"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
07-25-2021, 02:46 PM (This post was last modified: 07-25-2021, 02:48 PM by Nashua.)
Nashua would have come sooner, if he hadn't tried to seek out his twin first.
The only one who would have understood what Nash was really contending with.
But there had been no Yanhua to find.
As his mind considered all the possible outcomes behind the Curse stealing Bolder, it became clear to Nash that flying immediately into Hyaline couldn't be the first course of action. He had returned to Taiga ragged and tired; the healing that he had done for Ciri had taken much from him and his frantic journey to return to Noel and their children even more. That first night they had flown to the outskirts of Hyaline and as the striped stallion came panting near the border, he knew that he had been in no condition to face Gale.
It would either destroy him there in front of his mate and son, or perhaps harm them with Nash's healing spent on Ciri, unable to save them.
No, he realized. No, he needed his full strength and all his wits about him if he were to encounter the wretched thing that wore Gale.
He'd asked Noel to wait (not long) but Nash had wanted to be the first in Hyaline. Draped in the drab colors of the overcast clouds, the Northern King had gone invisible the moment he had flown over the mountainous border. His mind has a thousand versions of how this interaction will go but as his hooves touch down near the lake, they all vanish as he materializes. Bolder's scent fills his flaring nostrils and Nash knows that the boy has been here recently. Aching for his lost son, he quickly scans the horizon, hoping for a glance of golden stripes flashing in the dim spring light.
Nothing.
He clenches his jaw and looks briefly behind him, searching for Noel. Finding the space still empty, Nashua trumpets their arrival in the Eastern kingdom. A piercing sound that can't express the anger blazing through him but certainly doesn't hide the winged horse in the heart of Hyaline.
Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you
Gale has spent many days examining the entities, yet remains without answers to how the objects can work magic.
He does not have to understand their mysteries to hear the warning that sounds when a stranger enters his home. His eyes are open immediately, though he remains where he lays, curled around Mazikeen. Her breathing tells him she is awake as well, so he rises to his feet and shakes the leaf litter from his thick blue fur.
They’d been something vaguely wolflike while they’d slept, but when he turns to look at the white mare, it is with his equine shape. It’s often fun to scare away trespassers, but these days there is the chance that the visitor will be Nashua, and Gale takes a more familiar form as the pair of them move toward the lake.
He’d seen the meeting in the flaming tree the night before, seen Nashua beside the vast still water. Though he cannot see the northern king, the brindle creature is confident as he moves downhill, and the sound of a summons is unnecessary confirmation.
“Nashua,” he says, greeting his younger sibling with a friendly smile. “I was wondering when you’d show up!” His gaze does not move from the golden stallion, not even to look at the paler horse who’s come with him or at Mazikeen beside him.
Is it just the two of them, Gale wonders?
Is it possible that they’ve no idea about the Curse?
That seems to much to hope, but optimism remains a permanent fixture in this striped host. So he does not reveal too much for the time being, and hopes that Bolder is somewhere very far from the lakeshore.
current appearance: iridescent mostly navy blue stallion with glowing cremello stripes/markings and blue lightnings, white spinal mane and tail, white quetzalcoatlus forelimbs, red V-shape on left wing, black with blue glowing horns, sharp teeth
When the ringing alarm of the entity snaps Mazikeen out of sleep, she no longer expects it to be Nashua or Bolder’s mother. That time has passed and she’s accepted that the chestnut youth will be a permanent addition to Hyaline. It suits him, this place, and he’s been growing into a talented shifter and a willing student.
She is not far behind Gale when he rises from where they had been curled together, though she doesn’t bother to shake the leaf litter from her fur - she catches a few glimpses of his thoughts in his mind and much of it falls away when she becomes a mare just as he turns to look at her. A small smile playing through her orange eyes as she catches glimpses of his thoughts - that he still thinks it could be Nashua.
But when they move to the lake together, she finds herself glad Gale has more trouble reading her thoughts than she does his when the trespasser does end up being Nashua. But her annoyance at being wrong with her assumptions doesn’t last long. She is a hunter, a warrior, after all and she goes on alert - finding that she’s eager for a fight.
Mazikeen had not worn her horns the last time she had spoken to the chestnut stallion so she does not now, adorned only with the scars that mark her body - the most noticeable ones, around her eyes and heart, new from when Bolder’s father was last here. What will he think of them, she wonders. Will he guess correctly who gave them to her? She tries to see if she can read Nashua’s mind but she only catches more of Gale’s thoughts (finding they match her own as they wonder just how much Nashua knows).
