[AW] of dust and sandstorms

[Maxence]

MAXENCE LOOKING UP FOR HEAVEN Beside the rotting carcass of the Elder Teryr he stood, eyes of secrets and oceans glinting over the proud work of the Solterrans. He dare not have the body moved or cremated in order to remove the monolithic stench that now penetrated each vein of the canyon - instead, Maxence had ordered that the body be left undisturbed. The jackals would come and scatter the smaller bones if they liked, throw feathers to the wind, but still the ghastly skull and broken ribs of the Teryr would remain at the heights of the canyon forever; a razor sharp, smiling skull to greet anyone entering this fierce and unforgiving landscape.  It was as the commander stood beside the lifeless beast, his nose scrunched in disgust for the sunken rotting eyes and fallen eye sockets that he noted a lighter pitter patter echoing off each wall of the canyon; the footsteps of someone lithe and fairy-like. Turning his snarling sights south the King was met with a view of oranges and reds, jagged lines in old withered rocks, only to be muted by the entrance of a beauty tracing her feather tips along the channel walls. Next came a vibrant laugh, one full of a spirited air and her voice was the kind so light and barely-there, so diaphanous, that Maxence almost felt lightheaded listening to it. Stepping away from the carcass of the beast, the lion prowled atop the walls that enclosed her with his eyes of icy skies bearing down with both intrigue and a strange kind of defensiveness. This fairy smelt of sea cliffs and summer fields (not like sweat and dirt like the Solterrans did). All ready Maxence had a name for those in the dusk courts with their hair always full of flowers and their heads seemingly full of air - Flute players. Perhaps it was because they reminded him of the Elven from his homeland, always prancing around fires with their blasted flutes. After a number of paces Maxence grew frustrated at the route she seemed to be taking - he knew all too well that it would take her hours to get out of the maze at this rate, and he could see the exit from here... if only she was headed the right bloody way. In a few beats of his wings the unlikely king had swooped over to an overhanging rock wedged between the two canyon walls creating a bridge over the gorge. The gully below stretched out beneath him, and as he allowed his wings to relax against his sides he finally spoke to the 'flute playing' intruder.  "State your business" he demanded like any soldier ought to, eyes of brine bearing coldly down upon her.  set after the Teryr hunt which is when Maxence will become sovereign! @Florentine