TORIELLE
It's only me who wants to wrap around your dreams
Torielle had made it barely a half dozen yards before she was approached by another looming stallion. Her heart leapt into her throat once more, startled by his appearance even if he had attempted to announce himself prior to his speech. Her blue pools were wide with panic as she quickly tried to assess the situation, her limbs stiffening as her mind tried to catch up with what was going on.
He… he wanted to check in on her? The mare looked him over, taking in the leatherwork that bound his flesh as armour, the cloak that parted to reveal a strange chimera pattern of neutral tones strapped with a thin blade of some kind. The scholar had never been good with identifying weaponry, even when she had lived lifetimes within warring factions. She’d never enjoyed those ventures through the astral- they had always brought with them so much pain, and never was there a thing she could do about it. Her eyes quickly darted away from the sharp instrument to something else, anything else. They settled upon the antlers that grew from his temples and this, more than anything else, is what put the woman at ease.
Perhaps it was foolish, to see these extremities and find home and shelter in them, but the woman had been reduced to a child in her panic and any semblance of familiarity she would cling to. Gods, where was Veil?
He continued to speak, as if sensing her hesitation. Though she supposed it wouldn’t have taken much to read her tumultuous thoughts- she was wearing her emotions on her sleeve as it were. The stallion attempted to soothe her, speaking gently and with courtesy, introducing himself as a knight who had seen her distress and offering services of protection. Protection. Stars above did she ever need some of that right now. He offered his name first, shrinking himself so that his height was not so overbearing, and as he asked for a moniker to call her by, the tension began to fade in the mare’s shoulders.
This Vreis seemed to understand her hesitation, and at the very least, seemed to pick up on her displeasure in dealing with Jarek. He was a far cry from the conversation she had just experienced and it sent her head spinning like whiplash.
“I… yes. Yes,” She stuttered, no longer leaning away, no longer trying to create distance. “You may call me Torielle, Vreis.” She liked the way his name sounded on her tongue, in no small part because of its similarities to Veil. It was smooth, gentle, soft; unlike Jarek, which had been hard, cold, sharp.
As the stag offered her shelter and food she became painfully aware of just how long it had been since she had eaten. Had it really been so early that morning, when she had run into Eirene? Her stomach started to unfurl the countless knots that had wormed their way about her guts as the knight's words continued to soothe her. He didn’t want to leave her alone, in case Jarek was not done with her, speaking about how alcohol had a funny way of blinding the senses.
She nodded, clinging to that idea, though she had not smelled the sour tinge of drink upon the black stallion when she had been speaking with him. The shawl he had gifted her burned against her skin, the tome weighing heavily, the blank pages like an omen.
Torielle stepped closer to Vreis, allowing his company to ward off any other unwanted suitors and taking his words like a balm to her frayed nerves. She eyed him carefully as he winked and smiled, but his intentions did not feel so dark and foreboding. He had expressed a desire to comfort her, and the mare was in desperate need of that.
“I would be honoured, thank you,” she said. She cast her gaze about the tent stalls, her nares filling with the many scents of delicious food, nearly overwhelming. “I.. I think anywhere far from here would do, honestly.” The mare nervously glanced over her shoulder before returning her attention to the stallion before her.
“Thank you, Vreis,” she spoke softly. The delicateness with which she held herself was not entirely becoming- it looked as if the woman was trying to crumple into herself so as not to be seen.
art by the-day-of-shadow character by scapeh table by sunny
