"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
It feels good, standing on the edge of the continent and looking at a place that has become home. Ischia had not been chosen for any reason greater than the fact that it was far away from Pangea but it had become something more to Beyza since then.
It was nice, if rather ordinary, to discover that she enjoyed having a home. Surely that meant Pangea hadn’t actually been all that special. Surely she would feel the same rage if this place was ever threatened. But then, she had loved those canyons for their unease and volatility and she loves the islands for their peace. The two simply cannot be compared.
In the late afternoon sun, Beyza navigates the sand bars that will bring her to the island. She could fly but she enjoys this walk, where the water is shallow. As she moves, she uses her magic for the simple pleasure of causing the sunlight to sparkle around her white frame, trailing behind her in the shapes of fish and dolphins swimming through the air.
Beyza suspects she had enjoyed such displays more than her daughters whenever she tried to entertain them with it.
Her mind drifts to them as she emerges onto the sand, checking (discreetly) that they are alright before becoming distracted by an unknown scent - her white eyes drifting across the landscape to see what might have changed.
@Ledger a tropical trip for the polar bear just because
Despite his brief stint in Tephra, it had never occurred to him to visit the islands just beyond the sea. It would have been a simple trip with help from the polar bear (even more so at low tide) but it had just never been a thought on his mind. Between the drama that had unfolded with Ellyse and Dahmer to the last stint in Carnage’s lair, the islands had quickly become forgotten. Now, however, with so much free time on his hands and an eerily quiet Sylva, he starts thinking of all those places he had never seen, all those places formed after the Reckoning.
Wandering seems to ease the spiral of anxious thoughts and increasing ache in his slashed chest (the twilight Queen’s absence like an invisible wound to the heart she had created) and one day he suddenly finds himself crossing into the outskirts of Tephra from the autumn-land. The itch to shift is strong and he doesn’t think twice as he merges into the skin of the white bear where he stands on the black sands of Tephra. It doesn’t occur to him that this is the first time in years he’s stood in the volcanic kingdom without having a panic attack, so focused on the white-frothing waves that beckon and invite him in with glistening open arms.
There was a small stretch of coastline in Sylva which is where he had immediately settled, the cool air and even colder ocean the only appeasing part of the golden territory he truly enjoyed. These waters feel different and are unusually warm despite the hints of oncoming winter, a mix of the lava flow and heat from the volcano looming behind him as they merge with the tropical currents of the sea. The polar bear dips low beneath the surface, enjoying the feeling of liquid streaming between his clawed paws as he easily glides towards the closest island. The one-eyed ursine swipes playfully at ghost eels hiding in the reef as he nears the golden sands and studies jeweled crabs that remind him of the newly crowned Loessian heir. He smiles to himself despite the twinge of sadness that he couldn’t bring the children along. He’s sure the twins would have been fascinated by the tropical island.
It’s not long before he is standing on a sandbar and shaking the salty spray from his luxurious white coat. His blind side is turned to her so he doesn’t realize he’s being watched by the white mare and takes his time in adjusting to the small oasis he has found himself in. After a deep stretch, he shifts back into his usual form, finally turning his head for his good eye to land on her.
The glow from his brands are dim here beneath the bright sun but still produce a faint bluish hue where they catch in her shimmering light (are those sea creatures spinning between her sparkles?) and he wonders if he will ever be unsurprised by the beings that haunt Beqanna. “Am I intruding? This is Ischia right?” He asks her in his rough whiskey tone, warmth in his smile that rises to the gold flecks of his good eye. The empty socket remains hidden beneath the thick snowy forelock that falls haphazardly across his forehead as he takes in her utter paleness from skin to eyes. It is the iridescent scars along her figure that truly draw his attention and his gaze lingers along them thoughtfully. Every scar has a story, of this he knows too well, and wonders what hers might be. “I’m Ledger of Sylva… and Loess.” He offers to her while glancing to the palm trees in the distance, a light sheen already building on his reddish gold coat as the stallion use to cold starts to sweat beneath the blazing sun and humidity. A polar bear in the tropics, who would have thought?
