Torleik
A lone man loved by none:


How long can he live?

K A H L U A

A shriek- surely one of the dragon calls she had grown so used to in her time here in the Edge- cried out in the lands, awakening the girl from an afternoon slumber. Even so many days and weeks after building the wall, Kahlua would still find herself drained and weary for no discernible reason. Perhaps she had pushed herself too hard in building the thing, but Kahlua was a deadly combination of 'stupid' and 'desire to please her master.' Had she been war-minded, the girl would have made the perfect evil henchman. After all, who better to carry out your tasks than someone who won't question you (and who wouldn't have the mental capacity to even if they did want to ask questions)?

Her slumber had been easy this day, unlike the so many days before. There were plenty of days where the girl dreamed of demons with horns, the fires of hell, another never-ending night... She dreamed of stallions with burned faces and mares with golden socks, foals that she did not want and a life where friends could not be found. The girls brain stored plenty of nightmares, ready to dispense them at the hint of a closed eyelid, but this cat nap had been free of all the terrors. In fact, today's dreams had been as far from nightmares as was possible.

Today, behind closed lids, her brain had conjured images of a stallion. What stallion? It was hard to say. The male seemed to mold and morph before her eyes, hardly letting her get a good look before he changed his shape or species, his color or height and danced off, ever just out of reach. Of course, being an imbecile in one's waking hours often translates to dreams. Neither in sleep nor consciousness was she able to make sense of the imagery. If it had a meaning, it was lost on the girl (as so many things were). Still, something had felt very comforting about the ever changing dream; therefore, it was especially concerning that the dragon's cry should be what woke her. It figures that if she could finally find peace in dreams, she would find terror in her day life.

Shaking her mane out, the girl picked up a trot and moved towards the sound before she knew what she was doing. She was always forced to choose between her instinct to run from danger and her instinct to find out what was going on. Today, however, it seemed she would not be forced to sit and think. Her body acted almost without the input of her neurons as she moved down the length of the wall. At least, while she was moving, she could take in the splendor of the massive creation and let a smile grace her lips. Would she ever lose her pride at creating such a thing? She doubted it.

When she finally reached where she was going, it was easy enough to see the commotion. As her black and white head poked out from the opening she had made, she found Torleik and Lace. At least Lace's words were somewhat nicer than her own had been to Torleik the Unicorn at their first meeting. In a rare moment of thought, Kahlua bit back a natural desire to scream at the horned beast. He had left peacefully enough last time he had trespassed. Still, she couldn't help but voicing her pouty opinion. “Wasn't once enough? Why are you back?” She really should have known better, of course. Hadn't she just planned a trip to his home to deliver a gift? Wouldn't she be standing on the door of an enemy with a good heart? But the girl was not smart enough to think of these things and so she watched him intensely, just nodding a greeting to Lace.

Torleik
A lone man loved by none:


How long can he live?

K A H L U A

For a moment, the girl's heart actually went out to dual-horned stallion. As his companion, which the overo girl did find rather cute, went tumbling to the ground and the stallion rushed forth she couldn't help but feel concern with him and for him. If she was smart enough to think about it, she would have once more wondered if her views were confused. After all, didn't the stallion hurt the same way she would have if it were to happen to her? Didn't he feel love for the little thing that he was in charge of? But she did not think these things, and as soon as the little creature crawled her way back up to the safety her of nest, Kahlua let any compassion she had for the foreign stallion go with the wind. This was her home, and she would see it safe- even if it meant being a coward until she gained victory like the last time she fought.

As he grumbled his dissatisfaction at lace, the girl lowered her ears back, shifting uneasily as she kept her head poking around the wall's edge. She wasn't really sure she was ready to go out and meet him. Luckily, she didn't have to. Suddenly, from the ground, roots grew up from the ground, weaving up and around her, creating a barrier where there had been none before. She marveled at the magic for a moment before shoving her head back through the hole that had been left and listening to the continued conversation.

