The water was cool against his throat, a compliment to the chilly weather that the fall had brought to Delumine. Soon enough, it would be replaced with the frigid winter -- the season of his birth, but by far his least favorite of them. Winter was always such a dark and desolate time, and already he could tell that the birdsong was becoming less and less. It was stranger still, he thought -- that winter would bring around the end of his first year as a ruling sovereign. The time seemed short and long all in the same moment, but at least things seemed to be coming together. He had not been cast out or challenged for his rule, which he thought must mean that he was doing something right. The chocolate colored stallion left his dark lips against the water’s surface, his equally dark gaze sweeping over the terrain before him.
The leaves were almost all fallen from the trees, autumn drawing to a close. He had just missed the festival, his journey to the mountains taking him far longer than he would have liked. If he had been alone, he might have been able to manage the trip in just a matter of days -- but with the small entourage he had been traveling with, many of whom had no other way but their own feet to travel, it had proved difficult to get very far very quickly. Next time, he thought, he would go alone despite their protesting.
The Rapax River was a deceptive thing, particularly when it came to sections of it like this. Beneath the seemingly placid surface was something moving so swift that it would drag a grown horse off of his feet and down further where rocks waited to crush bone. A tricky, tempting mistress -- especially in the heat of summer. Kasil lifted his head from the water’s edge, stray drops of the life giving liquid rolling down his chin and staining his rich, dark pelt. He knew all too well how easy it was to be caught in such a trap, had felt the water's wrath more than once in his youth and had been lucky enough to escape her snare without too much harm. It was his thoughts that drew him away from the edge, a mindless habit to wander while he sifted through thoughts and memories. The grass gave way to rock and sand in spaces, before melding back into wavering, dancing blades of green once more. Some of the blades tickled his soft underbelly, while others threatened to snare his limbs.
The flower-girl steadily traverses the bank of the Rapax river. Her eyes flit between the water and a sun-framed shape lingering upon the bank. The golden light outlined the figure, shadows keeping its identity away from Florentine’s prying eyes.
It is only as Florentine moves closer, that the shadows peel back, the sunrise’s glow becomes more diffuse and the boy appears. “No sign of a dolphin fin yet, Somnus… “ It is a struggle to keep the amused ‘I told you so’, song from her lips, but the golden queen makes and admirable effort all the same. “But I have seen a lesser spotted Kasil.” She chirps with a smile tugging at her lips.
Maybe she should have approached in a more courtly fashion, especially since she is a foreign queen meeting a king upon his own land… Yet Florentine, one might argue, is not your conventional queen. And so she arrives before King Kasil in a jubilant flurry of golden feathers, swirling petals and spraying mud. It was never mud free beside a river, sadly and Florentine, lamentably, makes no effort to avoid spraying them both with mud. “Morning Kasil,” The Dusk Queen chimes, her lips curling to a smile full of soft curves and wild abandon.
With a flare of golden wings and a bright, bright gleam in her playful eyes, Terrastella’s queen draws level with Delumine’s king. Amethyst eyes flit from the king’s eyes, down to his lips and then lower as they settle upon a wandering droplet of water. “You have dribble you know-“ A wing lifts, the tip of a feather gesturing towards his chin, “Right there.” Lifting her muzzle, Florentine peers down her nose and beneath the nest of her fringe, at the errant droplet.
Her gaze lingers for but a moment before she remembers her adventure companion. “Your Regent claims to have spied a pink dolphin. I don’t believe him and so we are setting off so he can prove me wrong.” Flora steps casually around her fellow monarch, a wing drifting reaching around Delumine’s king to scoop him along with her. “Do join us, won’t you? We have a packed lunch and will have you home in time for tea.”
And if Kasil thinks he has a choice in the matter, well, he is sadly mistaken.
