Hearth

"So cool..."

The words are but a mere murmur yet my ears perk at the sound, swiveling my attention to the anomaly in the woods quiet, my head raising from its idle grazing. I chew absently at the stems already in my mouth, musing over the source of the sound as only instinct can, tilting my head, bemused in the moment. My great wings shuffle at my side, a casual motion but one that quickens the flow of blood in my mortal body as I flex my flight feathers and encourages the urge to seek. I think briefly of the winged kin i had met before in the woods some cycles of the sun before. Would the Sky yet guide me to them so soon, I wonder? The thought almost pleases me.

Ponderously, I lift a heavy foot and carefully begin my march forward, navigating a crooked and arbitary path on patches of soft earth to keep my advance as quiet as my bulk would allow with low brush could be avoided. You could say i am threaded with caution though I have no fear. It is simply of good practice to be careful, of which I always am. No traveler could or would be otherwise, for the world is wide and fraut with danger as it is beauty. This I know. I am wise in that way.

However, I am not wise in all things and suddenly I am met with something...unexpected. Before me not only stands an odd formation of stone but yet another stranger, some native of this land. And I was struck suddenly by the unusual nature of him. As a traveler of the sky I have seen many things but nothing at all in my memory did I recall a figure like this...a figure that bore no wings but instead a spiral of red bone on its brow. Odder stiller was the fox that leaned so fondly against his shank as though the equine was its mother. What exactly was at play here?

I regard the stranger cooly, paused on the cusp of the clearing and peering inward as I observed intently, whismically changing between the two before settling on the dark horned one before me.

"You're stranger... I say after a moment as a nonchalant comment, the words gliding from my mouth without meaning to as I head into the clearing toward the river, bending my head to it surface to drink from, sparing only a glance at the stranger.



"blahblahblah."
@[Sacre] ( Hope its alright to drop in ^^;)

For flame, for heart

K V O T H E

Elodin grows stronger by the day, his twig-thin legs carrying him across the world alongside my own. Together we prance through fields, trot across creeks and dance through forests. Bells chime, alerting all of the Bard and his companion's passage. But we do not mind. One of my bells, the one upon my brow tine, is now delicately around Elodin's slender neck, a bell of his own, and he seems to enjoy the gentle chiming of it as he moves.

A new place draws us today, and upon our arrival in a whirlwind of leaves and bells i see that we are not alone in this place. Elodin ducks behind my legs beneath the curtain of hair on my tail, regarding the others here with bright eyes. I can feel his fear and his curiousity, at war with a pride that grows more and more by each day. Cautious of my charge, i regard the two curiously, and the dark thought slips unbidden through my mind.

'What if they are the ones causing the murders?'

I recoil from the thought almost instantly, sorrow lancing through me. Never in my life have i regarded any with fear nor caution. But before i had only my own life to think about; now Elodin's life weighed upon my shoulders, and i would be damned before i allowed his short life to end due to my own folly.

"Well met friends!" I call out, approaching the Rotunda with a smooth stride, Elodin close at my heels. However it is the spike in his fear that draws my attention downward, to gaze upon the small, trembling body at my feet. Fear, strong and thick, and i immediately tense, raising my head towards my fellow unicorn... and the fox at his feet. My tail curls around Elo's small body, pulling him tighter against me as i keep an eye on the fox.

"What brings you two here?"

@[Sacre] @[Hearth]

Hearth

First it is the soft chimes in the air that I notice, tracking the unusual sound with a swivel of my ears. It was enough of a surprise that I lift my head from the water to quietly listen as it drew nearer. What to think of the sound I didn't know. It was high pitched but soothing in tone, entrancing almost. No object I knew made such a sound and for once I was...excited to find out what it was and watched expectantly in the direction of its source. Should I have been surprised when another of the horned equines appeared, this one a blue roan and tailed by a deer-like creature? I think not. An unofficial rule of this land seemed to be that all things came in matching pairs, not unlike the meeting I had with my winged kin in....the Threshold they called it. If you find one another is not far away, a fact that I will always keep in mind. This land is still new to me and remains a very...unusual place, so unlike what I know...I what used to know. I reckon there are still many things I've yet to learn in this mysterious world.

I casually look over the newcomer who chimes his greeting and chuckle silently to myself when I notice his lions tail curl around the deer-like creature bonded to his feet protectively. Curious still was the fact that both had an unlikely companion, so much so it was nonsensical and I can't help but wonder. Try as I might I have no answer for that but I do have an answer for what brings me here.

" Water," I state plainly, " And some curiosity. What of you?"



"blahblahblah."
@[Kvothe]@[Sacre]

For flame, for heart

Hearth

The laughter that come from the dark one is boisterous, a loud sound that nearly catches me off guard as it fills the air, echoing even with enthusiasm in the outlandish structure that defined this little area. I was bemused enough, actually, that I raised my maw from the cool waters to hover above the stream and cock my head slightly in the red-flanked ones direction. Why was this so... surprising to me? I realize then, dully, that this had been the first time since I'd begun my travels that I had heard someone laugh. Oh, how it beckoned to my memories, dared heartache to rise with a vengeance at those recollections. But I rise not to the bait of tears, feel not the bittersweetness that would unfurl within my chest. I remain stoic in that regard, a cold container to the heat of emotion. Not because I was holding back but simply because I've long accepted what was was no more and fear not new beginnings. The sun never rises on the same day after all, just as I am not the same as I was then and never would be again. Time only moves forward. So do I, for I am Hearth, traveler of the Wide World.

A crooked smile quirks at the corners of my maw and serves as my match for the dark-one's laughter as I turn 'round, finished with my supping. "My wings are strange, says the Fox Mother." I say in my cool manner, a hint of lighthearted jest snaking through as I eyed the stallion and the red fox resting as his feet. It is not often I rise to humor but this stranger rouses in me into a certain playfulness and is my observation not true? I decide then to call the roan one Deerherder for his companion, since I do not know his own name yet as well. This is a side of me I don't often relish in for lack of opportunity and preference, but I am in good company now and say, why not? For once, I'll speak.

Besides, the unusual choice of companions intrigued me. Cautious might be a better word, yet my curiosity often over rules it in the inwardly struggle. The fact that both of the stallions have such odd species traveling alongside them was not a coincidence. I may be ignorant of the rules and laws of this land but I was no fool either. But that could be answered later at leisure. For now I listen.

I cast my mellow gaze upon the mammoth stone structure again, now gifted with the name of it as the Fox Mother answers the newcomer’s question. Rotunda. It is a foreign word yet I find it to my tastes with the way it invokes a sort of presence, an enigma. The same could be said of this entire land as well, this Helovia as they call it. My attention is drawn again shortly back to the Fox Mother as I hear his voice start again, finally granted with both his true name and met with a familiar one. Dragons Throat. So he came from the same herd that Ampere did? All I knew of the place was that it was a desert and that Ampere had wanted me to become a part of it back when we met in the woods of the Threshold, wanted me to become family. I had declined, far from the mood then to consider after my long flight, but even now I would make the same choice if asked. I belong where I am - under the sky.

It came to my attention, dimly, that my name had been asked for." Hearth." I say, curtly bowing my head to both stallions in greeting, my ears then zoning in on a word and applying it to the objects worn by the Deerherder. Bells, hmm. I suppose that works.




____________
"Speech."

For flame, for heart