It’s been a while since Beyza has seen anyone new here. She hasn’t officially met everyone who does but there is only so much space on these islands. She’s become familiar with their colours and movements, like they are extensions of the islands as well that she can sense. Seeing the polar bear here, on these sands, is a momentary shock before it shifts into a flaxen stallion. Well, that definitely made more sense - though Beqanna is a strange place. Maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised at all if a polar bear actually had wandered in.
This stranger should at least be more interesting company than a wild bear at least and Beyza finds herself walking towards him, pulled by her curiosity. The smile she offers in return to his own is not as warm, but it is still present - softening the brightness of her unblinking gaze.
She’s been making more of an effort, knowing how easily she can fall still when there is something new to observe. Not blinking, barely even seeming to breathe as her mind works. It's new, this worry that she will come across as a little off and certainly inspired by a few remarks she's been given by her daughters.
“Two homes?” She asks with a small laugh, wondering what the story is behind that, before answering his questions. “Yes this is Ischia, no you are not intruding - and I’m Beyza.” She doesn’t miss the way his eyes drift to the shade. The tropical sun could be overbearing - especially for those that didn't have a magical knack for easing discomfort. The glittering animals that had been trailing her fade away in the sunlight and a cooler breeze floats across the ocean towards the pair of them, though she still asks “Would you prefer to stand in the shade?”
Sometimes his appearance in his shifted form can cause panic and distrust in a stranger. However the white mare (so white she reminds him of newly fallen snow, untouched and pure) sparkles with magic and he’s found that those wrapped in mystical abilities rarely batted an eye when he switched from predator to horse. She absolutely falls into that category, offering a soft smile as she approaches him. It takes him a moment to realize that she has yet to blink and he tilts his head slightly as he observes her, revealing a glimpse of the claw marks beneath his flaxen forelock.
She is polite and much warmer than the things that hunt the shadows of Sylva and he finds himself relaxing in her presence despite her unnerving and unwavering gaze. ”Beyza.” He takes her name and stores it into memory. “A pleasure.” He means it, recalling some of his recent interactions as well as the gripping loneliness that awaited him back in the gold and red forest. He had enjoyed watching her dolphins flip behind her but they fade as a cool breeze sweeps over the sea towards them, a cooling touch against his damp skin. “If you don’t mind.” He says with an apologetic grin, following her lead whenever she makes for the shade.
As he falls into step beside her, his hooves sinking into the sand, he recalls her earlier question and rounds back to it. “As for two homes, I recently took over Sylva on behalf of the Southern Kingdom. But my mate and children still live in Loess.” He tells her, a whisper of sadness in his tone that gives away only a fragment of how much he truly misses them. It’s hard to be sad here though, when the sun shines so brightly and he’s standing in paradise himself with such interesting company. Unfortunate that it wasn’t Ischia he was sent to claim instead of the brutal history of Sylva but he supposes a polar bear could only last so long on a tropical island. “What about you? Do you live here with anyone?” He asks her, curious to what Beyza’s story might be. Did she ever feel isolated being so far from the mainland? He makes a point to ask her later, when it doesn’t feel like such an invasive question.
“I do not mind at all.” She tells him and means it, leading the way to a patch of shade that will undoubtedly be a touch cooler than any other on the island with a little assistance. As they cross the sand, he replies to her question about his homes. It is a familiar setup, though likely for different reasons than her own situation - especially if he refers to their mother as his mate. There is a twist in Beyza’s heart at the idea of such a connection - a long-dormant flush of jealousy prickling at the back of her mind.
It is a pleasant day, though, so she forces those thoughts into a vault to be dealt with when she is alone - as she does with so much.
Beneath the shade of the trees at the edge of the beach, Beyza stops and thinks cooling thoughts - adding just a hint of a crisp edge to the air around them. Though she’s become fond of the sun, it is refreshing to escape it for a bit - though not as much as the chance to someone other than a direct relative for the first time in a long time. She has a habit of falling supernaturally still when she is not moving and, especially with someone new, she thinks the addition of a breeze that can shift around the strands of her hair will help her retain the illusion that she is as alive as the rest of the world and not just a strange, ghostly mimic of life.