Gale’s voice is friendly and it grates on her ears but she takes care to keep her expression neutral as she greets Nashua in a quiet voice with just a bit of warmth. As though him being here is some sort of salvation for her as well as his son. “It’s good to see you again, Nashua.” It is what she thinks she would have greeted him with if she was still the same mare that had spoken to him last time. A mare who had hope for better days, a mare who wasn't absolutely delighted with how things were turning out instead.
They had flown here that first night, after she had found Nashua in the Taiga. They had flown here despite his exhaustion, but even before they had arrived, Noel had known he was too spent. An ugly fear and dread had coursed through Noel then, and she had been tempted to carry on without him, but the words he had said just before they left echoed through her ears. She knew then that she would not. She did not fear her own death, but sense (and other emotions) had prevailed.
And so they had returned. Still, while he had searched for one of his brothers, she had quietly sought out the other (if for no other reason than to reassure herself that Bolder was not suffering at their hooves).
Now, as they approach Hyaline once more, Noel hopes Bolder had found her own mother. She knows she couldn’t truly protect him from what Nashua had told her now possesses his elder brother, but she knows Ryatah would care for him.
She watches as Nash descends into the kingdom - watches as he disappears from sight. What worry and anger she feels is banked now, replaced by a flat, stony expression that had once come as naturally to her as breathing. When she follows, she doesn’t rush in, her wingbeats meticulously steady as she approaches the place Nash had told her to meet him. She has never had a particular grace or flare in her movements (not like Nash), and when she lands, it is with the firm practicality of one who finds flight utilitarian rather than artistic.
When she lands, it is as the woman Nash had once found on the distant cliffs of Nerine many years ago.
She closes the short distance that remains between herself and the small group, the glowing hoofprints she leaves behind fading slowly. She doesn’t greet them. But then, they hadn’t bothered to greet her either, so it seems they believed her little more than background noise. If she were a different sort of woman, this might have bothered her. Luckily she is not, and so she merely watches, her black gaze hard and wary, pale features schooled into implacable lines. She has never been a conversationalist, so she is more than happy to allow Nash to handle this part of things.
If they chose to relegate her to some dusty, forgotten corner of their thoughts? Well, all the better for her to execute her true purpose here.
08-01-2021, 07:30 PM (This post was last modified: 08-01-2021, 07:31 PM by Nashua.)
It had been one thing to discuss how to deal with Gale on the Isle. It had been one thing to discuss with Noel about what they would do here, about what they hoped to achieve (at the very least, Nashua is determined to retrieve their wayward son). But the moment that Gale appears in front of him, all those conversations and plans dissipate. The thing that stands before him looks like Gale - moves like Gale, even greets him in that same bright tone he always had. His pale lips curl and the chestnut pegasus finds himself wishing that he could rip the wretched thing's throat out.
But if this has the same familial healing that all Wolfbane's offspring seem to share, Nashua knows any fight will be futile. "Enough," the winged horse warns, nearly growling the word. He knows that this isn't Gale and the Northern Leader has no desire to keep up pretenses. Nash wishes to retrieve his son and keep his already fragmented family as safe and as intact as he can. His green eyes flick over to the pale mare who greets him quietly and seeing her scars nearly makes Nashua give into the black fury that he has carried since the day that Wishbone appeared on the Isle.
Knowing nothing of the way that Mazikeen has been pulled apart and then put back together, he only sees more harm that the Curse has done. His burning eyes turn back to the thing that wears Gale, angling himself so that Noel remains behind him. (He would figure a way to get Mazikeen out, he thinks.) They were here to get Bolder, that much should be obvious.
"If you return Bolder now - unharmed - I'm willing to overlook that you broke one of my predecessor's edicts," the Northern King says. It went by Wolfbane then, but Neverwhere had banished him (the Curse). The name it goes by does not matter. "You were banished from the North in one lifetime," he continues tersely, not looking away from the shifter in front of him, giving him a look of utter hatred. Did It remember?
Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you
Mazikeen greets Nashua as well, and the feigned domestication in her voice brightens Gale’s already easy grin. He is not at all certain how this meeting will play out, but he does so enjoy Mazikeen’s quick shifting from polite to predator.
Perhaps he will have the chance to see it play out.
Amused, and thus slightly more relaxed than he;d been a moment ago, Gale looks toward the pale mare that Nasuha had brought with him. It is Noel, as he’d suspected, Bolder’s mother. She is soft and white, and for a moment he considers the possibility of collecting his brothers’ women and seeing how quickly Mazikeen might turn them all red. He smiles at the thought, his eyes warm with delight, and then turns back to Nashua.
His brother’s face is far less stoney than that of his mate, and there is a curl to his lip that Gale recognizes from his own reflection. Nashua is furious, and the black rage in his green eyes is everything that Gale has wished for.
