When the first breath of winter through the flowers is icing
And you look to the north and a pale moon is rising
The rain drifted gently through the boughs of the trees, covering the forest in a light shimmer, coating the leaves in droplets that winked whenever the light touched them. It was faint, a soft mist that blurred the edges of your vision like a dream, and as the day waned it lessened to a fuzzy haze. It turned the forest a dreamy grey color, but Vaella didn't mind. Her old home had lived in a place where storms sometimes had stretched for days on end, where there was a boundless amount of sky went on forever. When it rained there it was cold and harsh, and the skies split open with lightning and rolled with thunder. It was different here. More peaceful. And she was finding she preferred it.
Her tan hooves made only gentle thumps along the soft earthen ground, and she tilted her sloped muzzle to regard the tree tops that filtered the weak sunlight that drifted in. In her long travels to these lands she had seen all kinds of new and interesting sights, and it excited her to the core. All the sight that she hadn't yet seen, all the information she was yet to learn about these new places, it made her skin tingle and her heart race. With a smile she trotted on, the scales along her neck arching along her back as she weaved through the trees.
As the haze lifted it left beads of water glistening along her cream colored hide. It wasn't long before she came across a gently flowing stream; it was clear, the fish beneath its surface flicking here and there like tiny silver arrows. Vaella was about to dip her head to take a drink when, out of all things, a flower caught her eye. It arched out of a bush, its flower a bright, fiery red, dappled in the center with bright oranges and yellows. It wasn't anything like the flora she had seen on the fields of her homeland, and a small smile tilted up the corner of her mouth. It was the first of one of the many discoveries she would find in this new land, she was sure.
The walls of the Castle had grown close as of late, filled him with an itch which ran through his very spine and to the very tips of his wings. It's an urge which caught him glancing out of the stained glass windows, leaned against cushions in the wide balconies with his head perched upon the smooth stone.
It's the itch of flight, to escape for awhile and chase the strengthening sunlight.
Aether felt it too, and something in the Kirin suspected that the dragon is the source of this itch. A restlessness which rolled in waves, tepid at first until they raise upon the high ground and refuse to receed. He has not grown used to the sudden change, the lack of spires that reached toward the sun. The roosts contained within in which he is so used to, the Royal Rookery had been an expansive palace in the sky.
He's unsurprised that Aether lead their flight, when he'd finally conceded, following the winged shadow as he ascended off of his perch and into the sky. Isorath is a mere speck of white beneath his barrel, tucked so close he can feel the frost. Cool on his scales, it crept across their gilded visage in fine mist, often heralded by the rumbled purr of Aether's breath.
For a moment, he lost himself. Eyes closed as the wind pulled at his mane in flippant strokes, tugging at the fine ornaments to test their strength. It's only at Aether's prompt, a different in his breath and a rumbled growl which flickered his eyes open. 'What is it?' He asked, his head tilted a fraction to better scan the world beneath them.
'There.' The Dragon tried again, already angling his body down, and down. A whirling vortex of black and blue until he landed. His bulk could not slip beneath the canopy of trees, and so he's forced to make use of the vast open prairie fringed at it's side. Isorath followed, he could see it now. A glint of cream and purple beneath the speckled buds upon the trees.
In all his wildest, fleeting moments where his mind wandered back across the ocean, past where the mists enveloped the waves to conceal the treasure they jealousy guarded. His family, his home and everything he'd loved. He'd never expected them to turn up. Jude had appeared, and there is a momentary pang for the pastel Kirin, few were ready for the realities outside of their nation. The monumental difference felled even the most sure.
After he had left, he'd resigned himself to be the only one. Turned out he'd been wrong again.
"Vaella?" It's a question wrapped up in disbelief and happiness, a sudden surge of joy welled up in him like a font of power. His legs carry him without prompting, closer and closer until he's stood at the opposite side of the stream. Aether behind him uttered a gutteral noise, maw parted as frost rolled in misty waterfalls between his obsidian teeth.
There's an unmistakeable bewilderment written all over his scaled features, right down to the twitch in his toes, the impatient way his front limbs danced in place. All too soon it's replaced with a secondary realization, and rather than the fond greeting he wanted to give her, all he managed to blurt was:
"What in Aesthia's name are you doing here? Does she know?"
