Familiar dusty streets stretch into the horizon. Some until they bend, and some are eaten up by the numerous shops of the proud desert city. It smells like home. That's because it is home. It was home he reminds himself. The way the pale arches stretched into the heavens, down to even the way the streets were covered in a fine layer of particulate. Particulate that was often dredged up by the many hooves of the guards, the workmen, and the merchants each day. The city was alive, an entity all its own. An entity that did not love traitors like him. Sebastien knows he was cursed at birth as a traitor. He knew from a very young age that someday he would abandon pearl in the desert for the flames of night. Each one was rich in their respective cultures. Sebastien has loved Denocte for as long as he has drawn breaths. His departure from Solterra was always inevitable. Inevitable just as he was with her. Meira.
The fawn who thinks she can outrun the night if she rises only with the dawn. Night, darkness though is inevitable. Sebastien laughs to himself as he starts down the familiar streets from his youth. The thought that Meira can escape the eclipse that he is, that thought is far too great. She belongs to him, and he knows. He knows. The wolf remains hungry until she comes to her senses. As he moves, before him, is the shape of an equine moving in his direction. Familiar. They are familiar, down to the way they draw breaths. The way their roman nose drips with ivory, down to the way the intricate lines swirl across their canvas. Sebastien pauses as he considers approaching her. It has to be her. Jane, he thinks her name is. He can't be sure because he has not seen her since he was much younger.
Back when he still spent much time at the Main House and attending their lavish parties. Sebastien begins to move, move through the sea of strangers towards her. "Jane?" He calls out, charm dripping like ink onto a fresh canvas. It stains the world around it. A stain that he cannot scrub off.
Solterra brimmed with life and bustle, something Jane was no longer used to. After months out on the planes with only Hardison as company, Jane now found herself pushed around by horses doing all sorts of business. It made her potently aware of how out of place she was; each horse’s face was unique and none of them meant anything to her. She knew no one here. For a moment she felt a strong longing for her mother.
But it would be a long time since she saw her again, if ever.
The Day Court was beautiful, though. Ever since her interactions with Galileo, she had been somewhat prepared for the building, but it was better than she could have imagined. The walls were hard stone, as far away as one could get from the nomadic terrains of Jane’s homeland. This place was made of sand and heat in a way that suggested permanence. She was reminded of the rocks by the shore turned to beads of sand.
Jane? Her own name came to her and she stopped. How long had it been since someone called her by name. A name is an ask and a show of faith, the revelation that someone knows who you are as an individual. She turned and saw- Yes, Sebastien. The unicorn was black and grey, and something in between. But it was the purple eyes who revealed who he was without any doubt- not to mention the aura. “Sebastien?” she said, her voice showing a mix of surprise and relief.
She could clearly say now, I survived. She was where she was supposed to be… Sebastien moved towards her with purpose, with recognition, and at the same time that he did all this she could feel the relief in her body.
@[Sebastien] / speaks / notes
01-11-2021, 02:57 AM - This post was last modified: 01-11-2021, 02:58 AM by Jane
Her face floods with relief when she sees him. His name falls from her lips. It is graceful, pulled forth with nervous energy. Sebastien notices how her body relaxes the closer he draws to her. He wonders why she is here because she has not found herself in Novus in quite some time. At least, not that he knows of. Sebastien halts a few steps away from his cousin. "Jane, what are you doing here in Solterra? Is everything okay?" He asks her, feeling a very minor prickle of concern that fades as quickly as it appears. It is not that she is not old enough to be here on her own, but he never thought she had much interest in Novus. Or perhaps it was Solterra.
Sebastien can't be sure because he came to this conclusion when he was a child. When they were both children. Yet, here they both stood anything but children. He peers at her expectantly, because he cannot fathom why she is here. No one from her house has sent word to any of the Vogelstein factions here.
With Sebastien approaching, Jane felt the past three months slide off her. She felt nearly like she was home, like things were right again. The last- and one of the only- times Jane had met Sebastien, she had been a filly, but she had liked the company of her cousin. It was strange to think about how much had happened in just a matter of months, honestly. Seasons had risen and sunk their heads, and her skin had frozen and burned in turn. To be completely honest, she wasn’t in the best shape she had ever been in. Her summer coat was glossy, yes, but the wear and tear of the ocean had made its mark in hunger, her body resembling nearly a thoroughbred’s in lean ribs and scrawny legs. Still, she had definitely aged, her eyes inching ever closer to mare hood.
Finally, she was home. Her mother had prepped for her arrival to the House of Vogelstein and finally she could eat good food and live as she always had. She could be safe. She could stay in their home, padded and held against the memories that would dog her. No deserts, no oceans, no sandwyrms at her heels… She shivered the thought away and focused on her cousin’s approach.
Jane, what are you doing here in Solterra? Are you okay?
And like that, Jane felt something in her body come to a stop. She would deny it, but a part of her already knew the truth, even as she spoke. “What do you mean? Did you not know I was coming?” She pricked her ears forward, “I have been looking for you,” she laughed, but a bit of anxiety underlay her words.
