TORIELLE
It's only me who wants to wrap around your dreams
The stallion certainly did know how to charm a woman, and perhaps if she had not already been shaken up, she would have been more receptive to his words. As it was, she snorted softly and rolled her eyes as he called her an ‘angel’. They were sweet words, certainly, but untrue. If there ever were an angel, it would have been Veil, the mare who had come crashing down from the sky.
Her heart lurched as she thought of her beloved friend, her figure disappearing to some part of the festival with a stranger. Or another friend. Yes, it would have had to have been a friend. Veil would not have abandoned her for just anyone, she was sure of that. And she wasn’t entirely alone now. Vreis’ intentions seemed pure enough, even if he was rather flirtatious. At least he was less abrasive than Jarek and she believed he would take the hint if she chose to walk away.
She smiled and gave a tight laugh. Though she had begun to relax her gut was a bundle of nerves, and it would likely take some time for her to loosen up again. Still, it did help to have someone who was vocal about the previous situation, someone who would speak up about the indignity of it, really. Her audits flicked in embarrassment, stating, “Well, You are a credit to your gender, Vreis. I was beginning to think that the world had tilted sideways and something was wrong with me for not being equally enamoured with a complete stranger.”
Torielle was surprised and delighted as the stallion made note of her being in attendance with someone else. She wondered briefly just how much of the exchange he had witnessed, then, or how many other people would have seen the discomfort between her and Jarek without having said a word. It made her queasy, the thought that others could see such actions and not speak out. Perhaps she was overreacting, though. After all, he hadn’t done or said anything exactly out of line. His foreboding was in more subtle ways that she couldn’t quite identify.
The mare was pulled from the uncomfortable thoughts at the laugh that bubbled up from Vreis’ chest. It was a sound that pulled more tension from her shoulders, and her muzzle formed into a soft smile. “To tell you the truth, I’m no local myself. Novus is still an unfamiliar land to me.” She lifted her head, bells swaying slightly betwixt her antlers. “I would be delighted to share details of our ventures and what brought us here, if… if that please you?” The doe finished her query in a rush, feeling rather silly that she should feel so much more comfortable around Vreis in the few moments she had known him.
It must have been the genial knighthood that shone through. She was in need of a protector and light a beacon he had risen from the darkness and provided her that shelter. Yes, that was it. Once she had a handle on her nerves and she was with Veil again things would be right with the world. But perhaps spending the remainder of the evening with the stag would be best- Torielle didn’t even want to consider what would happen if she were with Veil and Jarek tried to approach her again. As crude and disheartening as it was, stallions tended to respect other stallions more than they did the whims of pretty mares, and she felt that Vreis was perhaps her best chance at being left alone to enjoy what little was left of the night.
art by the-day-of-shadow character by scapeh table by sunny