When the first breath of winter through the flowers is icing
And you look to the north and a pale moon is rising
A familiar sound of wings and scale brought her out of her own thoughts as Vaella tilted her head towards the sky. She had noticed the sky darkening just slightly and while she was not expecting to see a dragon again so soon..she was glad for it. It gave her memories of home, of the rookery where many dragons slept and gathered. A slight flicker of excitement came across her eyes as she spotted a familiar form near the great dragon.
It seemed her cousin had been busy while he was away from Vectaeryn. "It's nice to see you as well, Isorath." She replied idly as she eyed him and his dragon companion.
A flick of her tail was her response to his question before she opened her mouth once again with a slight sigh. "Your dear mother knows I am here. She is the one that sent me. To keep an eye on you and your ventures." Vaella was telling the truth as she had no reason to lie to him. His mother had asked her to keep an eye on her cousin and to write back home on any news worth telling.
She had agreed for the simple reason she had wanted to see the lands outside of her home. And she of course missed the older prince. "Are you going to stand there and gape at me like an idiot or are you going to introduce me to your companion?"
Are you going to stand there and gape at me like an idiot or are you going to introduce me to your companion?
Ah, he'd been staring. The admission that Aesthia had allowed Vaella to leave could be picked up for another time, and it would. Especially on the pretense that he needed to have an eye kept on him at all times, did she trust him so little? Or had Court become so droll as of late that she needed to seek her amusement and entertainment elsewhere? It would make for rather interesting gossip. Isorath exhaled a breath and composed himself with a shake of his head, and leaned away to head toward the clearing Aether currently occupied.
"Forgive me, I was not expecting to see any of us this far out in the world. It's good to see you, Cousin." Isorath murmured apologetically, perhaps one of the few times where he might be serious about the 'sorry' that passed his lips so easily. "This is Aether."
'You're terrible at this, are you sure you're a Prince?' Was the dragon's laughing comment, echoed through their bond.
The leviathan lowered his head so he might glance at the Kirin's Cousin better, those endlessly white eyes of his transfixed on Vaella in a curious glance, if Dragon's could ever look such a way. Close enough that his breath tousled the winged Prince's silver hair, ad reverberated in his rib cage. Close enough that the Princess could reach out and touch his scaled skin should she desire. "We have only recently bonded, he traveled just as far as you did to bond with me," he stated with a fond note somewhere in his voice, "we're still working out the kinks, though." Isorath added with a soft chuckle, mindful to side step the frilled tail which strayed a little too close at his words.
"You picked a rather good time to visit, out of all the other lands I've visited, this one has been fairly good to me." The Prince mused. "You should of seen the last place. An absolute chore, I couldn't wait to leave."
"Was your travel safe?" Isorath hazard to ask, after a moments silence. The World had been cruel to Taeryn, their abuse had been the cause of their nation's secrecy. Those that had undergone the burning most of all, had been especially forbidden to leave in fear of being snatched up by hungering lords and kings. The idea that someone might had attempted to lay a hoof on his cousin stirred that lingering fire, a hammer striking the bond between kirin and dragon, and given form by Aether's growl between his scaled lips.
Vaella eyed the great behemoth of a dragon before her, he was quite the specimen. Her dear cousin was rather lucky to have bonded with such a great beast though she wasn't really surprised. Her cousin always did have a certain flare for the exotic. When Isorath introduced his bonded she offered the great dragon a pleasant smile and nodded her head in greeting. "Aether..what a wonderful name." For a moment the young princess though about touching his scales if only to feel the scales against her. But she refrained merely out of respect for the creature. Her eyes wandered over to her cousin with a slight chuckle leaving her lips, "I'm sure you two will figure things out. If anyone could handle your stubbornness it would be a great dragon." She mused with a playful note in her tone.
Taking a step back from the two of them she had a better look at her cousin. He looked as though he had been living well, he hadn't been starving at least to the relief of the woman. Vaella may have been younger than Isorath but she always did have a sort of mothering outlook about him. With a slight shake of her head she returned back to reality, catching his next words and tilted her head a bit. "Oh? You'll have to tell me all about that place. Although from what I've seen of this place, it is a beautiful place to call home."
