"To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered."
A fog lay across the distant land, far beneath her feet. She had conquered the mountain in less than a day, from starting at the foot of the great stony beast, to finding a stoic rocky outcrop that pushed out from the side of the mountain, offering her the best view of the valley below. She watches as the fog swirls over the faraway trees and rocks and rivers, tucking horses away from sight and curling towards the foot of the mountain where it would, eventually, evaporate and become clouds.
Hanging with her head precariously close to the edge of the great cliff, Lyra looks like someone to have an inkling of jumping. She hasn’t the wings to guide her down to safety from the drop. Still closer and closer she leans, her piercing silver eyes pouring over the land below her and the crisp, spring breeze ruffling through her long black and white star splashed mane.
In just a moment, she steps forwards.
An onlooker would think that she was to plummet to her death, but instead she is agile and nimble, and her hooves seem to find purchase on the side of the cliff that seemed to not be there before, leaving her standing parallel to the cliff-face.
Such habits were common for the stargazing mare, as the rocky precipices were part of her home, and she was born clinging to the edge of a rocky mountain face back in her war-ridden birthplace.
Gleefully, almost, she bounds down the cliff face, her hooves clicking against the small rocks that jut out from the side of the cliff in the form of her 'staircase', their surfaces barely larger than her hooves. Soon, she finds another wide rocky outcrop and makes her landing there. Her hooves thump unceremoniously against the rock and the sparse grass, and breathlessly, she looks around.
It appeared that the Crow Court had it's talons embedded even in the most precarious places of it's dominion, no nook or cranny did not go untouched by their gaze and their presence. They are like the shadows themselves, he'd concluded in the days he had been new to the Court, watching them flit and flutter from their perches and into the night — coming back with precious little baubles of information and secrets.
When he had ventured to the rocky plateau hidden by mist and cragged outcrops, he had come to find some peace and solitude. Look out at the world beneath his hooves as he inhaled lungfuls of icy mountain air and let it tousle his hair, the long and short strands alike bent in the breeze like stalks and rivers of obsidian. A Lord over his Mountain realm, he observed the smallest detail within his domain, even if the fog obscured much with small glimpses of what lay beneath scattered throughout the misty blanket. Ikaros should of been there with him, he mused idly, the dragon would of truly felt at home in the great aerie he now lingered in. Blue and red eyes instinctively flicked upward to scan the skies for the behemoth, before he could stop himself and return them to the valley below.
There would be no Dragon's in the sky today, the absence of Ikaros' great black and red bulk a wound on the sky.
What he hadn't expected to watch a mare composed of ink and ocean waves to descend from the mountain face, as though it was no more than simply stepping down the keep stairs. Ice and fire watch with an almost amused glint reflecting in their contrasting pools, slitted pupils taking the time to rake themselves over the mare who has attracted his attention.
Well, it was hard to ignore a mare who could scale the mountainside like it was nothing, a dance already learned and perfected. A ballerina's careful and precise foot falls on the stage.
"Do that often?" He asked nonchalantly, head tilted to the side as he spoke. It clicked only a moment later, whom the pretty mare was. She was not a stranger, as Kaisar had been so readily to brand her as. No, she was very much a daughter of the night, one of the Monarch's esteemed advisors. Reichenbach had filled his champions with great beauties, it appeared, sly fox. "Lyra, wasn't it? What are you doing here, no commonfolk to pester?" Kaisar added the last bit with a wry grin, a teasing poke at her station.
Kaisar Talks TAG: @Lyra
"To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered."
The mountains were her domain. From a young age, especially within her old birth place, she was able to find the smallest notches in rocks to aide her ascents. In her youth she had become quick to scale mountains and ravines, and soon she was conquering great, steep cliffs in foreign lands. Clinging to the edge of a cliff was simply a walk in the park for the midnight blue mare- it came as easily to her as breathing. It was her escape from the memories of her past.
After her playful bound to yet another ledge, there was a not-so-distance voice that grabbed the attention of her piercing silver eyes. Only when they landed upon the dark frame of the stallion in front of her did she relax her shoulders, forcing down the small need to run. She knew this man, not personally but she had seen him wandering about since he joined the Night Court.
Perhaps it was the adrenaline that kept her from being a timid mess but the midnight splattered mare offered a slight smile at his comment. "I used to..when I was a child. I guess you never quite forget the feeling even if it has been years." She replied softly as she took a step away from the edge she had landed upon. A soft chuckled left her lips at is comment about pestering the people of Denocte. "Kaisar, correct? Perhaps I came to pester you instead." Lyra replied with a brief grin, teasing him just as he had done to her a moment ago.
