[P] I had a dream,

[Eik]

It was night when he walked through the desert. This was just like any other night, impossibly still and deliciously fragrant. The only difference was the snow underfoot and the lingering chill in the air.

The wild magic had been pounding all day inside of him, it was constantly demanding to be let loose. It wanted to skim through everyone's thoughts like scanning through the radio, until it found a channel it liked and diving deep into it. It could be a petulant thing and Eik had to pay near-constant attention to keeping it contained. The worst part of it all is that the magic was not really something separate from himself- its desires were merely a facet of his own curiosity. Still, it was an overwhelming thing for the stallion to release in the court, especially when he already knew--or thought he knew-- many of the creatures around him. In the wilds it was an easier thing to control, so as he wove through the canyons, he slowly lifted the veil and let his magic have its way.

At that hour most things were either sleeping or hunting. Their thoughts came to him like jellyfish riding a current. Each rode a different wave and they didn't always synchronize, but when they did it filled him with a sense of divine comfort.  It was like feeling the flow of the universe that we all drift along in. To this effect the dreams would align for slivers of a moment and it would seem all the desert was dreaming the same hazy dream.

Strangely, the desert often reminded him of the sea.

He gently withdrew his magic at the edge of the canyon, letting it regenerate for the voyage ahead.  Before them loomed the Arma Mountains, half-moon proudly slung over her shoulder. Eik stood there a moment, feeling his heartbeat quicken, and only when he felt the gentle tug of the universe did he continue to walk.

-

It had seemed like such a rush to get to Denocte, like he had no time at all to lose, yet once he stood behind the walls of the court all sense of urgency was gone. Eik let himself get lost in the twisting hallways, and in many ways it was like getting to know a stranger. He peeked behind doors that perhaps should have stayed closed, wandered down alleys he had no business wandering down, and kept trouble at bay with nothing more than a peaceful and purposeful countenance.

The day grew long and he did not simply stumble across those he had come here to see. The court was too large, and his companions no doubt busy with other things. So he began to ask around for the twilight king, and if the title brought an odd smile to his lips, nobody commented on it.

Eventually Eik finds the other stallion on a terrace with a view of the sea. He is occupied in conversation, which gives the grey a chance to look him over. Asterion looks well, but weary. Eik can only guess at the rest of what the man is feeling... they both have come so far since that first day. They are now the sovereign of one court and the emissary of another.

(he holds tightly to the hope that some things never change.)

"Asterion," he calls to the sovereign when his company departs, stepping forward with a smile to bump noses with the bay.

It feels like years have passed, but not in a bad way. Eik had not realized how the distance wore on him- it seems suddenly silly that all the people he cares for should live so far apart. He glances around, so full of things to say that he doesn't know what to spit out first. "I always wanted to come here with you." It was the last unknown land to Eik, although each has its own secrets yet for him-- even Solterra. "I'm sorry it's under these circumstances." The sea looks so tranquil now in the twilight, if he had not seen its mark along the alleys of the court (driftwood and shells and sea pebbles in places they shouldn't naturally be) he would have a hard time believing its fury had been so great. He can only imagine the damage done to Terrastella.

A sad moment sits between them, and then Eik reaches with his telepathy to his mane where he unties the one thing he carried with him from Solterra. "I brought you something. I found it in the canyons." He gives the fossil to Asterion with an invisible hand. It is a sand dollar fossilized in stone, found miles and miles from the ocean. It is the closest thing to an adventure that he could give, and the only mystery he's ever held.

my starboy @Asterion <3