[open] one world to another

[Ciaran Zhaoiani]

From one world to another, how things changed and how nothing did at all. She grew, changing but she’d finished in appearance at long last. Her antlers had grown beyond her mothers, and she carried upon them trinkets of her past. A shell from the beach she had been upon when her youngest sister had been born, a small feather from her sire, a bright and smooth stone that was given to her by her sire. She missed them, but they were always where she would, one day, see them again. They were safe and she journeyed.

And she grew.

Ciaran Zhaoiani went from where she’d been living, her companion walking at her side as he always had. Lumbering and slow, strong but steady, Karsi was the one who had been there ever since she’d been such a small creature, trapped in the ice.

And through a meadow they wandered, side by side. She would often throw him a smile, but they did not converse beyond it. Bright cyan and gold she shone in the fading light of the day, blue eyes bright as she looked about. So much to take in, so much to see.

And so much to learn.

She grinned.

[Obscene]

I can see through you, see your true colors
Cause inside you're ugly, you're ugly like me

Winter had been quiet throughout the world despite the carnage wrecked by the monster magician of Hyaline. He had not forgotten the scarred mare and her broken legs nor the image Aela had given him of the way Gale had cut her open and eaten her heart. He had not forgotten the anger that still smoldered within him at the audacity of such magic, of such a creature. As the snow melted and spring began to bud and bloom along Beqanna, he worried quietly about the striped Seneschal’s growing ambition and how best to keep her safe. He worried about what else might pop up with the stretching petals of the spring wildflowers. And deep in the darkest parts of him, he worried about a green and onyx mare who he had not seen hide or hair from since his visit to Loess.

The thought of Cheri being carved open by Gale made him loose all control of himself and often he awoke in that confused state he found himself in after a night as the snake. All it took was a single moment of thinking and worrying about her.

Perhaps he drank even more nectar than normal, perhaps he indulged a little too often in the red petaled flowers. It was better than thinking about her or her silence. Better than trying and failing to protect Aela, better than acknowledging that he was out of his depth when it came to the Hyaline situation. And still some scales lingered along his dark coat, a reminder that he couldn’t fully escape his brooding.

Today was a little different. Feeling loose and carefree after a morning of heavy overindulging, he finds himself in the Meadow. Beqanna is still rather quiet even with the taste of warmth and revival that comes with the season but signs of life flow everywhere and he has never been more certain that they all stood in the quiet of a rising storm. Dark crimson eyes scan the few visitors to the common land and easily land on the antlered mare and her bear. Perhaps the ravaged man from Loess that Aela had clued him in on? But no, as he ambles closer, he notices that this one seems to have all its eyes. There weren't many polar bears to be found in this world. So a stranger then?

He has never seen a creature like Ciaran before, unusual in her markings and structure and feathers. Terrifyingly beautiful. He wants her immediately, knows how pleased Aela would be to bring home quality like this. And with whatever was brewing in the East, he knows (despite his inebriation) it would be better for the Pampas to have more numbers. While his lands were far from quiet like they were before he had taken them, they weren’t at the decimal of noise that he would like.

As the sun begins to sink and the light turns golden, he approaches her as she scans around her. Matching her grin with the smug one of his own as he throws a glance at the bear and stops at a brazenly close distance. “Like what you see do you?”

obscene

@Ciaran Zhaoiani