06-14-2021, 08:39 PM
The light that meets the dark
For all her common knowledge of the redwoods, Cheri is not nearly as learned as she would like. In fact, her eagerness to be a scholar hadn’t actually been her first choice of future occupation when she’d been a young thing, off tromping around the jurassic ferns with Mem or Rey alongside her. Cheri had dreamed of adventure and wonder beyond what the eyes could see, mythical and magical places like the ones Lilli painted for her with tapered memories, scenes of rivers as wide as lakes and mountain paths too icy and too steep for travel.
On the eastern shore of Taiga’s river, where Hyaline’s far-off purple mountain peaks gleamed like crystal spires among the clouds, Cheri would gather stones and play heroes and monsters by herself or with her half-sister when she could manage to wrangle the elder girl into her games. There, she would make the stories come to life and picture herself as the hero in every dark scenario, fighting for justice and traveling the lands.
But little foals grow up, and heroes (more often than not) found themselves out to be the ones in need the most when times got tough. If she had known the story of Queen Lepis the way Tarian now recalled, Cheri would most likely have applied the two scenarios to one another. As it so happens she does not, and she only shakes her head with a silent no in answer to his information.
“I always pictured her a cavalier type.” Cheri murmured thoughtfully. In her teachings, there was never any effort made to hide the fact that Lepis had forced her way into Taiga - which Cheri interpreted as villainous - but in truth her reign had been mostly uneventful, as had her son’s. Now that she thought about it, perhaps there had been some mention of her ties to a southern King in Cheri’s lessons … But the mare can hardly remember them now, anyways. Only the facts remain.
In the present Cheri was much too occupied navigating the tight ravine Tarian had led them through. She chose her steps carefully, tucked her wings even tighter to her sides and tried not to feel claustrophobic from the narrow space. This pathway seemed perfectly indicative of Loess as a whole: deceiving to the eyes. Just when Cheri thought she’d seen it all, when her view narrowed and felt like it was reaching an end, the bottleneck widened to reveal a whole new perspective.
“Paraíso.” She surprised herself by talking aloud, her thoughts flowing naturally off her tongue. Cheri had meant to keep the word to herself, but something about the way Tarian was speaking (and then having actually said it) prompted a sudden recall of the way Lilliana used to roll her tongue and accentuate the foreign name.
On the eastern shore of Taiga’s river, where Hyaline’s far-off purple mountain peaks gleamed like crystal spires among the clouds, Cheri would gather stones and play heroes and monsters by herself or with her half-sister when she could manage to wrangle the elder girl into her games. There, she would make the stories come to life and picture herself as the hero in every dark scenario, fighting for justice and traveling the lands.
But little foals grow up, and heroes (more often than not) found themselves out to be the ones in need the most when times got tough. If she had known the story of Queen Lepis the way Tarian now recalled, Cheri would most likely have applied the two scenarios to one another. As it so happens she does not, and she only shakes her head with a silent no in answer to his information.
“I always pictured her a cavalier type.” Cheri murmured thoughtfully. In her teachings, there was never any effort made to hide the fact that Lepis had forced her way into Taiga - which Cheri interpreted as villainous - but in truth her reign had been mostly uneventful, as had her son’s. Now that she thought about it, perhaps there had been some mention of her ties to a southern King in Cheri’s lessons … But the mare can hardly remember them now, anyways. Only the facts remain.
In the present Cheri was much too occupied navigating the tight ravine Tarian had led them through. She chose her steps carefully, tucked her wings even tighter to her sides and tried not to feel claustrophobic from the narrow space. This pathway seemed perfectly indicative of Loess as a whole: deceiving to the eyes. Just when Cheri thought she’d seen it all, when her view narrowed and felt like it was reaching an end, the bottleneck widened to reveal a whole new perspective.
“Paraíso.” She surprised herself by talking aloud, her thoughts flowing naturally off her tongue. Cheri had meant to keep the word to herself, but something about the way Tarian was speaking (and then having actually said it) prompted a sudden recall of the way Lilliana used to roll her tongue and accentuate the foreign name.
@[Tarian]