The pale purple hued kirin was silent for a moment as she contemplated on her travels. They had not been..terrible she supposed. Not the greatest when she had tried to hide where she was from originally. It was hard to hide that certain fire that was notorious for Taeryn's to have especially those of the royal line. "Nothing I couldn't handle cousin. I am here am I not?" She replied with a slight smile, noting the growl coming from Aether. "Since you're so fond of this place why not show me around hm?" Vaella asked by way of distraction and a slight flick of her leonine tail.
'Of course it is.' Isorath couldn't help but snort at that, his lilac eyes moved to meet Aether's own pale ones. There's pride there, between the two of them, fed between them in a continous loop. It's strength, a comfort even. Aether on the other hand, as if sensing the Princess' hesitance, lowered his scaled head further to present a scales cheek for her to touch. A special thing, reserved for only those who had made an imprint in Isorath's life.
Few had earned such a special rite.
"I'll take that as a compliment, my stubbornness is one of my most charming qualities. And saved me a great deal of trouble. Sometimes." A scaled shoulder reached to bump against Vaella's own. He cannot begin to formulate an articulate enough response to show just how much he had missed her, younger she may have been but, those days in Sun's Reach in his youth had been the best days. Where his brother, sister and all their cousins had raced through the hallways with frantic nannies and minders in tow. How they'd gotten into mischief and come up with cunning schemes for their future. "The old place? Not worth the tea that we'd drink, if I'm honest. I wouldn't even tell sailors who are three pints deep in that swill they call ale." The Kirin huffed, with a hake of his antlered head. There were better tales to be told, ones that were worth more. Better, funnier ones even.
"You are here," he conceded after a moment, she didn't look harmed or worse for wear. "I suppose if you had run into trouble they would of paid for it." Isorath hummed with a grin, Vaella was more than capable of dealing with crooks and other unsavory individuals. "Come then, it's better to see it from the air. I'll have to have a room prepared for you, and you will have to meet Reichenbach first, he is the current King of Denocte, and Aislinn. I feel you and Aislinn will get along like a storm." He cannot hide the fondness in his voice at the mention of his intended, even if he left out such a crucial detail in his relationship with the King. Though he doubted Vaella wouldn't pick up on the way he flushed, how his smile turned soft. Aether certainly didn't help with the gruff sounding noise he made, if dragons could laugh.
But, that was all for when they were on their way, leathery wings spread and with a couple of strong strokes he lifted into the air. He hovered, forced to adjust himself when Aether too decided to join him. Up and up until he circled above them like a protective maelstrom. "There's so much to show you, and not enough hours, not if you want to make it in time to the bonfires."
She glanced up slightly at Aether as he extended his cheek to her to touch. Vaella only hesitated for a fraction of a second before she leaned forward to touch Aether's scaled cheek. He was cool to the touch and smooth, not what she expected to be sure but not unpleasant. A little smile crossed her lips as she lifted her head away to look into the great beast's eyes, "Thank you." She murmured softly to him before she glanced towards her cousin once more.
"You may take it as a compliment dear cousin but I can assure you it wasn't meant as one." She replied with a bump of her own shoulder against Isorath's. In many ways she thought of Isorath as a brother more than a simple cousin, but then again they had grown up together and played together. All of the cousins and siblings had. Remembering in her youth how she had followed Isorath sometimes blindly into whatever antics they would get into. He hadn't really changed much in all reality she realized, perhaps a bit more stubborn and taller but he was still her cousin. "That bad of a place then? I'll have to make sure not to venture there." A soft chuckle left her lips.
Vaella grinned at the mention of seeing this place from the air, her wings flexing just subtly as though itching for the chance. Taking notice of the fond tone in his voice as he spoke of this Reichenbach and Aislinn, curiosity seeped into her very skin. Wondering just how much had happened since her cousin had left Vectaeryn and how highly he seemed to think of this Reichenbach. "I look forward to meeting them both." She finally replied as she let her wings spread wide, muscles beneath her skin bunching up before she took off into the air. Hair whipping in her face as she lifted herself higher and higher into the sky to meet both dragon and kirin.
"It's a good thing I don't plan on leaving anytime soon."
