimmering gold and black and... his eye falls on a seething Lilliana, and he cannot help but smiles. Perhaps she feels bloated and ugly, but there’s nothing in his gaze that reveals any sort of similar conclusion. She’s ablaze in so many senses of the word, he almost laughs at the idea of poking her and see if she will deflate - but just in time, Neverwhere speaks up in her usual, unamused dry tones, and this saves Lilli - and himself - from his most immediate, snappy response.
”None of you made the trip before, so I guess some introduction is needed - welcome to the northernmost land in Beqanna. To my right and your left: what’s left of the Isle’s forest, previously the main food source,” for both herbivores and carnivores, ”If you turn South... well, everything short of Nerine is to the south.” he shrugs a bit, large scaled silver shoulders gleaming when the light hits them; his bronze head turns to Neverwhere. ”I believe we don’t have many truces or alliances set in stone?” he inquires just to make sure. ”So far, among the youngsters here are Oceane’s son as well as Aquaria’s, which might help the Tephrans and Loessians lean towards a more favourable position regarding ourselves.”
So far of an explanation of wanting to go and meet with these lands to the south, he supposes. Solidify these things, don’t let them depend on whims - ”Regarding the Pangeans, I believe that’s why I’m here. As are you; this here forest is not how I like to imagine Taiga looking.” He tilts his head, reading between them, landing on Izora with some sort of interested gleam. ”What else can you do?” he wonders. She had been swimming beneath the surface if he had not been mistaken. Perhaps she had some sort of protective power to measure up to the fires, as well? He sure knows his own result in... altered sorts of damage, really, when matched with dragonfire. The steam and cracking rock had been a terrible downside for the Isle, for a while anyway.
By now, he’s passed over Lilli twice; finally letting his ice blue reptilian orbs rest on the... there was no other word but swollen mare. ”How are the children?” He barely is able to cover for the word “our” that might have surfaced in his mind, but definitely didn’t want to call them “hers” exclusively. He tilts his head in his usual way, no different from when he’d been a horse. A green hint to his eyes matches the ocean she’s just swam through as he continues. ”I don’t think you’ve had trouble getting here in your buoyant state?”
I am the dragon and you call me insane
Image commissioned by Vanilla, made by AshesDrawn on DA
@[Izora Lethia]
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
The cold winds rip through her chocolate mane as her purple eyes asses the situation unfolding, the meeting of the first northern council; one egotistical dragon king, one skeptical broad, one pregnant fiery friend, and a newly shaped her. The purple glow that dances around her reflects off the ocean smoothed stones beneath her while the growing group reflects in her appropriately deep amethyst eyes. She can sense the distaste that rolls off of Neverwhere’s single, vague word. She could feel the exhaustion rolling from Lilliana’s body as she dragged herself from the frigid waters, the sour expression on Lilli’s face when she turned at her words pulled a sympathetic smile to her lips.
She seemed to be a tuned to everything right now, the slight pull of Leilan’s eyes from her to Lilli upon her arrival. The gills she had grown below the water had receded as if they were never there, while something else took its place in the pit of her stomach as she let her ego expand and she found herself taking pleasure in his curious glances just for his attention to be drawn away just as easily to Lilli. She felt her brows pull together for only a moment, she didn’t like how she felt - the squeezing of her chest, the misplaced frustration at her friend who stood beside her. Was this jealousy? She knew it wasn’t because of any unproclaimed love for Leilan, she barely knew they guy. Maybe it was because here she was a brand new horse for the first time since she got to Beqanna, and he wasn’t completely tooken by only her, but by the fiery mare who was caring their children. But then again that was a lie wasn’t it, she wasn’t a brand new horse, she was exactly the same person she was before she walked that path to the mountain. Lethy pushed her own peace slow and deep beneath the scales that embodied her, Her eyes danced to the very pregnant Lilli, noticing the way she was forcing her muscles and nerves not to quake at the cold. With some concentration she slid away her scaled so that they only covered the top half of her leaving her mid drift and back side exposed. The heat that had been stored beneath said scales drifted thickly away from her as she moved closer to Lilli, sides touching, heat crossing, peace slipping softly into those tired muscles of hers, though she wouldn’t mind if the attitude stuck around for a bit she thought with a small smirk.
