One by one they came, expectant or hesitant depending on whether it was their first meeting with their glorious queen. Lace wouldn't blame those who quivered in the depths of their souls upon beholding the WeyrLeader; his first encounter with her draconian form was still fresh in memory. May things had happened since that stormy day by the Blue when she heard him confess to crimes of times past and forgave him, since he swore to follow her until his debt was repaid. A great many events, meetings and days... and yet it was only little more than half a year ago. He would never have believed then that he would find himself standing amidst a herd where mostly everyone was considered friends, brothers and sisters of a common cause and shared believes.
Golden eyes turned to look at Ink, who had followed him out from the woods and probably all the way from the border where he had battled with the escaping prisoner, at Rishima who came to stand next to him after greeting Mirage. Meeting her gaze, he rewarded her apologetic look with a reassuring smile; she had nothing to be sorry for. Was it not why he was there? To aid those who needed it, protect their herd, and watch over the interest of them all... It mattered little whether it was him or her who stood up to the prisoner; in fact, Lace was quite happy that he had been there first, so that the sister of their leader didn't have to be harmed.
His gaze then moved over to Destrier, silent and humble but still every bit as much family as the mysterious Seer who joined in with them; it didn't matter that he knew neither of them well. The Glazier watched as Thor arrived and greeted the queen welcome home, noticed Yseulte where she lingered in the outskirts of the gathering - as always preferring the solitude. He would have to ask his apprentice about that someday.
The battle-weary stallion turned back to the scaled dragoness when she began to speak, reassuring them first about Soleil before she began to disclose the matter of her injury. Relief mingled with a great deal of other emotions as she said she was the one who had caused the injury; admiration over the resolve she showed, curiosity over this unicorn who had been persuaded to join their cause, suspicion towards the same, and anger. Anger, because who was this stranger to accept the blood of Mirage, how dared he drug her, take her away from her family and friends and then nestle his way into her heart, so much that she even forgave him? Jealousy boiled black and ugly in his gut, irrational and unexplainable, and almost immediately Lace decided that he didn't like this Xanthos.
And yet, even as he was attentive to those who spoke and moved around him, most of the grullo's interest was turned to the small, limp girl atop his back. In the silence between every spoken word he steeled his aching muscles, held his breath and strained to perceive the haggard, faint breaths of the little dragon. When first Akaith and then Kali came to sit next to her on his back, followed by a worried Kiba, the steed turned to watch them with dull eyes glazed over with worry. A frown grew on his brow when noticing what Kali tried to do, unaware of her intent with the feather. If it hadn't been for Rishima's unconcerned demeanor he would have brushed her away, spared Fajira her persistent prodding.
"Let her rest" he murmured quietly to the little gryphon, voice soft yet pained - suspecting without being certain that the gold-tailed feather-wing was capable of understanding him.
His expression brightened considerably when Mirage asked Torasin to step up in rank and claim a position as Healer. Proud over his friend and grateful for the concerns of the shadow-mare, he offered the gilded gentleman a small but warm smile when as he came over.
"Congratulations, brother" he said quietly. "Do look at Fajira first. I'm quite alright, I've been injured worse than this. She however was touched by dark magic, and for the second time to that; both times by the Basin's Reaper, that damned general of theirs." He ignored the fact that he'd been in just as much contact with it this time around, carelessly swatting the fatigue and unexplainable tiredness away as nothing but aftermaths of the fight.
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