BECAUSE I PROMISE I'LL LIGHT THE BEACONS
OF YOUR DIMMED AND HOLLOW SOUL
EVEN IF I HAVE TO STEAL THE FIRE
FROM A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS
Ariel rests upon the parapet above Solterra’s entrance gates; and he rests there so stilly, so quietly, that he appears more akin to a sandstone gargoyle than a living lion. The morning breeze rustles the fine, fine hairs of his golden mane; it blows across his face and brings with it the scents of a waking desert, wet with dew soon to burn off. He listens with flicking ears to the movement of the guards upon the ramparts; to the waking of the Court’s market; to the birds beyond in the arid desert, marked with yuccas and desert grass. Beyond, he can see the start of the dunes, the rolling hills of sand, and nearly longs to return to them.
Yet, Ariel is familiar with the clockwork routines of his king; and so he rises from the uppermost echelon of Solterra’s wall, to leap elegantly down to the soldier’s walkway below. The guards are familiar with his routine and so expect the large feline when he slinks nonchalantly passed.
Orestes meets Ariel at the eastern parapet and they begin to walk the soldier’s route around the city’s battlements; as they walk, Ariel recounts his observations from the city’s uppermost reach. “The guards, of course, were on time for their morning posts. This morning was more humid than typical, so perhaps there’s a summer storm on the horizon? Or, more likely, today will be hotter than yesterday. Your Triskevma, Helios, has taken an extra shift of guard duty—he has been doing that regularly since the Teryr had appeared in the city.”
Orestes nods and reroutes their direction; it does not take long to circle, nodding at soldier’s as the royal pair passes by. Eventually, Orestes catches sight of Helios’s striking form. He smiles broadly when he says, “Helios. Join me for a walk?" Orestes does not pursue further conversation for several long moments; instead, he joins Helios in a patrol around the city's wall. He looks out toward the desert beyond, appreciating Solterra's position as a center-piece to the desert. From here, Orestes's can see the Mors, Elatus, and the sea. The desert shifts and deceives; it suggests nearness when he knows, quite intimately, the true distance of the geographic features of his land.
It strikes Orestes, then, that he has begun to think of it as his land. And he has thought of it as such, for quite some time. Orestes glances at Helios and, like the geographic scape below, feels a type of ownership. His heart throbs within him, for the injustices Helios had experienced. The scars the man bears are not so apparent; but Orestes knows they are there. "How are you finding yourself, Helios? Well, I hope? Ariel tells me you have been taking additional shifts atop the wall, since the Teryr attack."
The lion strides out ahead of them; some moments he leaps upon the edge of the wall to walk with ease upon it, despite the five-story plummet to the ground below.
