Quilyan

The deposed prince stands on the sidelines with all the rest, Zarina watching from the top of his poll. He can feel her distaste for the entire event, and though he knows that this is not like the tournaments of Th'orqui, he finds himself sharing her anxiety. As the crown prince of Th'orqui, there had been a tourney in his honor every year for his birthday, and he had been forced to watch as the realm's bravest knights fought, often to the death, for the honor of winning. It had always made him queasy, though he had never had the courage to ask Father for different rules. That was the way that things had always been and, no doubt, how they would still be if not for the Anarchists. In any case, he is more interested in the herd-mates surrounding him than those on the battlefield, and he has to fight to keep himself from wincing each time he hears the thud of hooves on flesh.

Of course, this is why he is the Specter and not the Captain. Besides, he had never fought well, anyway, not when his childhood opponents were afraid to win against the Royal Family. Or their parents were, and they instructed their children to lose on purpose. He had never understood how he was supposed to learn if he never lost, but he was glad that it had not made him cocky. Instead, he had simply watched them fight each other, vying for the favoritism of their master-at-arms, drawing blood and leaving bruises, and he had wondered why the treated him so differently. Eventually the ostracism had led him away from knighthood, but he supposes now that he managed to find his own niche even without their determined competition.

The roan mare screams wildly into the fray, and he raises a brow slightly. Her name is Lakota, which he knows even though they had yet to meet, as any good spymaster should. She is a healer, though he has to wonder what kind of nurse carries the name "Poisoner" in their title; still, by all accounts, she is fiercely loyal and at least proficient at her work, and that is all he particularly cares about. A pegasus standing nearby eyes her with a vague curiosity, and the prince listens as she voices her quickly successive queries. The young mare, golden and white, must be Aurelia, and he offers a lopsided grin in her direction. They are very much alike in looks, if not in personality (though again, he has yet to meet her, so they may be alike in that regard as well), and he is intrigued by her apparent confusion, an odd quality in a Seer.

"They are your herd-mates, m'lady," he tells her cheerfully as Zarina glowers from atop his poll. She is not particularly fond of females with the exception of Resplendence, who Zarina can't remember life without. "They are vying for the position of Captain. A tournament just happens to be the fairest way for them to prove themselves," he adds with a shrug of his wings. An equine appears then, voicing her own deductions, and the Specter smiles kindly. "I'm afraid I haven't been very polite, have I? I am Quilyan, and my companion is Zarina. She's a bit of a jealous creature, I'm afraid, so if she's rude, don't take it personally."

"Talk talk talk."