“You were on our land!” she cried indignantly, as soon as the Basiner had finished speaking, her words overlaying Lace's somewhat. “And she wasn't of the Edge.” She was pouting again, for no reason other than she was sullen and spoiled. Lace was much more composed as he continued on, addressing her and confirming what little information she had already thought she knew. She caught eyes with her WeyrLeader as he looked her way, chuckling softly as he mocked the intelligence of the intruder. Nice as she was, the girl did not have a soft spot for the cruel unicorns of the North- especially not when they wandered onto the Qian's land.

“And besides,” she began, voice childish as ever, “How many of yours would be welcoming if we showed up on your doorstep?” It was the logic of a fool- 'we're only doing it because you're doing it.' It was the only logic she knew. As Lace instructed the stallion to turn and head home, Kahlua nodded emphatically, punctuating the sentiment and encouraging the rabicano to turn and be on his way. There was nothing here for him, especially not with the root-borne door that was blocking his way into the land now. However, as her eyes once again caught sight of little Irelyn, Kahlua could not help but smile slightly to the creature. Of course the griffin had no part in who she was bonded to. Kahlua could not blame her.

Torleik
A lone man loved by none:


How long can he live?

There is trouble at the wall.

Kaj is above, where none of the three can reach him, coasting along the airways pleasantly. It is so nice, up there where nobody can bother him, where he doesn't have to remember that yes, he is an outsider who is welcomed like a brother. He doesn't want to have to touch down and be troubled with their language, he doesn't want to miss Onni's soft, smiling face, and he doesn't want to remember how lost he is here. He loves the Edge, it is in his blood, has been since he first laid eyes upon it. But how can he live in a herd that has become so complacent since the wall was erected? Regardless, it seems there is no complacency now, for the hostility seems to increase as he hovers there in uncertainty. Lace and Kahlua are welcome, familiar sights to his eyes. Should he not trust them to handle this? But as much as he loves and respects them, though the emotions separate depending on whom is being spoken of, it just seems...wrong. Something is twisting in his gut, and his heart tells him he must intervene. It is harassment, even if he does not know it for sure.

Dipping his wings he is plummeting, and in the dark whisper in the back of his head, he wonders what would happen if he just...didn't open them again. Shaking them away he lands with a soft whisper, far back from the trio and advancing on foot. He remains in the mists, listening, silent. And anger swells inside, listening to how they treat this visitor, and when the stag's bonded is harmed...Kaj can stand it no longer. He explodes like a hurricane from the cover of the trees, face like a thunderstorm, and eyes of lightning. "STOP THIS!" It is a roar, the lion inside rising to its mantle with claws scraping brimstone, ready to defend with royal blood and mighty crown.

He swivels as he advances, shielding Torleik with his body shall the stag not move, and he feels his heart break that, once again, he is rising against his family. Tail lashes angrily against his hocks, nostrils flaring and shining vibrant red in the cold air. "What have we become?! Attacking innocent blood, treating someone this way when they are visiting peacefully?! Your discrimination against those who have horns is as despicable and guilty as the racism of the majority!" His insides quiver, because oh god what is he doing, his mouth is running away from him, but like hell he can stop it now. Oh fuck, please let this be worth it, he prays. Is he risking everything by telling them what he thinks? Perhaps. Kaj is unaware of the title Lace now holds, after all. But how can he face them like this, so disgusted in their behavior, when he is supposed to be on their side? He doesn't want to look at Kahlua, see how she responds, because she is so dear to him...but this is simply not the Kahlua he knows, the kind one with a heart of gold and the patience of a saint. This is...someone completely different, and it hurts him to see her so cruel and unforgiving.

Turning so that he may view them both, Torleik on his right and the other two on his left, worried cerulean eyes sway to the horned stag. "Friend, if I may call you so without angering you...please tell me, is your precious one hurt? If I have to give up my title, by the Gods I will so long as she is healed. I know of a friend, in the sunny valley of the south, she may help as well." His heart is breaking, crumbling, turning into dust and diamonds scattered across the floor of his cavernous chest. Where he hailed from, bonded animals- or dierbaren, as they were called in his homeland- were sacred and precious in ways that were insurmountable. They were equivalent to a newborn foal of royal blood, or a minor God. To see Torleik's griffin treated such, especially when his or her youth was obvious...to him, it was a sign of betrayal, regardless of alliances and races.

