KAHLUA

It may have been smarter for the painted queen to just lay in her copse and lament the chaos that troubled her. Kahlua may have been dense but even she could see the hard look of determination in Aurelia's eyes. Something here was not right. She should have stayed far, far away. But she was not far away- she was here. Here at what used to be her favorite place in the whole draconian forest, here where Antheia threw herself to her death, here where Aurelia was about to challenge her and she could do nothing about it. Here where her heart was about to break.

Aurelia's words left the queen feeling nothing short of confused. “We can fix this,” Kahlua offered during the pause in words; however, the queen's helpful and hopeful optimism quickly fled her body. Slowly, the rusted cogs in the girl's dusty brain began to creak and groan into motion. This was not the friendly meeting that she had anticipated but Kahlua could not put her hoof on exactly what was wrong until...

Aurelia lunged. In that moment, Kahlua could have picked any words, any set of syllables, to fall from her lips in a disbelieving gasp. She picked only one- “Kaj.” The word was soft, a whisper, barely a breath that crossed her lips as her blue eyes grew wide and she began to dance nervously on her hooves. “Kaj!” She called again, louder, not a second after the first time she had spoken his name, as Aurelia bore down upon her.

In that instant, Kahlua might have believed time frozen as a flame-doused Aurelia closed the final stride between the two of them. The queen's muscles bunched beneath her but she hardly noticed. Her mind was whirling back to that time she had fought Ricochet high upon the mountain and then to the time she had defended the Edge here in the woods. Those memories only brought her was pain, anguish and terror. She was not a fighter, did not wish to harm others, did not pray to the gods for magic that would make her mightier. Kahlua prayed for peace and safety for her herd, for Helovia if she could manage it, and nothing more.

“KAJ!” she screeched then, her voice devolving into a terrible, grating noise that filled the ancient forest. He would know the sound all too well- it was the same one she had screamed from the fiery pits of hell when she and Res had been attacked by a living nightmare. Her vocal cords burned with the effort of the shriek but the peaceful queen feared for her life and she did not know what else to do except scream the name of her beloved, benevolent king. She had faith that he would save her, faith that he would envelop her in his strong wings and shield her from the harm that had befallen her this day. But not yet, not in this moment, because he still had to reach her and she had to move.

Her muscles tensed and ready, Kahlua threw her body to the left. The motion was far from graceful- the queen was not made for fighting and had not practiced her skills- but the chaotic flailing at least saved her from the physical assault that Aurelia had attempted. As for the flames... Kahlua only knew one solution to magic- the very gods themselves. The shock amulet that swung in her hair shattered, deflecting the flames away from her body not a moment too soon. The heat made her shoulder uncomfortably warm but the fire did not burn her, did not singe her hair or scorch her flesh. Her acts of cowardice had saved her, for the moment, but even then the queen could not find it in herself to follow after the golden traitor.

“Aurelia! Don't do this!” The Sunshower's words wavered with fear, even in the face of a two year old mare who thought of nothing but her own wants and needs. Kahlua was frightened, frozen, rooted into place on the earth. Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes as she tried to meet the Seer's gaze. No part of the queen wanted to fight the mare that she had called family and she could not find the bravery that was required of her anyways. “Please...” she begged again, her normally dancing soprano devolving into a choking whine.

As she waited for a response, one more memory invaded her consciousness. It was Tyradon warning her that there would always be those who were not content with what power they had and would want more. She had not believed him when he had called her naïve... it seemed she had been wrong.


Post| 1/4
WC| 790
OOC| Kahlua used her spark amulet that deflects magic back upon the user- +2 damage and +2 defense.

the sunshower