Years. It had been years since he too had been a young colt with his brother at his side. Her words of youth brought on a momentary note of melancholy in the volcanic stallion, though his face remained neutral to his inner workings. It had been years since he had thought of Marrod, and the days they'd spent flitting away the days of their youth getting u pto things the Gods only knew — the day he died had been the day he'd put him to rest completely, the years had not been kind to his brother. Better to bury him truly, than to let his ghost linger on.
A pause existed between them before he indulged her with a wry grin, shifting his great bulk and lifted his front left hoof in her direction. "So it is a normal thing, then, for foals of your land to enthusiastically scale perilous cliffs for fun?" Kaisar remained in good humor as he spoke, his words thick with faux incredulousness. Foals were foals after all, hadn't he played with fire as a child? Chucking his new found magic at his brother and vice versa for fun? A few scraped knees, nicks from jagged rocks and a dangerous fall were on par with the singed fur, burnt noses and threat of going up in flames.
Kaisar, correct? Perhaps I came to pester you instead.
He scoffed at that, a snorted laugh, as his head lifted to look down at her from the end of his nose. "Pester me? I'd like to see you try, dear Champion. I can be very good at ignoring pests." The warrior retorted with a tone that read matter-of-fact. "You'd have to try better than billy goating me from above."
"To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered."
She didn't mind the silence that had drifted between them, it allowed her a moment to really look at him. He was handsome in his own way..dark and powerful, the sort of male her family would probably love to have at their side. The thought brought about a bit of sorrow that she had to shake from her face. This wasn't her old homeland, her parents weren't here and she was glad for it. She wasn't a slave anymore.
Lyra let a soft huff of breath leave her lips when he spoke and she only gave a half smile. "Only if they're as reckless as myself. I wasn't..allowed much freedom in my youth so I did whatever I could do. Whether they were safe or not." She admitted after a minute as she lifted her eyes to look at him. She crinkled her nose a bit at the challenge he seemed to be giving her, mischief lighting her eyes now. "Oh can you now? What a talent to have..getting rid of pests." A soft chuckle as she tilted her head slightly to the side, thoughtful.
"What about a friendly pest? To offer company."
"speaking"
@Kaisar
Andd have a song because Lyra has feels. Song
The past was humorous like that, in a bitter sort of way. Little, unimportant observations and simple sentences could part a memory long buried. Even here, where there should of been nothing but the wind howling between his ears and the magnificence of the view, he is not as immune as he would of liked to be. Still, he is determined to not let his day be ruined by uninvited whispers and shattered remnants of his own scrying orb.
Her confession of a shackled youth gains his interest, an ear twitched forward briefly before it settled again. It was just a glimpse, but Kaisar had long learned to seize those fleeting little openings, they offered the rare opportunity to begin to map out all the veiled roads a stranger still had to their name. Usually, he did it with malicious intent. Needled and poked snippets of information to gleam their true worth for weakness, some kind of edge where he can utilize his lance to run them through, but Lyra is not an opponent. She is not crossing her swords with him, verbal or physical. So he inquires into the snippet with a casual grace, light curiosity leading the way instead of an all consuming fire. "Pity," He rumbled, his words wisely lacking the sympathy that he would of balked at, if the words were meant for him, "part of being a foal is to get into trouble regardless, freedom or not. I once set my brother's tail on fire because I could. My father was less than pleased. Could of burned his heir to ash for being so reckless, he said. I found it funny, naturally." Kaisar grinned, one which turned wry at her wrinkled nose. "It is a remarkable talent, one that everyone should learn."
What about a friendly pest? To offer company.
"I suppose I could allow a friendly pest to stay." He agreed eventually, moving over toward the cliff edge where she stood, and stilled beside her at a respectable distance. "The view is rather nice, and it would be a pity to share it alone." There's a bite of mock exasperation in his tone, though it lacked any real teeth, like an old dragon forced to share it's lair with another who was decidedly less terrible, but wanted to keep it's dark and brooding aesthetic intact.
"To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered."
Lyra glanced at him for a moment as she listened to his voice, hearing no sympathy in his tone which she was glad for. She didn't want pity from anyone, she had been through tragedy and survived. She might not be fully recovered from the trauma but she wasn't made of glass. A light smile crossed her features at the mention of setting his brother's tail on fire. "It does give a rather amusing mental image. Your brother I bet wasn't pleased either with you." She ventured with a soft chuckle leaving her lips. "My own brother and I were the same way with each other. It was our way of having fun."
Her ears twitched slightly as her silver gaze glanced sideways at him when he came to stand beside her. "Agreed, it would be a shame to be alone." Lyra ignored the exasperated tone he had, getting the feeling it was more for show than actual exasperation at having some company. Her eyes looked out across the vast range of mountains and the lands beyond that. For a moment she wondered how much of it was undiscovered, how many more kingdoms could there be out in the world. Maybe one day she would see for herself. "So other than setting your poor brother's tail on fire..what other mischief did you get into?" She ventured to ask him as she turned her head up slightly to look at him. Comfortable with his presence.