Sighing he looks at Lace and Kahlua, the static electricity of his eyes sparking wildly in his anger, of no godly gift, but made of the pure mortal sin called emotion. "This man has done nothing to deserve this treatment! He has come with a kind eye and curious word, and Kahlua, you should be proud he is so interested in your creation!" It is spat, like a cobra, to rest on the ground between them. Is his inability to understand their behavior obvious? He pleads to the Gods that it is, because he loves them beyond measure, but his morals will not allow this kind of interaction. "If he is so new here, how could he have created such bad blood? Will you condemn him, merely because he is a unicorn, and maybe from the Auroras? Your hatred is as blind as the ones who tried to take our home from us. Are we really so low as to be just as racist?" Scoffing he growls beneath his breath and tries to unpinch his brow when he turns it towards the nameless face once more.

"I am sorry for how you have been treated...there is no excuse. Even if you are of the Lights, you have come with no ill intentions...had our clans still held bad blood and hatred, you should not have been condemned for hailing from there. After all, there is surely something in your home to love, yes? We all have choices to make." His throat wobbles as he swallows, wondering if this is his ultimatum. His defining moment. He hopes not, he has so much left to say. To Mirage, and Kahlua, and oh god Resplendence...but his heart is firm. Kaj has always listened acutely to the soft whispers of that delicate organ, for it always spoke the truth, even if it was not always the choice that was considered correct. Matters of the heart were always far more accurate and trustworthy than the tempest of the mind.

"As for an explanation...I can only speculate, broer. The Auroras invaded, last season. We were triumphant, but the hatred has spread like disease. It is not so hard to understand, is it? We are mortal, we are full of sin. We fall to racism when we once advocated against it. We have lost much...the blood spilt between the Ocean dwellers and the Snow is black and foul...I fear...I fear that we will never reach an end, broer." His voice is soft, defeated, and his head is low, dejected. Running to the defense of someone who may have been in the hoard that had attempted to take his home...it was risky. But...somehow, he could not bring himself to regret his decision to speak out.

Lords of the Wilds, save his soul.

---

Translations:
Broer - Brother
Dierbaren - Precious Ones

Hope it's okay I jumped in! I have lots of Kaj muse! :D And he needs to stir up some stuff~!

Voices all a mixture of irritation, mild anger, exasperation, defensiveness, and aggression filtered between the trees of Evangeline's new found home. It made the orange mare's stomach feel sour and Tallis shifted uneasily at the sudden change in his bonded's demeanor. He balanced himself on the mare's neck then shoved himself upward, orange wings beating against the air as he hefted his body upward and then he was off flying silently through the trees, black eyes searching the ground below. She was new here, Evangeline reminded herself, but how could she not be curious and investigate something that so disrupted the peace? Tallis guided her from his position overhead and as she walked the voices grew louder, two of which she recognized from the Threshold as Lace and Kahlua.

As Evangeline came upon the scene she found herself listening to Lace berate a stallion named Kaj, whom she assumed to be pegasus since there was a very real sense of dislike for the unicorn that was on their land. The orange dragon circled overhead, trilling occasionally to the two companions below. Gradually he began to descend, his circles focusing over the pegasus male, whom he trilled to gently before alighting upon his back since he seemed to be one of the focuses of reprimand.

"If I may intrude." Evangeline said as she stepped forth. "I may be new, but I know a tone of racism when I hear it." She did not focus on one individual but looked from one to the other. "I understand that you were wronged on more than one occasion, from what I've overheard, but that does not make such a tone of hatefulness right." She would never understand why racism was deemed necessary, but she wished she could abolish it completely from the world. It was a waste of time and energy and she firmly believed that if everyone put as much time into helping one another as they did hating one another the world would be a paradise. "Have you ever heard the phrase 'An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind?'" She asked the painted mare as she tried to justify herself by asking what the Basin would do. She said no more so that the mare would think about what she said and continued on.

"I lived in Helovia when the World's Edge belonged to the unicorns and it was the Qian that came in and invaded. I am not saying that it is right for them to do what you say they've done, but I cannot fully fault them for the grudge that they may still hold within their hearts. Nor can I fault you for your grudge, but one of you will have to be the bigger stallion and put forth some kind of effort to end the ridiculous feud that was started, lest you desire your home to be reduced to ashes and bodies because the only thing you're doing is breeding hatred and making a nesting ground for war." There was the question in the back of her mind of how the group would react to her words, but she had to speak them. She could not sit idly by and not say anything.

