we're hardly ever what we dream;

[Charlemagne]

He hadn’t meant to sleep, hadn’t meant to drift off until first his chin dropped, then his head, then the rest of him, easing into the warm pebbled shore of the rocks and letting the lapping of gentle waves ease him into slumber. It had been a long journey through the mountains, and for the first time in weeks no dreams haunted him, no wyverns or dead-end mazes, no sharp laughter or crackle of fire. Only peace and quiet and darkness, until a nudge on his shoulder makes him jump. It takes him a moment to find his bearings, but as he blinks his green eyes open and the dark stallion comes into focus before him, his heart skips into a quicker rhythm and he climbs to his feet. “Camdis Lohir! You came.” He’s briefly embarrassed at the wonder that glances over the last words like sunlight on the lake; if he has learned anything in his season in Novus it is that friends were no certainty. And yet here the stallion stood, his figure as imposing as his words were kind, and Charlemagne finds himself smiling, relieved, even as his cheeks flush at being caught sleeping. He does not miss the similarity from their first meeting (with only the roles reversed) but he says nothing of it. It’s a coincidence he keeps like a secret, and wants no one - not even Camdis - to chase away any meaning. At the mention of hot meal his stomach rumbles, but there are other needs he must satisfy - his curiosity is hungrier than his belly, even after the trek across Novus. “Did you find the Relic? I didn’t see you in the maze…” In truth, he had seen no one but the Shaman. But there had been traces of others there; the ghost of a scent, or a voice like a whisper through leaves. The unicorn’s gaze skirts across the Regent now, searching for a trace of injury and relieved to find none. Surely that was no surprise; if he had gone into the maze, doubtless he was more capable at handling whatever he’d found there than Charlemagne had been. @Camdis <3 charlemagne*