The blue mare’s attention fixates on Ardere when she ‘swims’ closer, a dainty ear tilting to follow the little dolphin when she arcs around the mare’s neck. For a moment, Tiamat loses sight of the Leviathan, but it isn’t long before she feels the gentle tugging and curling of her dark hair. Perhaps a less carefree character would become annoyed by such tactics, but so merry and lighthearted is the unicorn, that she can’t help but smile broadly and play along with Ardere’s frisky antics. “Playful little one, aren’t you?” Tiamat giggles, wrinkling her nose and nudging the Leviathan teasingly.

“Leviathan,” she echoes Laedere’s words breathlessly, white eyes following the lovely creature when she floats back to her similarly beautiful bonded. There is no doubt that, in her heart of hearts, Tiamat would rejoice to have such a companion as this. What wonder it would be! A creature like herself, born between the kiss of the ocean and sky, never alone and never wanting for more than their unbreakable bond. Wistfully she watches the two before her, her heart swollen and glowing inside her chest.

If only she could impart this warmth directly to Laedere (and she would, willingly, were it possible).

For when the winged mare speaks again, her little body seeming to shrink into itself as she does so, she recalls snippets of horror, images that send a cold chill down Tiamat’s spine. “Oh my goodness—I’m so sorry. That sounds…terrible,” of course, Tiamat is sure that the single word doesn’t even begin to describe whatever Laedere had endured, but being swathed in her own blissful, innocent cocoon, the ocean mare cannot fathom such atrocities. Reaching forward, she offers her muzzle to the pegasus. It is a small token of comfort, but readily given. She asks no more questions, allowing the memories to fall by the wayside, making room for happier things.

Moments of silence pass, and she does not rush her newfound friend, white eyes alighting again when the pegasus shrugs, explaining her origins. “Ah—I’m not familiar with the Dragon’s Throat,” her lips pucker as she ponders the strange place, wondering for a moment if they all speak as Laedere does (what a spectacle that would be!) before continuing with a smile. “I’m from the Aurora Basin myself. I arrived in Helovia several years ago, but I wasn’t here long; I’ve returned almost a year ago, now,” her tone lilts wistfully, thoroughly delighted to be home again.

“Helovia is quite beautiful,” the ocean mare muses, flicking the length of her leonine tail across the grassy ground. “These new territories—they are strange, but magnificent, I think,” her eyes wander from the mare and to the wood, trailing along the skinny shoots of bamboo, and watching how their shadows play across the forest floor. It is undeniably beautiful…if only their origins weren’t so haunted. Her demeanor falls a little, remembering the chaos, the violence. “I just wish it didn’t cost so much blood to bring them to us.”


notes; I'm sorry I took so long myself! D:
“Speech.”

     LIKE THE OCEAN KISSED THE SKY,
at the most beautiful place under the sun.