The mare's emerald gaze then swept toward the unicorn and she offered him a kind smile and a nod of her head. "Greetings, I am Evangeline the Pure and the orange dragon is my companion, Tallis." She could not apologize for the words of the WeyrLeader but she refused to treat the unicorn as if he were a plague within the forest, an outcast deserving of nothing but scorn.


"Answering racism with racism and hatred with more hatred will only lead to death." Evangeline murmured as she looked to the dragon who nodded his head once. "We learned the hard way in Isilme." She sighed and shook her head and hoped that they would take her seriously and wondered if Lace would berate her the way he had the pegasus stallion. The orange mare wondered if Lace would remember the constant war that assaulted Isilme and its residents and would realize that she spoke from experience and not just idealistic fantasy.


ooc:// don't mind me. evangeline was only beating me in the head wanting to post here :3

autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower

She spent the vast majority of her time exploring the herd, discovering every nook of her new home. She found herself awed by the glass wall, and had lost many hours staring up at it, trying to piece together how it worked. The iron lady walked with no purpose as she meandered through the trees, until her attention was grabbed by voices in the distance. Curious, the girl trotted towards the commotion with an idle flick of her tail, and found herself just in time to hear Lace speaking to an unknown bi-horned unicorn stallion.

Nyx was used to racism; she had grown up with it, as Isilme had been a land divided by horns and wings. But to hear Lace - a man she considered a friend - condemning this unicorn simply because of what he was? It hurt her, shocked her to her core, and there was a wounded expression in her gaze as she looked at the silver stallion and his dragon. "I...I didn't realise you objected to unicorns so much," she said, her voice devoid of its usual confidence. He had mentioned in the Threshold that she may not be welcomed by his herdmates, but she had naturally assumed that he would protect her, as he had protected her father before her. Her own horn seemed to burn upon her head, and she wondered if she would ever be truly accepted because of it. The voice of an equine mare caught her attention as the word Isilme was mentioned, and her refined skull turned to gaze at Evangeline and her bonded orange - warily, of course, as Nyx did not trust dragons as far as she could throw them. "You are of Isilme too?" she asked, curiosity in her tone.

She felt like she was intruding, like she shouldn't be here interfering in herd matters when she had been an Edge member for a mere matter of days, yet hearing Lace condemn her species so had given her cause for concern. Could she and her sire ever fit in in a land where other unicorns had harmed the equines to the point of all the horned now being greeted with outright hostility? She glanced back to the black male and his two horns, saying nothing but watching him with the wide-eyed curiosity of a girl half her age.

K A H L U A

Anger. Hatred. It boiled over, pouring upon all of them, spewing from Torleik's mouth onto her and Lace, onto Evangeline and another unknown, onto Kaj who descended upon them from the heavens. The more he talked, the more the poor girl began to feel small and, to be honest, she pitied herself for the beating she was taking more than she pitied the stallion that was hissing at them so purposefully. But perhaps the biggest dagger to her heart was when he began to mention the wall. He wanted to praise her, to congratulate her on a feat that she had accomplished only with the help and favor of the gods and her herd, and she had come here to shoo him away without a second thought. It stabbed and ripped open her flesh, making her bleed sorrow. And the owl fledgling shook in her nest with a look of fear that the useless overo understood well. Was this partly her fault? What had she done?

And then to accentuate the point came Kaj, her friend. And the girl tried to find a smile for him, but before she could make one nestle upon her face he bellowed, the warrior side that she had yet to know exploding forth from him with a fury that made her shiver and drop her ears to her head. But even as he yelled and caused tears to well up in her eyes, she knew she could not argue with him. What have we become?! And it made it worse that he wouldn't even look at her. And now all she wanted to do was run away, and at the same time run to him. But how could she run away from something she had started? And how could she run to him, blocked as she was by the wall of roots that Lace had erected. And so she stood there, tears still threatening to (but not yet) falling down her cheeks, shaking from head to tail, like the child that she was.

