She was lost. She was always lost. Was this how Pan felt when he went exploring in a new place? No, probably not. He was confident, self-assured, and brave. Everything she was not. The filly wrinkled her nose and growled in frustration. She had set off toward home from the place-where-gods-should-be, and apparently took a wrong turn or three. She looked up to the sky through her button eyes, noting that things were becoming more gray-blue. Great. The sun was rising. Now she would be able to see where she was, and maybe find her way home again, before something bad happened. Bad things always happened to her. But still she kept walking. There was a compulsion she couldn’t explain, a need to keep moving, as if the past was right behind her, and it would catch up to her if she stopped for too long. So the silver girl kept moving, the fading moonlight and rising sunlight making the silver of her fur glitter like diamonds, marking her place, providing for no hiding, even if she wanted to. But she didn’t notice it. She didn’t spend time looking at herself. She had always been called an abomination, a blemish on “their” perfect herd. Her silver fur matched theirs; but her black points – mane, tail, muzzle, legs – they did not. They were marred. Imperfect. Ugly. That was why they hated her so; why they sent her away when she was barely weaned. She just wasn’t good enough. Not for anyone. Until she met Iago. He had been adopted then as her unbiological daddy. He tried to teach her things, to protect her and watch her grow. But then the magic changed, and he forgot about her. How could you forget about someone you once saw as your child? Was she really that bad? But Mew hadn’t forgotten about her. He had loved her. His dying words were just that – to tell Coraline I love her – and she wasn’t there to hear them. Not from his lips. But then, if she had been there…he wouldn’t have had dying words. He would be alive and well, and they would be together in this strange land. Her and Mew and Pan and Flora. They could all be together. But they all went their separate ways. Mew was dead. Pan and Flora in other herds. It left the silver girl on her own, with many more questions than answers. Deep in thought with details fuzzy due to her button eyes, the child didn’t see the much larger animal until she crashed into his side. She stopped and backed up, eyes widening in a mixture of terror and sorrow. Seemed she was always crashing into someone these days. Stumbling over her hooves and her words, the filly desperately looked for an escape route, for certainly this male was going to eat her now. This was what the compulsion was – it was fate’s way of sending her to her doom. Finally. ”I…I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.” Her tiny voice wavered as she tried to channel Pan and be brave, but failing. ”I don’t think I taste very good…” It was all she could think of to avoid being eaten by this monstrous creature. Maybe the thought of a bad taste would deter him. A tiny bubble of hope welled up in her breast. Maybe she would live another day. ”Speech”
He did not yet know that Rostislav had been taken in the middle of the night, did not yet know that his warden was drugged and beaten, unconscious in a Solterran cell. This perhaps saved Coraline from an encounter with Reichenbach at his worst, saved her from the tempestuous fury that would build in his broad chest at the news - for today, in the early dawn light, he was feeling quite clear-headed. He mulled over the problems that were arising: the visible changes in Solterra's army... were they preparing for war or simply preparing for the worst?
He thought also of the upcoming festival between Dusk and Night, the organisation that it would take, the patience and the preparations. He thought of Florentine, her honey skin like living light in the orange glow of flames, her hair throwing violet flowers through the humid air. The Night King had such dreams in his eyes, such hope in his heart, that he did not see the button-eyed girl coming.
Whoomph.
She hit his side and Reichenbach jumped, though he didn't appear to shift at all upon his neat hooves. She was like a dainty feather against the bulk of him, delicate and fearful as she backed away. Reichenbach slid his silver gaze to her as she backed up, lashes brushing against his rough cheekbones.
"I doubt either of us taste good,"
He began in surprise, musical voice low and humored,
"But out of you and I, I think you'll find you're a much more desirable morsel"
His laugh boomed through the mountains, a wild, loud thing that was impossible not to smile at. As his laughter died down, Reichenbach smiled, warmth emanating from him like the heat from the early dawn sun.
"I am Reichenbach, Sovereign of The Night Court."
His gaze stayed upon her delicate button eyes, wondering, considering, welcoming.
He said she would be a tasty morsel. He was going to eat her. Fear filled her little heart, causing its pace to speed exponentially; but he didn’t move closer to bite her. She stared, frozen, through her button eyes, but still he made no move to attack. What was his angle? Was this a game to him? Was he going to lunge in a moment, after ensuring she was properly terrified? She couldn’t stop the shaking of her body as the fear remained, though trying to lessen. Then he laughed. Was he mocking her? She stared at him for a moment, and then decided he was not mocking her, and was not being threatening. Slowly, her little body began to relax and the quivering slowed to nothing. Perhaps, a tiny voice in her mind told her, this could be her new Iago.
