While Travelling:

Though muttered, Mesec caught the single question from Virga - smiling at him and trying to be as encouraging as possible because he didn’t sound too interested but he had still asked. “They’re uh… they’re powerful beings that control the magic and elements here in Helovia. There’s four of them - the Sun, Earth, Time, and Moon... who’s my mother and your grandmother. Together, they help keep balance in Helovia.” How much information was too much information to vomit at them at once? A little bit at a time, probably. He’d follow the train of their questions, see what parts they were curious about most and then flesh it out from there. He wanted to tell them everything about what he knew, about Helovia, his mother, and the other gods. And he would.

In contrast to the single, muttered question from Virga, Vesper was an unending fountain of them - asking them faster than he could answer them! Mesec had to laugh as they kept coming from her before she asked more quietly whether it was too many and then apologized. He quickly nudged her, his smile still bright. “No, no - questions are good. Ask me every single one you can think of.” He looked over to Virga too - this invitation was not only for Vesper (who had vomited questions) but for him as well. Whenever one of them had a question for Mesec, he wanted them to feel comfortable enough to ask.

Alright, now what was her first question? “Yes, she’s a goddess. But no, she lives…” How could he describe where the gods and goddess lived? They didn’t always need physical bodies but they were still around. “In the sky. So she can keep an eye on everyone in Helovia.” That was basically it, anyway.  

“There is another god for the Basin - the God of Time. I don’t know him very well but I grew up with his daughter and we’re very close, like you two are.” His voice was soft and filled with fondness as he thought of Roskuld - wondering where she might be.  

Mesec was silent for a few paces as he tried to remember what else Vesper had asked. Oh right, the kids of the gods. “All the gods have one child - there’s Roskuld the daughter of Time, the daughter of Earth - I call her Little Earth, and Aithniel the daughter of the Sun.” He hadn’t seen Aithniel in so long, not since a herd meeting in the Throat when everything was still normal, and he even missed Little Earth and her aggravating logic. “I think you can call my mother whatever you want. We’ll see what she thinks of it when we go visit her.” Mesec grinned at the two of them and Lucius thought quietly to himself how amazing of an effect the twins had on his bonded, temporarily soothing away the bitter darkness that clouded his mind.    


At the Gate:
They weren’t left waiting for very long. A large, tan unicorn accompanied by a small elephant approached them, stepping around the gate and sounding like he had just woken up from a nap when he greeted them. The loud trumpet from the elephant was surely enough to wake up anyone fully, however - it certainly startled Lucius where he lay nestled among Mesec’s wings. The zephyr stood and peered at the creature that was greeting the twins, eyeing it warily.

Mesec, for his part, found it easy to maintain a small but warm smile in the presence of the little elephant and the sleepy king. “Hello Tembovu. I’m Mesec, and these are my children Vesper and Virga.” He motioned with his head to the silver-speckled filly and the deep black colt in turn as he spoke their name, smiling with such fondness at them both as he did. “We’re here to join the herd...” Mesec almost said ‘if we’re welcome’ but the thing was, whether Tembovu was king or not there was a single authority that was a little bit over his head and she had told Mesec to come here.

And before he could even get out anything else - an unbelievably familiar voice was shouting at him. An echo of ‘Bro!’ coming from the forest had Mesec’s attention snapping towards the direction of it - his heart becoming so light it might actually rise up out of his chest and choke him with the sheer intensity of the happiness that voice inspired. Of all the places he had thought he might run into Roskuld he never thought it would be here. Suddenly all he wanted to do was race toward her, as if they were nothing but gangly foals themselves, and he shifted a little bit in his stance as his silver eyes searched impatiently for her before remembering he was in the presence of his children and a king, he probably shouldn’t just go racing into the Edge like a madman.

But the pure wave of joy when she finally crashed out of the forest, wild and insane and incredible as always, shouting at him he couldn’t help but shout back. “ROS!!” Mesec whinnied back at her, more stunned and elated at the sight of her than he had been at the sound of her voice.

The running-and-tackling type of reunion literally came to a stop when Roskuld did and for a moment Mesec didn’t get it, a frown darkening his expression for a moment. What could she possibly be looking at…. Oh. He looked down at Vesper and Virga and his grin returned - bright and embarrassed and filled with laughter as she stammered over the sight. She hadn’t even met Lucius yet so of course she didn’t know about the kids.

He shifted in his stance again, this time a little more awkwardly. “Uhh… Yeah. So.” His gaze flickered over to Tembovu and he ducked his head apologetically at the king, hoping he didn’t mind the rather loud reunion that was happening right now. “Ros, these are my kids - Vesper and Virga…” And then, because Lucius was standing now, peering his head to get a look at Ros and Chico and nipping at Mesec’s neck until he remembered to include him as well. “And my companion Lucius.” He couldn’t believe how amazing this felt, for his children to meet her - the one sibling that meant the absolute world to him.

And Chico! The companion that had been a little lizard that crawled onto Mesec’s nose was now a great, winged lion creature - sprawled on Roskuld’s back and looking as cheeky as ever. They were here. They were all here.

His silver eyes were glossing over but he quickly shook his head and willed the tears not to fall as he looked to the twins with a bright smile. “Kids, this is my sister - Roskuld.”

we'll go over the mountains and under the stars