Friend. It was the word she should have spoken. The word that she should have used. And yet, at the same time, Kaj and the others did not know the history between herself and Torleik. But did it really matter? Had he been so bad then? Was he really so bad now? Her brain hurt (it seemed to happen so often now) as she tried to sort out her feelings about the matter. But she could not, because she was still fighting to keep herself from crying. And for a moment, she began to press uselessly against the root wall that blocked the doorway, trying to push through it, trying to reach Kaj, trying to fall down at his hooves and beg his forgiveness for angering him so. Would she lose a friend this day because of her fears? Would she lose a friend because she acted before she thought?

And then her will broke, because Kaj finally caught her eye, you should be proud, and her tears fell. Because he was right. Because she was confused. Because she could not reach him. Your hatred. He was right. That was not her. She did not hate, she did not attack others unprovoked. So why had she now? Had patriotism really brought her this far down a path of destruction? She cried for herself, for what she had caused, for fear that she had lost Kaj forever, for fear that she had worsened the relations between the Basin and Edge when she sought only to better it. She cried because she was lost in her mind and she didn't know who she was in this moment. Somewhere in the mix her ears had moved from laying upon her head to falling out sideways. She was ashamed.

But even as she cried, Lace was speaking. There was still anger, still frustration, in his voice. She wondered how he had not been affected by the WingLeader's words, how he had not fallen to the ground in shame at his actions. But it was clear, even to the girl, that he felt none, and a whisper in her head, just the faintest of tiny inklings, asked her a question. Could she really follow this stallion, the one she had looked up to so long as her Glazier, if this was his heart and soul? And even as she thought such things, a new round of tears fell, in pity for herself that she should have to make such a choice. Did she not love the Edge? Then why was she questioning her leader? It was a question she could not answer.

And if the girl had not suffered enough, for surely she was thinking mostly of herself in this moment, another came- the one she had found being attacked in the Thershold. I know a tone of racism when I hear it. More attacks, more blame. Would they really call her racist? Was she? Sometime around now, her tears dried, her heart and chest hollowed and empty, her mind no longer thinking anything except that she wanted out, her hoof still pawing at the roots that blocked her way, her eyes searching for Lace's, begging him to let her out of what had suddenly become a glass prison. An eye for an eye. She hadn't heard it, but she didn't think upon it. She wanted to hide under the wings of Kaj, to snuggle close to him, to look into his eyes, to know that he was still hers to call friend. Her Kaj.

And the last one came, name and face unknown, but the overo did not pay much attention to her. Kahlua only stared, blue eyes searching for a new face now- Torleik. She shuddered to think what should come of her now. She was not brave, she was not defiant. But her mind begged for a chance to fix what she had done, begged her to speak up and say she was sorry. But she shivered when she thought of what Lace would think of her then. Instead she tried to find Torleik's eyes, to look deeply into them. She was an open book, if he found her gaze he would certainly now her feelings, cheeks still hot and wet with the shame of what she had done. “I'm Kahlua,” she offered, though Kaj had already said it. “I'm glad you like the wall.” Her voice was still choked up, thick from the mucus that clogged her throat, and she took a deep breath before she spoke again. “Your friend is rather cute.”

She could not bear to speak to Kaj, her heart still torn in two for what he had said and scared to death that he would not accept what she would say to him anyways. Instead, she made a silent vow to herself, despite the fact that she did not know his name, to find this Torleik later. To fix what she had broken.

Torleik
A lone man loved by none:


How long can he live?

With the sharp look given, and the dismissal of Kaj's background, the golden brute pinned his ears so viciously towards Lace it could have been taken as a threat where it a more physical action. Heart steeled itself as the arrogant bastard continued on, smarmy voice like needles pricking into his skin. Why should he feel guilty, when this man clearly did not? Emotions were cast aside into a box in his mind and latched firmly, only permitting the anger to permeate through his entire being. Kaj remained, jaw clenched, a barrier between the two, a wall within a wall. Silent. For now. Teeth ground and wings lifted higher in subconscious challenge, but not a single rumble touched his throat for a verbal reply. Kahlua's sobbing and Evangeline's lurking were bypassed as Lace looked at him, and Kaj took a challenging, infuriated step forward towards the cobwebbed cur. Lightning flashed in clear blue eyes. A growl built in his throat, ears missing in his hair against his crown, stance strong and ready for an attack he should not be anticipating, but which instinct and upbringing prepared him for.