Her crinkled brows quickly refocused on Leilan as he began the introductions to his land, asked questions he already knew the answers too, and goaded the already cranky Lilli. ”How would you see us going about making sure our red woods don’t turn out like this...” she trails off momentarily taking in the black, charred land that was this mighty dragons. ”My gifts will only allow for so much, and to be honest I don’t know the full extent of my gifts. Taiga is known for protecting not antagonizing, what are your expectations from Taiga and Nerine as the new King of the North? How far are you willing to go?” in hindsight this was maybe a question Lilli and her should have asked Leilan before pushing this plan into action. Lethy wasn’t against making a stand against the South but she had not taken up the position of Matriarch to harm innocents and destroy their livelihoods. Mothers protect... against those who harm.
Lilliana is seething, soaking. The dappled mare draws closer to her - she knows the risk, but if there is any warmth to be shared, it does not hurt her at all to give it. The generosity earns her a sigh and a frown. Busted. Her cloudy eyes flick from the reptilian shape of Leilan to the black forest he directs their attention to and wonders how exactly he thinks he will be able to stop Ghaul, because he sounds as if he thinks he can.
@[lilliana] had believed, Izora Lethia had believed, Eurwen had believed, but the bald-faced mare, well, she remains skeptical. The difference is she does not really care. The redwoods would not burn easily, have they not proven that once already? The old trees still bear burn scars, yet the forest thrives. It is not surprising to her that the hard-scrabble trees on the Isle's tundra were not up to the challenge of surviving flames. It is a different extreme they were designed to outlast.
Leilan seems to take her meaning. Everything is south of where they stand.
"I do not even know who our allies were in the past," and she has done nothing to create new ones. She has, in fact, spoken with the leaders of each kingdom, but politics? The silver dapple eschews it, avoids it. She suspects that Tephra will make no move against them. She suspects that Loess has different priorities just now. And Pangea? Well, Ghaul has made no secret of his plans, and those she expects he will keep no matter what they do - unless he gets himself killed first.
A possibility, to be sure.
shorty-short post to get things moving since this is behind the times lool
09-13-2020, 02:58 PM (This post was last modified: 09-13-2020, 02:59 PM by lilliana.)
It isn't the South she is worried about. It isn't the rest of Beqanna she is worried about at this moment. It is the North. Looking at Leilan, that is what she is thinking about.
(She knows its foolish to not worry about the other kingdoms and the Dragon King is right. Taiga had supported his ascension because their world is full of them; those Dragon-born and mountain-made. Castile had been the King of Loess for years. Lilliana knows little about the man or his politics but she thinks that part of that peace came from the power he wielded. It was why when Ghaul had started spreading his zealous message of fires and pyres, Lilliana had thought of Leilan and his ice.)
"There is a standing friendship with Ischia and Taiga," she says, as tactfully as she can despite the aggravation she feels. "It was started with Eva and though there is nothing official, their dame Aquaria indicated that nothing had changed last we spoke." Her thoughts start to come clearer, calmer as the buckskin Matriach comes closer and the red mare is thankful for that, "and we have friends in Tephra." Lilliana thinks of Warlight and Warden. Another bond that isn't official but she looks from one side to peer at Lethia and then the dappled one, waiting to see if they had anything else to add.
Irritation furrows her brow when she glances back up at the Dragon King. He's right, of course. He had been given a crown precisely for the point he's made.
@[Leilan] asks the other Taigan what her new powers allow and Lilliana has to fight the waves of suspicion that crash through her. She understands the why of why Lethy had done it; just some part of the red mare can't quite bring herself to wholely trust that the Magic that the Mountain bestows. Beqanna had torn itself apart on that Magic before and now pooled into once place... Lilli lets herself shiver now and it runs down her spine as the chestnut woman shakes for a moment. The potency of that kind of Magic is not something she wants to imagine so she doesn't.
