like the ocean kissed the sky,
at the most beautiful place under the sun

Her wanderings continue, the brightness of summer’s sun glowing along the curve of her back. The water-like streaks that mark her body shine liberally beneath the brilliance, playing across her movements like the rippling of water. She sweats a little, having been spoiled by the Basin’s place in the mountains—spared of Tallsun’s intensity—and thinks of how perfect the mountainous valley must be now. But she is far from her home, trekking across the desert sands of the south (still beautiful in its own right, she won’t deny it).

Squinting her eyes against the rolling heat of the glowing, ever-burning fire, the ocean mare skirts around its borders, her gait increasing to an easy trot as she navigates towards the gaping mouth of the cave system. The darkness that the hollow stone provides offers immediate relief from the heat of Tallsun’s light, the intense warmth of the fire reaching after her and slowly fading as she wanders further into the cooler shadows. It isn’t long before it is only darkness around her, the sound of her cloven hooves clicking against the floor seemingly echoing for miles. Perhaps she might be wary of the blackness, but the ocean mare thinks little of its dangers, delighting only in its relief from the summer’s midday heat.

Allowing the natural curve and flow of the earth beneath her hooves to guide her, Tiamat follows no path in particular through the winding cavern, but it is not an unfamiliar sight that greets her. She notices the change in the cave’s floor first—hard, grainy stone gradually softening, giving gently beneath her weight and almost squelching with every step. Lights flicker then in the darkness, dancing and blossoming in the shadows until the room opens up before her, the foliage’s cool light brightening this extraordinary place.

“The Glowing Room,” she breathes in wonder, a smile softening the corners of her lips, her pale eyes enraptured beneath the mushrooms’ starry light. She has been here once before, many months ago—driven into its beautiful shelter by winter’s winds just as she had by summer’s heat—and her heart leaps with its breathtaking magnificence as it had before. White eyes fall in a short moment of hesitation, searching for the woeful creature that had met her before, but it is only nature’s beauty that accompanies her this time.

With her leonine tail curving behind her in her sense of peaceful excitement, Tiamat walks forward, drawn towards the dull roar of the waterfall. Her brother’s misty cascade offers a coolness to the room’s gentle humidity, far from uncomfortable and quite perfect in its moderate temperature. She smiles at his generosity before lowering her head, silky lips dipping into the crystalline surface to drink.


notes; Sorry it took so long! Set before the Riptide Isles battle.
“Speech.”