His question threatens to bring that jealousy back into the open again but she keeps it locked up and smiles, her white gaze drifting into the trees as though expecting to see the ones she names. “My three daughters, and an assortment of mermaids.” Plus one shrimp, though she had not seen Maurtia’s armoured friend in a while. When her gaze shifts back to Ledger she asks “Is it difficult, living away from them?” It’s a prying question to ask so soon so she does her best to soften the words, and even makes an effort to blink a few times - hoping to give herself a friendlier air to match the intentions behind the question. She does not mean to be rude but she is curious what it would be like for a father that is not death incarnate to be separated from his children.
He’s aware that he looks like a clumsy oaf moving across the sand compared to the way she seems to glide over it so effortlessly, but if she notices she doesn’t call attention to it. He quickly finds she is a good listener, ignorant to the flush of jealousy that prickles in her mind, and so he tells her a little of Oceane and the two twins as they move closer to the cool call of the shaded trees. If he had been able to sense it, he would have understood it. How long had he harbored resentment and envy in the fallout from his last encounter with the Dark God? When his mind had been shattered and he couldn’t tell the difference between what was real and what was not... When he longed for something that he thought he had lost. It was only after the glass had melted from his chest that he realized what everything he thought he knew had been wrong all along.
And for Oceane he would willingly lay himself before Carnage again and again if it meant keeping her whole and safe and happy. The coolness crosses over his backside and he unwinds as a cool breeze plays against the snowy strands of his mane, noticing the way it pulls its invisible fingers through her glimmering white tresses as well. “Three daughters.” He snorts softly in amazement, the gold flecks in his eye glinting with amusement. “And I thought the twins were a handful.” He chuckles softly as he glances at her. He wonders if she grows lonely here with only her daughters mostly for company but she asks him something that draws his attention away from her isolation and back to his own.
“It is.” He says quietly, looking out to the warm sands and tempting waves they had just left. He doesn’t tell her about the suffocating anxiety that hangs like a weighted stone in his chest, that he feels their absence as much as he can still feel the invisible burn from the brands that had been pressed into his flesh. She is a new acquaintance and doesn’t need to be burdened down with the problems of a stranger. “I just remind myself that it’s temporary.” He says quietly, more so for himself than for her. He swings his head back to Beyza, smiles slightly, as he asks her honestly, “Is it difficult living here? So far from the mainland?”
09-16-2021, 10:05 AM (This post was last modified: 09-16-2021, 10:07 AM by Beyza.)
Beyza
Beyza listens with interest as Ledger tells her about Oceane and their twins - all the easier for locking up her jealousy to where it could not bother her for now. With her mind wiped clean of anything that might trouble her, she’s able to allow a small smile to shine in her eyes as she listens and it doesn’t feel false.
His amusement at her mention of three daughters is mirrored in her own expression and she nods, confirming that it was a handful. It had been a joy to devote herself to them, even when the eldest and middle were getting into trouble (and occasionally successfully wrangling the sweetest and youngest into their games). Thoughts of them anchor her like they always have, the strange trio that had changed her life.
And Beyza watches his golden head as he turns to look back across the sands while he answers her question, as though she might be able to tell just from looking at him whether the quiet sadness surrounding his answer was false or not. It doesn't seem to be and for a moment she is uncomfortable with the idea of Jamie speaking of their daughters like this to someone - and then there's a flush of anger at the idea the reaper might consider this separation temporary. This white fire is cooled quickly, it has no place in her current conversation. There's no reason at all that she should assume two fathers have the same views.
At the question about whether it is difficult to live here, Beyza shakes her head and her cool smile is there when Ledger looks back to her. “No, that was the whole point.” And though Beyza isn’t willing to share everything about why they had moved, not wanting to unlock those other boxes in her heart where she’s stored those emotions she won’t deal with, she’s at least able to give Ledger part of the truth. “We used to live in Pangea but this was a much nicer place for the girls to grow up. More colour.”Fewer monsters.
It is her turn for her eyes to drift to that distant short for a moment, that easy smile brightening in a way she's practiced - changing her expression from cool to friendly “Though it does make it harder to keep track of what’s going on in the places outside of this island. Has anything interesting happened on the mainland in the last couple years?”
It would never occur to him that Beyza (who seems ethereal and light and could make sparkling dolphins jump in the wake of her hoof prints) would ever become entangled with a darker entity like the one who had sired her children. What drew her to such a being? It’s not something he could ever understand, just as he would never be able to wrap his head around the relationship between an angel and the devil who had trapped him twice and forced his gifts upon him. Perhaps such things were just not meant to be understood.
