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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


    you've been talking with your fists | oceane
    #11
    Gale
    run away with me--
    lost souls and reverie

    running wild and running free


      Gale had not – does not – know much about the black and white mare that had come to the Resort with Oceane that day long ago. He had assumed, naively it seems, that she had been a resident of Loess. She might have been another friend to Oceane and his mother, he’d thought, but it seems that her memory, too, carries with it only the melancholy of absence.

    A lot has changed, she says. She has two fully fledged sons and a burnt kingdom, Gale thinks. A lot is perhaps an understatement. The lines that tears had drawn on her face are stark against her purple cheeks, and they remind Gale of the little rivulets where the freshwater meets the saltwater on the black beaches of Islandres. When the tide comes in they disappear, and he finds himself hoping that Oceane’s tide comes in soon as well.

    Icicle Isle, she says, and the memory of a green-freckled mare comes to him. (She is too far to see clearly, but as the familiarity between the two of them grows, the more tangible the possibility is). Gale smiles, thinking of Jesla, and of the things that have happened in his own life. He does not mind her slip of the tongue – he’d told Isilya that she could call him Blue if she wanted to (and she did) – and pays it no mind at all.

    “My life is much the same as when we met last,” the brindle pegasus tells her truthfully. Long days of lounging in the sun, warm nights beneath the stars, lulled to sleep by the crash of waves. Tragedy has never truly struck his island home, not in the way it has so many of the lands here in the midlands of Beqanna. “Though Ruinam chose to live elsewhere, and left the care of the island to me a few years ago. Eyas, my sister, lives there with me now, and a few other friends too.” Having others on the island had been an adjustment, Gale thinks, and a rougher one than he’d expected. He had enjoyed the solitude he shared with his wombmate. There are advantages to having others around though.

    He's been able to practice his conversational skills, at least a little.

    “Oh and the Alliance. I entered that too.” He pauses a moment, thinking of Ashhal and Kensley. “I’ve not faced anyone from Loess though, I don’t think.”

    @[Oceane]

    #12

    a little white light in a
    sea gone black

    Ever polite, consistent since the very day she’d met him, Gale listens quietly and with blatant interest to Oceane’s shortened synopsis of her last few years. It hits her, suddenly, how far she’s come since the day they’d met ─ not only in title, but in mind. Gale had met a disinterested, cold version of herself that day in the field, a product of her trauma and captivity in Nau-Aib. But she is no longer that person, and it’s with gratitude that she concludes the novella of her more recent life.

    Gale, too, has weighty updates ─ though he begins humbly, it’s only a short bout of time before he admits to the crown he wears. She had heard of Gale of Islandres, and of the fairies’ quest he’d overcome to name it such, but she hadn’t been able to make the connection until now. Gale had been a faceless stranger, but now all of the similarities make sense. Oceane smiles at the winged stallion and clears her throat, pushing away the lingering tightness that had lingered from her tears.

    ”Congratulations are in order, then,” she says kindly, and then, boldly, “Would it be fair to assume that we could discuss the terms of an alliance between our lands?” She knows Loess needs them ─ now more than ever. And perhaps, ultimately, a positive relationship with Gale could open avenues to a friendship with Tephra. After all of her time on the continent, the opalescent woman had yet to visit the home of Beqanna’s volcano, nor had she engaged with anyone who called it home.

    But for all of its apparent elusiveness, Oceane has always heard stories of the jungle territory’s prowess.

    She tucks these thoughts away for later expounding and an ear pricks with interest at mention of the Alliance and Gale’s participation. “This is the first Alliance I’ve experienced since coming to Beqanna,” she tells him off-handedly, “But I hear it’s a great honor to even participate. We have Tarian representing us ─ he agreed to do so some time ago, and now he’s there in memory of your mother.” A fleeting moment of melancholy takes her before her intrigue wins out. “What is it the winner of this Alliance should expect from the fairies?”