He holds himself well despite it, the words civil despite the tone, and if the Curse were the sort to admire self-control rather than scoff at it, Nashua would be most worthy of it. Noel too, he admits, since she is neither sobbing nor screaming. But he is not the type of thing that finds strength in others an endearing trait (except, he thinks, for Mazikeen beside him), and so he only wonders how long they will hold themselves together.
“Unharmed?” He cuts in, with enough amusement in his tone to suggest that the time for fetching him home unharmed was eons past. He watches them both - hoping for a flinch, a jerk, a reaction - but then Nashua mentions a predecessor, and Gale pauses.
Most of the Curse had burnt up in Loess, and the bits of it that remain are mostly scorched and unreliable. He does, however, retain some memories of the white-faced mare that Nashua pictures. Her name and the banishment he no longer recalls, but the latter is no surprise.
“I’d forgotten,” he says, shrugging as though that is the end of such things. “And Mazikeen has grown rather fond of Bolder, so I am sure you’ll understand us keeping him a while longer. I’m sure that if he wants to return to Taiga he’ll do so.”
Perhaps he can ask the lightning bird to set the trees on fire so there’s nothing to go back to. Gale is also - for reasons he no longer tries to understand - rather fond of the boy, and has no intentions of giving him up so easily. Nashua and Noel had done rather well with him until this point, but it is always best to learn the breadth and depth of one’s power while young and malleable.
Mazikeen is not focusing on keeping the connection between her mind and Gale’s open but at this proximity she would rather have to focus on keeping it closed. The occasional thought drifts to her from him without her seeking them out. She doesn’t bother to hide her surprise at the news that the Curse, or Gale, were banished from the North. She hadn’t any idea about that, and from what she could sense of Gale’s thoughts, this wasn’t a piece of information he had hid from her on purpose.
A comment is on the tip of her tongue, taunting Nashua with the memory of how he had welcomed Gale to the north once - how it had not been an issue then, even though she and Gale had both known he was Cursed when they crossed over the border. It is only held as she reminds herself what role she is trying to play.
Mazikeen attempts a reassuring smile when Gale mentions that she’s grown fond of Bolder, her red-orange gaze shifting between Nashua and Noel. Does it bother the white mare, how Nashua angles himself to be in front of her? It annoys Mazikeen on her behalf. But, then, this was also the mare who hadn’t barged in here that first night to get her son back and had waited this long. Maybe there is no fire in her.
“I told you there was nothing wrong with Bolder being able to shift.” She tells Nashua, an edge to her voice reminiscent of when they had last spoken here in Hyaline and she had grown annoyed with him for how he treated his son over his abilities. There had been no point in him fearing the Curse might be alive in his son because it had already been inhabiting the stallion standing beside her. Does he see that now, what she had not told him about Gale? How she had known even then?
But she doesn’t look at Nashua long enough to see if he gets the point - her gaze shifting to Noel, wondering what sort of mother she was. Did she know of her son’s abilities? Or does she only care because he had been taken? Mazikeen’s voice is polite even though there is no missing the barbs the words carry despite the friendly tone. “He’s very talented at it, it’s a pity he was taught to be so ashamed of what he could do for so long. I’ve been trying to help him, continuing the lessons no one had time to bring him here for.”
Noel can feel the fury radiating from Nashua. Knows that it is fueled by fear and worry. Though she is angry and worried too, it is not for the same reasons. She does not fear the curse as he does - had never feared Bolder’s ability to shift. She had been happy to see him gain some control of it after his last visit here. The true irony of the situation is that had they bothered to discuss it, had they bothered to let Bolder speak with her, to express his desire to go and learn more, she would have let him. She has always known her children would not stay young and by her side forever. Has always known they would one day leave.
And if this is what Bolder had wanted? She would have let him go.
She is angry because the choice had been stolen from them. Worried because she does not know their plans for him. Perhaps they see her as weak for the way Nashua moves to protect. She is not a warrior and has never pretended to be, nor would she pretend to be one now. She is content to be ignored. Would have continued to say nothing had Mazikeen not turned and spoken to her.
Her dark eyes are unreadable in the pale stillness of her features as she turns her gaze to the other woman. After a moment, she moves, brushing past Nashua as she closes the distance so that they are not speaking through him. “If that’s true, then I am glad for it,” she replies, her voice soft and steady. Whatever the woman might imagine, Nashua’s beliefs are not her own. “And if Bolder wishes to stay, if this is what he chooses, then I will not keep him from it.”
She doesn’t look at Nashua. Doesn’t want to see his reaction to her words, lest it shatter her cool resolve. Instead she stares at the scarred woman, implacability in her gaze as she continues, “But we will speak with Bolder, hear the words from his mouth ourselves.” She pauses, then adds, “With neither of you present.”