There is no hiding his shocked expression when she mentions Pangea, a land he’s never visited himself and has no reason or want to. He remembers to who that land originally belonged. “From what I’ve heard of the place… I don’t blame you.” He says with an uneasy laugh, looking at her with curiosity brimming around the gold flecks of his good eye. “Why Pangea in the first place? He can’t help but ask and then remembers that not everyone wants their story to be told. Perhaps this was an invasive question. Still, he bites back the apology brimming on his tongue and gives her room to dismiss it or not. Leaving that choice to her.
Instead, he allows his gentle smile to fall back into place as she brightens and asks for stories from the mainland. “I’ve only recently taken over Sylva so I’ll be honest, I’m not quite in the loop myself.” He grins but does his best to appease her anyway. “Apparently there is some trouble stirring in Hyaline although I’m not entirely sure what exactly is happening there. Tephra has become very quiet which makes me think change is coming. For better or worse who knows, usually the latter in my experience.” He says with a shake of his unruly snowy mane, glancing in the direction of the volcanic kingdom he had once called home many years ago. If a kingdom has become still and lifeless, it usually meant the vultures would be coming to pick its remains until only one remained. Not like the coronation that the South’s dusty canyons would soon be having for the leader they had chosen. “And Loess will be handed to new leadership, a promising young lady named Cheri.”
A faint smile passes across Beyza’s pale features at Ledger’s comment about Pangea and the question that follows. “I was born there, actually. My parents were newly returned to Beqanna and were taken in by the leader at the time. And it was where I first started discovering my powers, so it became… sentimental.” She isn’t sure sentimental quite covered it but it seemed a good word to use. It was strange to Beyza now to think back on how passionately she had defended Pangea once. The way she had been willing to invade other lands because those she trusted said it was the best thing to do. She’d been eager to be the sword wielded by the righteous.
Now, those memories feel as though they belong to another lifetime. She is only a decade old but she feels older. And older still when she listens to what news Ledger has to offer.
Hyaline and Tephra were both two quiet kingdoms when she had been paying attention to the world years ago, but the mention of the first snags her attention. “Trouble in Hyaline?” She repeats quietly to herself, troubled - her gaze turning away to the east. Worry about her family there is easy to come to her - it’s one of the few things she finds genuinely easy to feel worry about. It had been some time since she had visited Ryatah and her siblings there. “I have some family there.” She offers offhandedly by way of explanation when most of her attention drifts back to Ledger.
The rest wonders whether she can check in on her mother from this far away, or if the very isolation she had sought here would thwart her.
The name that he mentions as the new leader for Loess is not familiar, though she does not expect it to be. “It always surprises me, how quickly things change in the lands.” She comments and her small smile returns. “And how hungry the young are for that change.”
Her worry is palpable and his easy going usual smile fades as the corner of his lips deepen and curve downwards. Her attention is distracted and he is quick to pick up why when she murmurs about her family in Hyaline. No wonder she was troubled. “I wish I had better news. Or more of it.” He says gently, his own expression turning into one of concern as he looks at her. “The little I’ve gathered is that the rulers there have turned… well… wrong in some way.” He shrugs slightly, knowing how vague that was but having no clear or concise details to give her.
For a moment the conversation turns back to Loess and he nods in agreement to her wisdom, something they had both witnessed over the many years that had passed. “Have you noticed how little seems to actually change though? Titles and their holders adapted and modified as kingdoms get passed around but the land and it's ideals always seem to stay the same… Unless another Reckoning occurs.” He murmurs darkly, a time that he had lived through and survived amongst many other things. “Still, she is bright and hopeful. Sometimes that is enough.”
He pauses, looking at her as an idea comes to mind. “Perhaps this is bold as we’ve only just met… But I’ve got a lot of time on my hands. If you want company to Hyaline to check in on your family, I’m happy to come with you.” He looks at her with his good eye, trying not to seem too eager for an adventure. The thought of returning to Sylva, alone, is not a pleasant one and perhaps seeing what was going on in Hyaline for himself would help out Cheri and Oceane in the long run. Besides, maybe Beyza could use a bear as an escort, unaware that she was far more powerful compared to the beast that he was.
