"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
His parents did not reign long...yet he still comes back. He wonders who is in charge now, the leaders are always changing. He was much older now, no longer a boy. No, he was a tall strong stag ready to be a warrior.
He lingers through the kingdom, his body is calm yet his arrogance beams off. He does not call out for another, he knows eventually someone will find him.
The intruder alarm rings in Mazikeen’s head, distracting her from watching while Malik plays with a rabbit she had caught for him. She leaves her son to his games, sprouting feathered wings so she can move faster. There are visitors she’s expecting, after all, and she does not want to keep them waiting.
There’s some disappointment, though, when it is just a stranger. Mazikeen huffs but still lands nearby before moving closer. She does not shift back into an equine, prowling forward to the intruder as the winged, white lioness she had travelled as - crowned by her usual set of twisted, glowing horns.
Not feeling any particular desire to delay the point, she pauses a reasonable distance away and asks bluntly “Can I help you?” It’s the same basic question she always asks, though it was once spoken with a kinder voice and with kinder intentions. Now she merely wishes to know what he is doing in her home as quickly as possible so he can be dealt with one way or another.
It did not take long for another to approach, infact they were intruding on a perfect moment that he was taking in the fresh air.
sigh
His head turns at the sound of another, although, instead of an equine his orbs are met with a lion. For a moment his heart skipped a beat, this one was pale...she looks like a mountain lion....some equines might run but Nolin was to stupid and arrogant. No, he stands his ground, takes his chances.
A subtle sigh of relief is released when she speaks. An equine in disguise. He has never met a lion, but has hear of them. She gets to the point, the reason for his visit, or...at least she assumes a visit.
No, he quickly responds to the lioness. I am just visiting my home, the once Prince scans around her before meeting her gaze. Well, I should say, returning home. His tone shows no threat, yet his arrogance continues to beam. The names Nolin, I assume you run this kingdom now? He scans the snow that never truly leaves, a gentle blanket always at the cap of the mountain.
Mazikeen wonders what it is about her that suggests she’s the ruler but doesn’t care enough to ask. Perhaps this stallion assumed he was important enough not to be greeted by anyone else - when she had simply been the first to arrive. All she says to his assumption is a simple “Correct.” Before moving on to his reason for being here. “And you are welcome to return to Hyaline if you are a shifter... and can prove it.”
She's never felt the need to ask for proof before, but these are different times - and she does not have the patience to dance around the point.
Her feline head tilts to the side as she pauses for a moment, watching for any signs that there is more than equine in this stallion, before she continues - her voice more blunt than rude. “But if you are not, this will simply be a visit and you can find a new home somewhere else.”
He would not be the first she has escorted out of Hyaline but maybe if she’s lucky he will be the first she can chase out. He does seem arrogant enough to press the matter - even if the rules have changed and this kingdom is no longer open to all.
Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you
“Maybe he didn’t come to join your Pack, Mazikeen.” Gale says, showing off his recently acquired Fairy Dust as he appears in a puff of iridescent blue at her shoulder. The words sound like a taunt, but the way the blue-headed perlino stallion runs his mouth across the feathers of her left wing suggest more to their relationship than the dismissal of the Pack would suggest.
“Maybe he’s here to prove he’s good enough to join the Kingdom?” Gale asks this, and his electric blue gaze meets that of the green-haired stallion. His brows are raised in question, as though proving oneself worthy of joining Hyaline is a long-standing tradition and not something that Gale has just made up on the spot.
There is a smile on Gale’s handsome face, but it does not reach his hard eyes. The only light there comes from the same electric bolts that flicker across his hide and down the length of his feathered forelimbs. The pair of them - Gale and Mazikeen - are not exactly welcoming, but it is clear that neither of them mind.
Allowing this stranger in Hyaline means allowing him to become protected not only by the land and its leaders but also by the entities within, and it only seems fair to Gale that a price must be paid for such a benefit.
“So tell me Nolin, once of Hyaline, what will you do do prove yourself worthy of Hyaline and our entities?” He does not quite know what he expects, but it has been some time since Gale was entertained.
Perhaps if it is not funny, he can turn Nolin into a rabbit to take back to their son.
current appearance:glowing perlino stallion with lightning and iridescent navy blue scarring. forelimbs are those of a quetzalcoatlus, feathered in white with a red V shape in the feathers on the left, black horns