Lilliana becomes quiet and leans into the not-Neverwhere beside her, trying not to let the sparks leave her tongue. She stands there watching the conversation between the two Dragons, about powers and gifts. Taiga will not be known for antagonizing and she silently thinks that they will not be known for being silent, either.
"We are missing the point if that is the question we are asking," Lilliana finally says. Leilan was a figurehead (and also like Lethia and Neverwhere, a friend). What she imagines for the North is not different from the conversations she has shared with the buckskin about their Council in Taiga. "What are our expectations for this Council? What do the residents of the North need from us?" The second question is perhaps the most obvious, "Magic and gifts are well and good in this world." They certainly don't hurt, she thinks as she looks back to Leilan, "but they only go so far."
As it does now, because there is only so much that the image of Neverwhere and the calming presence of Lethia can do. He's antagonizing her, she assumes. Lilliana, who prefers to keep her so life private, has absolutely no desire to discuss it here. Even if it is amongst those she considers her friends.
Her deep blue eyes darken, like stormclouds building on the horizon. "I would presume you know how Nashua is, Your Majesty. Yanhua is still keeping watch in Taiga." Her face turns to stone then, cool and impassive, making it clear that Lilliana refuses to say anything more on the topic.
Remember when our songs were just like prayers
Like gospel hymns that you caught in the air?
He's a constant test to their friendship, he knows; Nev obviously doesn't care much, feels only the relief of not having to pull at them any longer, while she hands the harness to Leilan. Her short and almost obvious answers seem to indicate as much, anyway.
She is to the point though, and for that he appreciates her all the same. He's long since learned to expect nothing but rude comments from her, and he makes sure to pay her in kind as much as he can. An odd relationship they have, for sure. However, the content of her answers mean he does have to forge new relationships - he has inherited that which he had started himself with Oceane and Aquaria, and Lilliana and Izora's capabilities of maintaining friendships across the borders. And then there is Ghaul, of course.
Izora asks the right questions - now, perhaps a little late - and he smirks at her in a way that doesn't indicate something entirely good. The round chestnut mare however interrupts, and perhaps it saves him from saying something he can't take back. Instead, he mulls it over for a heartbeat or two, then nods. "When you're more fit for travel again, would you like to keep those friendships warm? We may need them in the future." Especially regarding the heavier subject. "Izora, would you accompany me to Pangea sometime soon, then? There's messages we need to tell them."
Looking from one to another, it seems that if he doesn't tell them the how and why soon, his lover friend might just explode. While any other time he'd gladly push her some more and see if she can, the thought of her swollen belly keeps him quiet enough for the moment. Playtime's over, after all. "Your choice is to fight fire with ice, a dragon for a dragon. However, the opposite extremes have resulted in this." he nods to the Isle behind him. "Rock does not give. It breaks and crumbles under the combined pressure. The cracks below this ice have never healed." he shrugs. "As a preventive method however, I can try and keep the north under a blanket of snow and ice this winter on my rounds. In the meantime, the message to the East is simple. My - our promises are never empty." He's always been careful with making promises - perceived hidden messages and promises had been what upset many of his female friends in the past, but he'd never promised them anything. The potential threat he posed to another dragon, well - he's pretty certain they'll get it. And if they would in fact finally decide on an assault on his lands, his people, well - a dragon for a dragon, indeed.
Looking each of the women before him in the eye once, his icy demeanour then changes as the dragon stretches his neck to look past them towards the distant shores they represent, a more pensive look on his face before he stretches his white wings. "It's time we called a kingdom meeting, I think."
I just wanna be someone well, doesn’t everyone?
Image commissioned by Vanilla, made by AshesDrawn on DA
I tried to make this council meeting into a wrap since obviously some things have, ehm, changed since then. And some have not, lol (:
Two things I know I can make: pretty kids, and people mad.
| 
Remember when our songs were just like prayers