Towards the end of the sixtieth day (give or take), the friendly, hospitable and exceedingly welcome tranquility of these lands, seemed to fizzle to an end. As the rapid onset of another evening bruised the gauzy cloud-cover in darkening hues of purple and blue, a great noise had already stirred beneath that murky, artificial horizon and its unnatural, obnoxious resonation filled the atmosphere for miles - inconvenient for those who had young to settle into sleep… After the darkness of night had well and truly smothered the light of day, a strange glow seemed to boil in the belly of those walls and the eagle watched warily as plumes of copper smoke billowed and curled away into the blackened sky. The baritone, bellowing echo of voices, though without the fractious tenor of war, did little to release the discomfort from an every-worrying mind. Narrowing teal eyes turned from the dancing glow, shifting through deepening shadow to find the babe yet of spritely spirit, trying that chain of instruction, obedience; willing the thinning patience of hyper-vigilant parents to an end. Nora responded swiftly, again, without word, though lines of frustration were beginning to fray those pretty, chiselled features of her face. One golden wing slid from the humid warmth of skin, opening to receive the preoccupied babe while lips lowered upon her collar to warn tenderly, and perhaps draw her out of that impenetrable bubble of childish curiosity; no other action tried along the way, had seen any success. The strained note beneath his lover’s words struck his conscious, and while the smallest of their family is briefly tethered, the butt of his soft nose ventures across to soothe a caring kiss against her cheek. He could not deny that similar (if not greater), irritation was ploughing a savage trench through his tolerance. “Aye…” rumbling tone answers sympathetically. “Should we see?” His own thoughts were already training toward the same conclusion. Quietly and not altogether comfortable with the idea, “Could be good for her.” Burly shoulders rolled heavily, gravely around a brooding sigh. Quick to forget the correction of blunt teeth and hot, swirling sternness amid the brighter sea of excitement, the frivolous swallow wriggled loose once again; for a second, chin steers a grinding path for that tuft of waggling tail as it veers from the cover he poses, but it falls short, dipping instead to graze the cropped grass of their nest. “Ok…” he rumbled - before the chance of sensibility returned to cloud his slipping judgement. Tired, he took the first baited steps in the direction of those sheer, stone, castle walls. With any luck, those beckoning lights would dim soon enough and ringing voices would mellow into lulling white noise; enough to pacify the child’s insatiable appetite for adventure. *They will arrive in the next round I guess, unless posting order's not a thing. @Nora |