Falling silent, her gaze flicks to Gale briefly before returning to Mazikeen. She does not trust either of them not to attempt to speak for her son. If he wished to stay, so be it. But she would be absolutely certain it is of his own volition first.
08-10-2021, 08:08 PM (This post was last modified: 08-10-2021, 08:13 PM by Nashua.)
Gale’s comment of ”unharmed?” elicits the start of a snarl from Nashua. If he had harmed a hair on Bolder’s body, he would make Gale regret it. He’s fighting against himself to not charge head-long at the thing that's stolen his son and brother, but the Northern King constantly reminds himself that lunging at the beast now will result in nothing but bloodshed. Before he can say more, Nash is turning his bright green eyes on Mazikeen.
The smile she wears is too much.
(Everything about this is too much for Nashua.)
There had been something slightly wilted about Maze’s expression before, but now, all Nash can see is how she shines like some proud accomplice. He remembers how she had said that before and the chestnut had overlooked her tight words because he wasn’t sure exactly how much she knew about the shared family history between him and Gale. But he thinks he sees it clearly now; Mazikeen knows all of it. ”Yes, well perhaps now you can understand my apprehension.” Nashua bites back, the sound more an accusatory rumble than his usual steady baritone, as his blazed head jerks towards Gale.
He’s seething until he can feel the warmth of Noel graze by him and the winged stallion feels the knife-edge of his anger lessen. His rigid stance loosens just a little.
His shock back to the moment comes when his mate says that if Bolder wishes to stay, she will not argue. Nashua tries to hide the shock from his face - and does so by only showing it to her when he turns to look at Noel. Leave Bolder, here? It seems like it's all beyond their control now. They swiped Bolder at an opportune age - old enough to be away from his family and yet young enough to still be impressionable. Bolder had adored Mazikeen on their last visit to Hyaline, and he imagines that they’ve both manipulated his son (more than just teaching him shapes) so much that the young pegasus wouldn’t even understand he was a captive.
At that moment, Nashua understands that his son won’t be coming back with them.
Not until something is done about Gale and Mazikeen.
That would take something more than this visit, though. It would take something far more powerful than Nash or Noel. And so while his mind thinks about what they could do, the striped horse sides with the white mare beside him and looks to the Eastern leaders with an uptight expression. ”You heard the lady.”
@Gale feel free hoodoo bolder here if you'd like, but if not, i'll post him next round as a sloth or alligator or something
Gale this is going to break me clean in two -- this is going to bring me close to you
Have Nashua and Noel ever seen a whale shark smile, the Cursed creature wonders? They has now - the image of a tawny monster flashing quickly from Gale - as well as one ofBolder as an hawk, and then as a red-mouthed young wolf. That final image he’d taken from Mazikeen, and the effort it had taken him was breathtakingly simple.
The negativity that ripples out of the pair of Northerners fuels his ability. His host’s brother especially, the shared blood slipping into the shadows of his veins, and widening the grin on his face to manic proportions, his pupils gone so pinprick as to not even exist. This is marvelous.
He hardly hears the exchange between Noel and Mazikeen, and his gaze turns back to his orange-eyed mate only while Nashua addresses her, before returning once more to the green-eyed king of the north.
Gale’s eyes go green as well, Wyrm green, and when he blinks again they are blue lightning once again. As easy as blinking. He recalls the way he’d spun time backwards with Sickle, and realizes that if he did it now, it would hardly trouble him.
Best to make sure it wouldn’t trouble him at all. That meant he could also continue this marvelous game of prodding at Gale’s elder brother, growing ever more powerful as he does. There are things that are laughably easy in this moment, after all. Things like the way a large branch appears beside them, seemingly anchored in midair.
The moment before it does, the blazed blue face had regained all of Gale’s composure.
“Bolder,” he says to the golden-haired sloth that hangs suspended from the branch. “Your parents have come to see how you’re doing. Your mother’s even said you can stay longer, if you’d like.”
Your mother, he’d said, and the whole time his gaze has not moved away from Nashua. The others are little more than distractions to the way Gale focuses on the golden-marked king, his blue eyes glowing with anticipation. He wears the mask of sanity well, but the blackness lingers behind the lightning of his eyes, crazed and ominous as they meet Nashua’s.
Will he try to take the boy? Will Noel demand that they leave again? Could he stoke this into a confrontation, into something that will sever Bolder more permanently from his family? Perhaps he could alter the boy’s soul the way he had Mazikeen’s, could meld it with his own and shape it into something dark and twisted.
He’s getting ahead of himself, he knows. But it had still been such a nice image: Bolder, sharp-toothed and savage, the crimson gore of parricide splashed across his chest.
![[Image: jCdBK6.png]](https://img.nickpic.host/jCdBK6.png)
