oh, you saint
i could never love you
i could never love you
T
here’s a lot Toulouse still has to learn about Solterra. Even a slippery fellow like himself, slithering his way into every corner of Novus, with a hunger only secrets can satiate - still, the mysteries of Solterra evade him. It’s an ancient place, one where the shifting dunes provided excellent burial sites for all the skeletons people would rather toss from their closets. Even now, as his fetlocks sink deep into the sand, he can’t help but wonder about the bones he might be walking over. One day, he promises the desert, I’ll unearth everything you have to offer me. It was ironic, in a way: the desert had been the thing he’d hated most about Solterra, when he first arrived. Now he is coming to appreciate its vast, rolling sands that change form in the blink of an eye. Perhaps it wasn’t as ominous as a forest - but that had always been more his brother’s scene, at the end of the day. Toulouse was a viper, a serpent; perhaps the desert was a fit match for him after all.
The sun was a watchful eye in the sky as he entered the canyons, staring unblinkingly down at the palomino’s back. He could cut the silence with a knife if he wanted, so thick and palpable that it was.
The whole world was holding its breath, as if waiting for the meeting that was to come. As the walls of sandstone rose up on either side around him, Toulouse paused.
Light glinted off each of the golden rings adorning his horns, but it was only one particular ring that caught the horned stallion’s attention. A single twist, and the jewelry began to glow; and in the blink of an eye, Toulouse disappeared from sight. The air shimmered in the place he had once stood in. Better safe than sorry.
His smile, although hidden from the world, inched across his face. He kept his footsteps soft when he began again, walking amongst the shadows the canyons cast. The trail was long and winding, but his mind is full enough to make the time fly past. The whisper of wings still echoes within his mind, the words the letter contained seared upon the inside of his skull. Richter’s Cave. Three others. Toulouse did not know which three were special enough to be sent on a mission with him; but he supposed he would find out soon enough. Already, the names and faces of the many Day court members he had met are flashing through his mind, weighing his options.
Before he knew it, the mouth of the cave appeared as a jagged hole in the sandy canyon walls. He can see a figure, blacker than the shadows, outlined within.
His smile was gone in an instant.
“I know you,” he spoke, voice quiet, stepping into the darkness of the cave. His eyes a flash of green against the pale white of his face, flickering into existence with the rest of his body as he cast off the charm that had concealed him. “You came to Solterra with Raum.” An errand boy, he had assumed, trailing in the shadow of his king, fleeing from Denocte. Or was it his past he fled from? Toulouse had always wondered, but had never asked.
“Did he send a crow for you as well?”
The silver ribbon is still hidden within one of the pockets of his scarves, tied around a single, lonesome feather that was as black as the night skies of the Night court.
@abel @Targwyn @rufio | "speaks"
