The stallion smiled indulgently at the child as she so seriously mulled over his musings and statements. He wasn't sure why, but it always startled him whenever he found a foal who had more than games and fun times on their mind - perhaps because he himself hadn't been much of a thinker as a colt. His youth had been spent preparing for the wars that constantly raged across Gassul, clan strifes over land and mares and insults, real or imagined... and whatever other excuses the elders managed to find. As soon as one dispute had been settled another one had started, until bloodshed, battle and death had become such a normal occurrence that it no longer seemed horrible. Indeed, the silver stallion had longed for the day he would leave his mothers side and begin the training to become a knight, a protector of the realm prepared to fight for the safety of his family, friends and beliefs. How young he had been when he participated in his first war; how shaken he had been over the brutality, the violence, the callousness. When they awarded him for his feats the victory had felt ashen and cold, yet it had been the way things worked back then. Death for life, battle for peace, and glory to the victorious dead.
Life in Helovia was so different from all that. While tensions still existed, children were able to laugh and smile here, capable of a trust that would have been impossible back at home. When the little fawn followed him into the forest Lace suppressed a frown at her innocence, the naivety as she so readily believed him kind and harmless. Didn't she know what he could do to her, had he been of a darker, more brutal nature? Had she never suffered loss or tragedy in her short life, so that the purity of soul had started to taint with sorrow, regret and remorse?
Lace mulled over these things as he walked with the sleeping dragon rocking along on his back, keeping an eye on the filly as she tagged along. Though as the sound of a voice and thundering hooves suddenly permeated the air and a big, rugged looking stallion came rushing towards them the gold-backed equine drew himself up and flicked the ears back hesitantly, body tensing and automatically readying for attack. A drowsy chirrup from the dragon announced the awakening of Fajira; she looked up from her sleep with a bleary eyed and slightly confused expression, rapidly flicking through his memories to get a grasp on what had been going on...
They were just about ready to rush in to rescue the girl when they registered that this newcomer called the gold-black filly by name. Blinking and hesitating, Lace froze and looked between them in mild disbelief; 'Papa' she called him! He really couldn't see a resemblance between the two, one as lithe and frail and pretty as a night moth while the other looked more like a rock in all his rugged grimness. Scolding her did he too, chastising her for following a stranger; a slight tug at the corner of his mouth gave away a hint of amusement - he could agree there, though being seen as suspicious for playing with a foal wasn't very fun in his opinion.
"Lace Silverthorn, once king of this World's Edge before the darkness, bonded to Fajira the White and marked by the grace of the God of Sun. Now walking my own path, I'm here to visit some old friends..." he said quite calmly, though his postured altered ever so slightly so that he seemed to stand straighter, grow taller and leaner; there was a light shining within the eyes now, of a pride and fierceness he didn't often allow himself to feel (and it felt slightly hypocritical to throw around with all those titles now, but the way this horse glared at him just rubbed him the wrong way). "Your daughter is safe, stranger, for I would never lay a hoof on a foal."
And as if to confirm his words the dragon sat up on his back and flared her wings demonstratively, tiredness either swept away or very well hidden behind a fierce mask of piercing blue eyes and crimson sparks that rose from her half open mouth, like red-hot fireflies glowing in the dark.
@[Ruske]
|
.svg/2000px-Google_Chrome_icon_(2011).svg.png){kind=icon}