    @[Gale]
    “”

    n | r
    i must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
    and all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by
    #13
    Gale
    run away with me--
    lost souls and reverie

    running wild and running free


      At her congratulations, Gale shrugs. Leadership of Islandres has thus far meant nothing more than making sure that every hoof (or fin) set on the black shores was aware that the residents firmly hold their long tradition of arcadian peace. He knows that he is the first line of defense in case of theft or challenge, but who would attempt that? (His entry in the Alliance has been in part to relieve himself of some of that responsibility were he to emerge victorious.) He had gone to Isilya when he had decided Ruinam wasn’t returning, and though his intent had been to ask her to find a new leader for the place, he had instead left with the seed of friendship between the two of them, as well as their lands.

    “Eyas tells me we were taught the intricacies of diplomacy,” Gale admits, “but I’m afraid the lessons didn’t stick.”

    Oceane reminds him of Isilya in many ways, and Gale decides that the two of them would be good friends. Perhaps they could all be friends, he thinks, not just Tephra and Islandres and Loess, but their people as well. He’s begun to nod his agreement even before speaking. “But I know enough to think that is something I would like.” He’s not entire sure what an alliance would entail beyond promises to treat residents of the other land as equals, neither stealing them away from their homes nor challenging them to a battle without consent, but he proposes those just in case.

    “My great-great-grandam saw the last Alliance,” Gale tells her to emphasize their luck at having one in their lifetimes. She names their champion – Tarian – and Gale matches the grey stallion in her visual memories with the pegasus that he had seen battling a giant water-lizard. He fights in memory of his mother, Oceane says, and Gale finds himself hoping that he need not face the other pegasus. Not until the end, at least, if they are both skilled enough to make it so far.

    “The stories say it is great power, perhaps even magic.” That is the prize many enter for, he knows. “But also protection for the winner’s land, the fairies prevent theft and keep battle from the residents. That is what I would like to win. I took long enough to master what gifts I already have, and I think perhaps I am too old to learn more.” He smiles as he says it, speaking only half in jest.

    @[Oceane]

    #14

    a little white light in a
    sea gone black

    Warm laughter meets Gale’s quip regarding diplomacy ─ she had been born into a world of twisted, messy diplomacy herself, but she had shied from it to rebuke the King and his tyranny. Thinking on it now, she can find some similarities between his reign and the way the icy, morbid fingers of Pangea pluck at the tendrils of Beqanna outside of their own rule. It’s a sad realization to reach, that she had run so far only to be greeted with more of the same.

    Were her plans to be a martyr, there would only be one course of action.

    But she does not  plan to die on this figurative mountain; there will be other opportunities, better opportunities, to mold Beqanna into something safer. Thankful that Gale is on the same page, she nods her agreement to the terms he has presented for Loess and Islandres. “Friendship and open borders are all I ask for,” With no intention to toss Loess headlong into any wars, there is no reason to ask him about protection or assistance. Perhaps, in time, when the Southern Kingdom has found its power again she will decide to revisit the idea of ─

    Well, all in time.

    Oceane sets these thoughts down for another time and reverts her attention to her cerulean companion as he teaches her about the Alliance. She purses her lips pensively, though intrigue shines apparent in her amber eyes as she listens to Gale speak. “That’s quite the prize,” she muses, and with a quiet snort of amusement she nods in agreement. So comfortable is she now with her Zoolingualism that the opalescent woman would hate to disrupt that balance ─ but safety for her Kingdom? That’s something she would not be opposed to winning. “Well, certainly you know my allegiances lie with Tarian, but if it’s not in the cards for him to win then I hope you find your way to victory.” A playful grin finds her lips and she tosses her head towards the north.

    “Come,” she beckons, “Perhaps we can find some prickly pear. Lepis showed me the best spot when I first arrived in Loess and I’d like to share it with you.”

    @[Gale]
    “”

    n | r
    i must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
    and all i ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by




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