but somewhere here in between the city walls of dyin' dreams

The sun had said there would be peace, and that was that. Rexanna had whisked his gargantuan friend away from him, and Mauja had remained in place upon the shimmering sands—lost, lonely, unaware. He wasn't sure if he had ever felt more alone in a crowd, a single ship in an armada, the only odd one out. The only one floating alone, somewhere in the midst of an army that could not see him.

Did he do it to himself? Did he stand there with his armor just beneath his skin, and his glacial walls up, so proud, so strong, surely not so fragile—if he fell to his knees and wept and cried, would someone notice? Would anyone come forth, and ask this fallen titan what was wrong?

And if someone did—would he be strong enough to admit?

Slow, even breaths kept slipping out of dark nostrils. He thought not—didn't think he had it in him—the strength to be weak—to be vulnerable.

So he hid within the ice, blue gaze sweeping, roaming, giving nothing away. Pale light flickered behind his irises, no lines of tension stood out against the white of his skin, no furrowed 'brows to cast a shadow across his eyes.

Mauja was a fortress.

An unobservant, fractured fortress made from black stones with glass cores.

Something solid and strong, covered in the fine pelt of the living, collided with his haunch, a sudden push through his aura of ice and straight into his flesh—

A breach in security—

Where had she come from, this white-and-blue mare backing away from him with a confusion like sleep clinging to her eyes? He hadn't even noticed her as she crept across the shimmering flats, a shadow beneath the sun yet vibrant in his light. Or had he been that lost within himself?

The small smile that had begun to form thoughtlessly upon his dark lips froze in place as cold and dark claimed the amber of her eyes. In the blink of an eye the last of the soft confusion cleared, hardened, morphed into something regal and sharp like knives—and in return, something in the blue depths of Mauja's eyes sharpened too.

Was that what it felt like? When the ice came down? Was that what it looked like, so subtle it was barely visible?

"No worries," he responded softly, frosted hooves shifting in the slight waters; she had pushed him lightly off-balance, but the touch had warmed him—a warmth she had just as quickly stolen with the distance in her eyes. He swallowed. "Are you from around here?"

[ Sorry for the wait! @Ultima is so gorgeous... <3 ]

man, I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same