It struck her that it was something of a miracle that she recognised the stallion. The both of them had grown, and although Jane didn’t know it yet, she had officially left her childhood behind her in Mors Desert. Somewhere out there, another place and another time, the child form of Jane was racing still over the desert of Solterra, fleeing from everyone and everything. Sebastien must be six now, a full adult, and it showed. He was in the prime of his life, muscled and young, yet with that part of youth that still allowed him to show care for the welfare of others. Jane appreciated it greatly.
Sebastien studies her carefully as she displays her emotions for him. Relief. Tension releases from her muscles as if she is shedding a heavy robe from her shoulders. It is then that he notices her thin frame. It is too thin for the body she has grown into. He tries not to make it too obvious that he is carefully checking her over to ensure that she is healthy. The politician runs his tongue across his teeth as he waits for her response. He always seems to forget how hot the desert can grow during the day. His words seem to stop her in her tracks. The relief that was once etched into each of her delicate features vanishes. As if her emotions are a sea, and the tide is pulling them back to the depths. Jane asks him to clarify what he means. It seems that she was under the impression he was aware of her arrival. Sebastien allows a pause to crawl between them until she speaks up again. She has been looking for him.
He searches his memory to see if his parents had mentioned her arrival. Sebastien draws a blank on this information. It may have been because of his obsession with Meira that he has missed out on this information. His gravity reaches out for her, to pull her in. It seeks to soothe the anxiety she might feel because he has shown such forgetfulness to her. "Truthfully, I didn't realize you were coming. I haven't spoken with my parents in quite some time though. I recently relocated to Denocte. It's likely that I just missed the message during the move." He answers her honestly. Sebastien doesn't like how this tastes. He feels that he has let her down somehow. "I'm sorry you've had to go looking for me. I suspect you might have been looking awhile. Do you remember how to get to our estate here in Solterra?" Sebastien begins, there is no delay in his hospitality for a relative.
"Was your journey here alright?" Sebastien can feel the genuine concern for her wellbeing pour out of him as he studies here. His tones are calm, but he is obviously attentive.
Jane was not born with the natural ability to cover her emotions, something that could well have been her downfall if she had had a higher position. Sometimes she wondered about whether she would be in this situation if only she had hidden things better. She could keep secrets, yes, if they were politics, but her situation was nearly always written on her face like stone. As she stood, she felt Sebastien’s eyes on her, vibrant purple things that seemed to shine with a light not reflected but entirely his own. A mix of gratitude and insecurity woke in her stomach as she remembered that she had barely seen her reflection in months. The only time she could look was when she turned her head, and then it was not the prettiest sight in the world.
She saw his expression, searching for information. She thought about what her mother had said, that Sebastien would meet her at the entrance of the city, but not before sending word. Of course, all that had changed with the death of Hardison, when her health had been left in the hands of strangers and her own resources. Possibly a skill she needed to learn, but one undergone in unpleasant means. She was hungry and untoned, her body lacking the exercise it craved.
Truthfully, I didn’t know that you were coming. So he had moved to Denocte. She had moved to Solterra to stay with someone who wasn’t even there any longer. The knowledge tasted bitter in Jane’s mouth as she ran her tongue against her teeth. It tasted like aniseed, a sharp, irritating taste that demanded to be acknowledged. She saw the guilt in Sebastien’s eyes, but she knew that it wasn’t his fault. It may have laid with someone- but whoever it was, she had no idea. She would not blame him, but a sense of betrayal still lingered in her chest. “I haven’t been looking for too long,” she said, trying to assuage his discomfort, “I have been in the city for just over a day.” She neglected the three months it took to get to said city. Three months of a life may seem short, but it had been enough for Spring to turn to Summer, for her to cross her fourth year in the company of nobody at all. “I’m afraid I don’t remember the way,” she said, and it sounded a bit like a confession, although she wasn’t sure if she wanted it to sound that way.
Sebastien was her cousin, but above all, he was a closer cousin than those others she had met. He was related through her mother’s side, but there were enough relatives for her to run out of count. The House of Vogelstein spread through the lands, occasionally gathering for events. Jane had come to Solterra once or twice; once as a yearling, and the year after. These had been for a death in the family, as it was hard to justify the 3 months of travel, but before it had been multiple. She had been shielded by her mother’s body, had stayed close to hide from the sharp sun that seemed to burn her out of spite, these days.
Was your journey here alright? Jane didn’t really know how to respond to that. In all honesty, it was just… shit. She’d seen her first death, had been battered by weathers of many extremes. The teeth of the Sandwyrm had left their mark on her flank, although it seemed that it would heal without a scar. For now, four scabs lingered between the dark brown and the gold. In some ways, her coat had saved her, confused the wyrm enough to bite a smaller area. “It was… eventful,” Jane finally settled on, “But I suppose it doesn’t matter, I’m here after all.”
