because it's cold outside, cold outside, it's cold outside
Callynite
because it's cold inside, cold inside, it's cold inside
The doe could tell she wasn't the one this mare wanted to see, tell it from the way her eyes are almost boring into her, but not meeting her gaze. Cally doesn't let it bother her. She doesn't see an angry mare ready to tear apart the world. She sees a hoping citizen of her kingdom, someone who needs help. Whether it be a friendly face to help pack a bag of wares and make sure she makes it safely out of Delumine, then fine. Or someone to just listen . . . well, Cally wouldn't know until she dug further into the issue here.
Meira's gaze moves to the meadow, the one between Delumine and the rest of the Island. Cally still waits, speaking so cautiously to try to get the other to spoke, so she doesn't flinch at the bitter laugh, and when that gaze spins on her, she doesn't hesitate to meet the gaze. It might be predatory, but showing fear in front of a predator was always bad too, was it not. And Cally knew that this land, Delumine, the forest it protected would also protect her. Because she was bonded so deeply with the very magic of this land. The forest whispered to her, its secrets, recognizing the Druid for what she once was, what she now remembered herself to be.
She tilts her head, large ears turning towards Meira when she spoke. She wasn't expecting the word that followed. If it wasn't she, or what she represented, then what was it. She didn't interrupt though, waiting for Meira to say all she had to say, a good plan when the tirade began to flow. So she worries about the instability? Had stability promised to an idea that crumbled in the face of reality. But some of this, Cally didn't have to imagine. Uproot her entire life? Done. Hope to be accepted to a new home with nothing in common to the majority - check. Feel like an outsider. Double check. She might not have spent time running from an outside threat, but she'd wasted a lot of time angry for a turn of events.
Still, Callynite was silent while the other asked what she'd do if the court didn't love her. If she found no one to relate to. That no place in Novus could feel like home. Stay and fight, or leave? Cally was quiet, contemplative. "I'm not a native of Novus." The words were said softly, and for a moment a look of bitter defeat crossed her face, bitter over all she had lost, all she could no longer regain. She loved Delumine now, she was so interconnected with Viridae. But . . . . it wasn't home, still wasn't fully. "I'm not even of this realm. Where I come from, we have magic that beats with in our very hearts. We are so deeply connected to the world we live in, that it felt like the world rewarped itself for us. The land there, it bent to my will, would whisper to me in the morning, lead me to safety in darkness.
"I was a goddess there, a reincarnated one, perhaps, but the land knew, the land felt it. The Druid Goddess. The protector. The Guardian. The beloved one. But I was foolish, I craved adventure, to learn, to see, to experience. And I found a portal deep in a cave system. I usually travelled with an entire party, but they had plans come up with an attack the previous week, and so I ventured by myself. I foolishly went through that portal. And when I did, two warring realms fought over my body. Novus tried to make me equine, pull me here. My home world tried to keep hold of their precious goddess, to keep me a deer.
"When I landed on Novus, I was an odd mix between the two. Neither deer nor horse. A hybrid. I believe the common reaction to me was a disgusted 'What the hell are you supposed to be.' But the part that hurt so much back then. My connection to the earth that I had always held so sacred was gone. The druid could no longer feel the earth, communicate with the plants. I was bitter, I was so bitter. I hated this land, this land that robbed me of who I was, what I was, what I was meant to be. But . . . I didn't give up fighting to remember it. I slowly made friends who could look past my odd looks, because I worked hard to make myself someone who could be accepted, with out sacrificing who I was at the core. I'm not a scholar myself, I'm an adventurer. I don't find dusty tomes exciting, I look to the horizon for the next place to see and explore.
"I found a mare, who kept a dragon as her companion, and she crafted me a bow, and it was like a piece of me returned. She was with me the day my magic returned, in a blinding flash of light that had the entire realm of Novus seem to sigh. But I was angry again, my magic was different, weak, altered, and I was angry all over again. This place had given me my druid identity back and then laughed in my face with something that wasn't what it was before.
"So I fought harder to get to where I am at. I explored, I determined to learn, to do my best. I dared to cross a portal, and I was a deer again, and yet, I'm still different from everyone around us. I'm a deer among horses. Tell me how many more have you seen beyond myself and my mate? The only two deers in Delumine. So, you want to know what I did when my court didn't love me. When a previous leader hated me for having the connection to Viridae that he lost? I worked harder to prove myself a value to Delumine. What did I do when I found no one to relate to? I searched harder for that first shred of connection and built friendships from there. When no place in Novus felt like home - I made it home. I built a claim for myself here, because I stayed, and I fought. I fought with everything I had, and now . . . now my court supports my taking the mantle. I'm not only welcomed by Delumine, I now can help guide it. So others don't have to feel the way I did. So that when someone falls from their home realm and feel trapped by the unfamiliar, I can tell them all that I've told you now.
"So I can look them in the eye, and say it is possible, but only if you decide it's worth the effort. Tell me, Meira. Are you worth fighting for? Because when it comes down to it, that's what it is. Is your happiness, is your ability to find and make yourself a home, worth fighting for. Where will you go if you leave Delumine? Where will you try to find a home for yourself next? What will happen if you fall into this same funk?" Cally's gaze softened, and she reached towards the taller mare, "I realized, I was tired of running, so I fought for myself. Won't you do the same?"
show that you're scared like me so
"Speech"
Thoughts
@Meira
Notes: <3
and i know you may be scared
and i know we're unprepared
but i don't care