"Do not speak to me like I am a dog, traitor. I do not trust this man, you are a fool to think I do. Would I be standing where I am now with my title if I did not fight for the best for the Edge? If I stood in defense of a foal being beaten, one not of the Edge, would you condemn me in the same way, call me too trusting, even if that child was a demon?" The lion is awake, and claws unsheathe, and there is something dangerous and raw in his posture. Inside of him there was a beast, usually slumbering, and rarely ever seen. Kaj feared it would awaken today, feared the repercussions, because if this came to blows Kaj would lose all logic he normally held in spars and tournaments. It would be to the death, or at least to his own, if Lace triumphed. "Do not speak to me of the good of the Edge. I have spoken to Aaron when he was in a fit of arrogance, you really think he is fit to inform me, when he had wanted to run to the Foothills to pettily tell them of their mistakes, merely because they were foalhood friends? Directly after they invaded us? And you speak of our DragonHeart? The one who stands for equality? You spit at her by doing this, you fool." It is spat like poison, disgust in his tone, but he is at least reserved. Controlled. Always. Controlled. Always.

Soldier.

Kaj's eyes went blank. Memories swarmed him. A time when he had been nameless, faceless, merely another vessel to bleed and be slaughtered for the whims of careless mages. Nothing if not replaceable. Soldier.

Kaj slammed his wings up so fast the air shifted harshly around him, and he gave a short lunge away from Lace, because he knew if he didn't get away from him that Lace's blood would soon touch the ground and would start a battle he did not want to see. The beast shifted and growled, wishing to awaken. Like thunder his voice boomed, murder in his eyes. "DO NOT CALL ME SOLDIER YOU UNFIT CUR!" He was so angry he was trembling, and only the presence and words of Evangeline interrupting, of Torleik speaking to him and the group, dwindled it to controllable levels. At least they were a distraction from the inevitable blows he would have initiated had he and Lace been alone, and it frightened him to feel such hatred and disrespect for someone he was supposed to trust with no qualms or fears. He stepped back further, and it might seem he was even retreating, but it was for the benefit of all those around. Kaj had succumbed to the beast inside only twice, and he shuddered to think of it being unleashed where so many could be harmed. He stepped towards Lace again only when his muscles stopped twitching and spasming, desiring an outlet, a target. His hiss was low and cast only for Lace's ears when he spoke, but his emotions would not be dealt with now, despite his sorrow over the fact that he had been driven to such intense, negative emotions towards a herd brother.

"I am not your soldier, I will never kneel for anyone but the black Lady, and I will never be yours to command. Let it be known that I am no mere soldier, I have name and face, I have vengeance and love, I AM NOT A MACHINE AMONG RANKS!" He wished for privacy, so that Torleik would not have to witness this shameful and disgusting interaction, regardless of whether or not he could hear it, but his anger would not be stifled so quickly. He angled his voice, but the rage in the last portion of his rebuttal was strength, not decibel induced, and hopefully would not be heard by the others.

"Let that be a sign that I am by no means gentle, Lace," he hissed, and with a fleeting look towards Kahlua he turned towards Torleik. "I leave you in the capable hands of the ladies of our mists, sir Torleik. May the path guide you to better fields than ours." Cutting his gaze harshly back to Lace and Fajira, he uttered only one other phrase. "I will resume my duties along the borders. I will have no more to do with business that apparently does not suit a soldier, regardless of rank." He spat the words and in a powerful thrust of his wings he rose straight from the ground in an impressive display of power, hooves clattering decisively on the top of the wall and launching into the sky. None of his supposed brethren on the ground could follow him, flightless as they were, and the beast needed to be calmed. He needed a place to explode, a task to do, and he knew it would result in him losing a lot of blood and bruising most of his body to calm the demon inside.

The Edge was in disarray, and their Queen seemed uncaring, too absent to even notice.