Pity was an insult to survivors, that much he knew. It downplayed the victory they had achieved by overcoming that which had tried to subdue them. Pity was a weapon, if anything, a dagger laced with poison. It had no place to belong except in shadowed games and verbal battles, aimed to fell an opponent in one shattering sentence. Kaisar's ear twitched and his lips curled upwards briefly. "He wasn't, his brother managed to get the drop on him, but he got his own back, eventually. I think the revenge was bitter sweet, since I dodged him so much at first." The warrior mused idly as he listed to Lyra speak, he hadn't come to the Mountain's today to reminiscence. For years he'd never spared a thought or a word, yet here he is. "There are no better games to play, our caretakers were rather dull, and half-as fun to meddle with. I assume it was the same for you and your brother?"
The silence was amiable. Pleasant. He allowed her words to drift unanswered into the crisp air, instead focused on his inner workings and the picture perfect view laid out beneath them. A man hewn from the volcanic earth, soot and obsidian stood beside a mare bedecked in stars and Calligo's blues. Until she asked about his mischief, and the magma hued beast hummed an acknowledging sound. "We sparred a lot, both against each other and the other foals. Rough housing and making mischief was second nature, I set his hair on fire, he would push me over the edge of things. Ours was a land built on conquest and war, you can imagine what games we often go up to for fun." Kaisar replied easily, words smooth and rich, the thick baritone of his voice reverberated deep in his chest.
He allowed himself to go silent again, before he spoke his next words. "It's funny, isn't it, how life works." The elder murmured nonchalantly, slitted pupils fixated in front of him rather than the star hued mare. "Those games were just games back then, you don't think anything of them. Climbing ragged cliffs, a fireball or three. Yet, as you grow up, you can find yourself playing those games seriously. More dangerously."
A breath is exhaled, and he remained detached. "Where is your brother now?"
"To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered."
"Sounds like you two were close." Was her only reply, nothing too emotional in her words as she continued to look out across the mountains. Her ear twitched towards him when he asked about her and her brother. "We tried to have fun. My parents weren't the most loving of parents so it was often just us so we had to come up something to forget our parents for just a little." She admitted with a faint smile on her dark lips. There had been many nights where her and her brother would sneak away. Just to have a little bit of freedom for a few hours, especially for her brother who had always been more sensitive than her.
A chuckle left her lips as she listened to Kaisar talk about all of the things he had done to his brother and with him. At the mention of war and conquest she kind of nodded a bit, a similar land to her own then. "My homeland was as well. My parents were war hungry tyrants, their kingdom built on blood of others. It was expected that my brother would do the same one day but he had no interest in it. I'm sure you can imagine the disappointment in our parents." She replied with a glance over at him. Lyra never talked about her old homeland or her parents, to be honest she hoped they were dead. Killed in battle or whatever they were up to. There was no love lost for her.
Her silver eyes looked back out at the cliff edge, quiet for a moment as she thought about his next question of her brother. "I..don't know where he is. He ran many years ago from our home. I left shortly after to search for him and I have yet to find him."
You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.
"Once upon a time, perhaps." He rumbled, a pensive melancholy suddenly drenching his words like spring rain on a meadow. Or, for him and his, more akin to those sorrowful showers which often followed war. Dark clouds and rumbling thunder. There were other times for such thoughts, the Warrior decided with a snort and pushed those lingering feelings away for later. A sooty ear curled toward her voice as she elaborated on her own relationship with her brother, and that of her parents. He had long come to understand that the World was filled with poor parents, and a thought is spared toward his own son and daughter, those heirs of ash and fire who floated like wraiths through Novus, having followed him when he had left their homeland. He had not been an absent father to them, but his love had been a reserved thing. "At least you had each other." Kaisar offered, painfully aware of how pitiful of a comfort the statement was.
He lapsed into a comfortable silence once more as she continued to speak, and at the mention of her brother wanting to part in his destiny, he uttered a crude laugh of his own. "I imagine the disappointment was great, and their anger more so." The warrior mused with a shift of a muscular shoulder. "My own father was never particularly pleased with the fact, for all my training and sparring I was never interested in War to the level of him and my brother." War had been an expectation, a duty. A duty he had done, but he had not done it with the fervor or love his father had, the cruel bastard that he was. "It does not surprise me that such a land bred cruel parents for you and yours. It seems to be the breeding ground for absent love."
A red eye met silver and in them winked and shimmered a note of understanding. It disappeared after a moment, as if caught by the mountain wind and carried far away. "I'm sure he is safe." Kaisar hummed after a moment. "It takes strength and tenacity to run from a life such as that, something that no doubt will serve him well where ever he is. You will find him, I'm sure."
