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The frown lingered on his brow for some time, a mixture of worry, anger and dislike that was hard to decipher. Cathun was not fond of gods. They had a way of interfering with mortal lives in ways that spread sorrow and ruin more often than peace or prosperity. Powerful and selfish, in his experience the divine treated their mortals like pawns in their games, tossing away anyone that had played out their role. How could it be any different here? It was just another land filled with chess pieces, another set of immortals with too much time on their hands. That he would have to grovel at the feet of one in order to live in peace and quiet was unfortunate. Oh, Cathun could do it, and would whenever it was necessary, but nothing would make him feel any true reverence towards a soul no matter how elevated, if they believed themselves higher and more worthy than him. Fear was not love, respect was not submission - and he had not obtained freedom just to bind himself in new shackles.

The one he already carried around the neck was heavy enough.

Still. It was a matter that could be dealt with later, and today the Firebrand had more immediate concerns to occupy himself with. Like keeping up with Amaris. Her smile was radiant as she turned to him and urged him to follow, and with a last snort the young stallion shrugged off the gloomy thoughts in favor for a wide smirk of his own. Solid black hooves picked up the pace from walk to trot and into a swift lope. Each stride was fast and wide-spanning thanks to the long legs. Soon he was flashing across the plains in blinding speed, having no trouble keeping up with the dragoness even when she cheated and used her wings.

Ah, how he loved to run! The wind in his hair, the pulse in pricked ears, to gulp down breath after sweet breath of air; nothing could be better than this. Cathun resented the thought of having to slow down, loathed the imminent end of the mainland that inevitably came creeping up. Delivering the ocean before his feet the horizon faded away into a vague blue line in the distance, interrupted only by the island on the other side of the strait. He would have to stop, there was no way he would be able to swim that distance - at least not after spending so much time pushing himself to the limit, after days and nights of travel with only the bare necessity of food and rest.

Blazing eyes glanced up towards his guide to see where she would choose to land, but to his great surprise Amaris wasn't slowing down at all.

"Hey, wait up!" he called, breathless as he kept running, "I don't have..."

Wings.

But suddenly, without any warning and for seemingly no reason, Cathun did grow wings. Blazing, sweeping feathers of blazing flame erupted from his sides and raised him from the ground. He tried to stop, scraped his legs desperately along the ground to slow the pace, halt, anything before the edge of the world fell away and threw him into the sea. Fear gripped him, horror struck him as his effort proved futile, and with a ragged gasp he felt his hooves part from the ground. He snapped the eyes shut, held his breath, waited, waited for the fall, the sinking feeling in the gut, the crash as fragile flesh, so feeble and mortal, met with the water far below.

He waited, but nothing happened. Nothing, except a surge of wind that caressed his sweaty skin with cool hands, the crackle and hum of the fire wings, and a strained, low-pitched hum that he couldn't place, coming from a source nearby.

Daring to crack an eye open, Cathun looked up just in time to experience the last stretch of the flight before he was unceremoniously dropped onto the red sand on the other shore. Only cat-like reflexes enabled him to catch himself and land on the feet instead of tumbling headfirst to the ground, the wings disappeared and left him feeling strangely... empty.

It was not the entrance he would have liked to make. Like a newborn foal he stood with widespread legs, trembling and weak at the knees. The hair was a mess, mane and tail alike rendered a curly mop of ash and charcoal by the wind, and for some reason one of the beads in his necklace was flickering, the glow fading and returning repeatedly in a sort of frenzy. Swallowing thickly he tried to regain some form of composure, but between the shock of sprouting wings and worry about the seal, all he could manage a wide-eyed, questioning look at Amaris. Was she doing this? Had she been responsible for everything - the wings, the bead, his humiliation?

"You... could have given me a heads up" he finally said weakly, as soon as he'd found his tongue again and hauled it back out of the throat. There was a faint tone of accusation in his voice, a hint of hurt to his eyes as he looked away. Cathun sulked while he nudged and prodded the necklace, too busy nursing wounded feelings to hide the concern that radiated from him over the odd behavior of the seal - his sole shield and protection, so very fragile.


@[Amaris]