Night Court? How had she gotten so mixed up that she wound up here? She was simply trying to find the gods; to see which one might help her with her wildest dreams. How had she found herself here? A flare of panic rose in her chest, but she fought to control it. This wasn’t good. Weren’t these horses bloodthirsty? Wouldn’t they keep her prisoner for all time? This one didn’t seem so bad…but what of the others? Certainly there were others. Wait…did he say sovereign? She had just crashed into the king of this herd? She knew she was in for it, and her arched neck bent slightly, dropping her head.
”I am Coraline, a nobody of the Dawn Court. I’m not sure how I found myself here. I seem to be turned around.”
Her little voice was sweet, soft, and still edged with uncertainty. The filly, in all appearances, was a mature mare; but her mind was certainly not. Childish fears still tugged at her; nightmares still followed her. And this was one of the worst ones. A stallion…a king stallion from another herd; one she had crashed into; one who had said she would be tasty… and she was knee-deep in his herd with no way of knowing how to get home. Yep. She was done for.
”Seems to happen a lot.” Her little face scrunched up in frustration. How could she have been born with no talents? She can’t find a direction to save her life, and on top if it all…she has button eyes! The filly sighed softly, wondering if he was going to eat her now, or later.
@Reichenbach
ooc: sorry... my computer's screen took a crap and I can't get into it. I'll see if I can pull HTML from here for her until I get my stupid laptop fixed. :/
There was a sweetness to her that Reichenbach envied, an innocence that was impossible to retrieve once lost. His silver gaze didn't leave her face as she trembled, her dainty head lowering in something like self-loathing.
”I am Coraline, a nobody of the Dawn Court. I’m not sure how I found myself here. I seem to be turned around.”
A nobody. Reich smiled at that, emanating warmth and welcome as he corrected;
"There are no nobodies in this world, only those who have not yet found their calling."
His voice vibrated with an earnestness that told too much - he, too, had thought himself worthless at a point. When he had been a child and awoken with nothing but a string of coins to tell him that his mother had cared, or at least cared enough to leave him a worthless heirloom. His sire hadn't bothered to stick around to see his birth - and hadn't done so with any of children, for Fate had not been a kind man, nor a caring one. His mother had stayed only long enough to ensure that he would not die - and then vanished. As a child, it had been a hard experience.
Yet the now-King of Denocte had chosen to ignore the faithlessness of his parents and found his own way in the world, one full of thievery and laughter, of chaos and contentedness. He was the King Crow. The original orphan boy. The Orphan King, some called him, and he embraced that name with vigour and pride - an orphan, but never a nobody. He thought as much about Coraline as he watched her, grown but shaking, beautiful and yet she could not see it.
"Well...."
The Night King began, glancing back toward the direction of the lake.
"If you have nowhere to be, sweet Coraline, would you like to see more of Calligo's lands?"
Coraline could relate to the feeling of having no parents. Her mother despised her, and only fed her to ensure her survival, hoping that wolves or some other predator got her to save the mare embarrassment of having a “marred” child. But Coraline proved resilient and strong, despite the fears that still plagued her today. She was a broken toy, but she still tried her best to function like the others. Perhaps all it would take was a special child to see that she was still beautiful, even though she was imperfect.
The male’s words reminded her of Iago – encouraging and kind. She decided that even though she was supposed to be “all grown up” now, that she would adopt him as her other-other-other daddy. She was easily swayed, easily influenced. She was in a dangerous stage in her life, and in the wrong hands, could easily be molded into a tool of destruction. She had no thought of this, mind you, for her innocence is likely one of her best qualities. But it still bears saying – be kind to the button-eyed girl, and do not use her for bad things…her conscience would not bear it well.
He spoke again, and without hesitation, the filly nodded. ”I’d like that. But… who’s Calligo?” Hadn’t he said his name was Reichenbach? So who was this other character? Hadn’t Aislinn told her about the gods, and wasn’t that one of the names she’d used? The filly scrunched up her nose, trying to remember if she’d heard the name before, but she just couldn’t remember. Oh well. Perhaps this would lead to another amazing story. Her child’s mind truly enjoyed stories and learning different things. Especially when they were so foreign to her – different gods than the ones she had grown to know and love. What a concept! Almost without thinking, the filly pranced about, flipping her tail as she danced around the larger male. You could nearly hear her mind screaming to hear a story, to have an adventure, to see new things, to experience new things. The filly tried to calm herself enough to pay attention, for certainly it was time to see this Calligo’s lands!
