One lost and lonely snowflake drifted on the bitter breeze, down it went until it snagged on a mass of coarse hair and fizzled to nothing but a drop of water forgotten in a sea of black. Alike the flake, the boy felt very much the same; cold, abandoned and desolate. His heap of curly dark mane fell wild and long, blown by the wind to frame his delicate face and accentuate his distinct blue eyes. However, his feet that split through the middle lay still on the ground whilst he contemplated the forest before him that sang to him in memories and mismatched feelings. Insecurity, yearning, misery, anger, love… he went through them all as his past life jostled in the back of his mind to be seen and heard; remembered. Sent by his own father to return to his place, Sacre had finally made it back, though he hadn't been gone a year, he had been gone long enough. Like a double-edged blade, however, the more he looked the more his heart broke into more pieces. Mother, Aviya… Their faces were like a knife being driven through his chest and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop it and, instead, he silently screamed his sorrow through eyes that glazed over with stricken grief.
 
The days of travelling had made it easier, even numbed the feelings he had towards the loss of his sister and eventually his mind had remembered her fondly. Now, looking across the familiar claiming grounds of the Threshold he was struck by how he would never find her here again, not in the mountains, not ever. It was as if in a desperate attempt to cope, his mind had somehow denied the fact she was dead, believing she was still alive and they were only separated by land.
 
For all of that, Sacre knew.
 
His eldest sister would not be here nor would she ever be. d'Artagnan had been brutally honest in that aspect when retelling the ordeal to his grief stricken son.
 
Taking a deep breath, he began to make his way through the woodland, the air was fresh and cold; apparently winter had not yet relinquished its grip. Clouds above gathered in threatening clumps that made the afternoon darker than usual and snow continued to leak from the sky in small showers. The scents were also a mixture of foreign and familiar as horses from all different walks of life tended to converge on this one point.
 
Sacre stopped in a glade to allow the scattering of paws behind him to catch up and, sure enough, a minute or so later, a pair of foxes came flying into view and slid in beside him. One was a one tail, the eldest fox and was of a red variety. The other, smaller vixen had four tails with the same merlot ear as her bonded and wore a dusty coat. Sacre, Inari and Ríona were musketeers of a different kind.
 
The three did not continue, however, as Sacre faltered in his decision… Where did he go now, back to the Dragons Throat? He winced at the thought. Oh, how he had already failed them… twice in fact. Whilst living there he had gained so much and offered them little in return, it was embarrassing and shameful. Perhaps he should try finding Roux, but his beloved crimson twin was often so difficult to find and Sacre had no idea whether he was still in the North or elsewhere.
 
“Where do we go now?” he sighed to his foxes, realising that much of his life here was an utter mess and in almost every direction he had underlying issues. The better question might have been “who will take us now?”
 
Another snowflake fell onto the tip of his horn and disappeared without a whisper.

---

Open to all! :D

“North!”

“South!”

Sacre sighed. Even his foxes were arguing over which way to go. Inari thought the mountains a safer bet, he was brought up there after all, but Ríona sought the familiarity of the southern dragon. They tugged on his mind with their flaring emotions, bickering over which way was best and Sacre stood between them, beginning to get a headache. Either way presented problems and to both he wanted to go if only out of selfish need just to see if they were the same as they always had been.  In the end, when the constant chattering in his head had about worn him down, another voice chimed over the top of them causing a crease to form on his dark brow. For a moment he thought he was going mad. Only two foxes were bonded to his mind, not three, but maybe they’d been talking that much it had all blurred into many. Yet, suddenly the argument stopped and Sacre became aware that they were not alone.

The voice wasn’t in his mind, instead, it belonged to the girl in front of him.

He searched her face, his eyes narrowing; there was something so faintly familiar about her, but he couldn’t pinpoint it so he let it slide. She bore a skull face and a pair of red eyes, her name was Nymeria of the Hidden Falls and that was all he could gather from her sincere features.

“No” he answers rather quietly, suddenly finding it rather odd to be finally talking to someone other than the two beside him. He half wished he was a newcomer, to erase the cruel memories his previous life had handed him, but to do that he would have to lose the rest, the good times, and Sacre clung to them like a child clung to a blanket. “I was born here, raised here-” louder now, his voice was rough sounding and a small smile sat on his lips. “Then I left and returned, now I have lost my way” a blurb of his life, rather than his lack of orienteering skills, but he pondered some more, his blue eyes searching for her red ones  “unless I really can go with you, perhaps you can show me the way”.

“Sacre!”

It was a joint cry that echoed through his mind and he winced at the suddenness of it. He knew what they thought, he didn’t know this mare, but Sacre also knew how the game worked. He had played it enough times. Even if her intentions were foul, they couldn’t be fouler than what he had already seen, in fact; he silently dared her to better it.

“I’m Sacre” the sacred idiot.

"Dragon!" "Dragon!"

The fox duo echoed in his head, but Sacre’s gaze never left that of Nymeria’s as she shifted her own to his friends at either side. He had seen dragons before, some were white, some were green and some were smaller than others. Sacre found the mare in front of him much more interesting than whatever travelled with her. He hadn’t looked to see exactly where the reptile was, but he trusted the nervous chattering in his head to be a good indicator she did indeed share her mind with a companion, just like he did. She has already captured his curiosity, despite how he had changed in many subtle ways; Sacre had not lost his incredible ability to be intrusively nosy.  The sharp blue of his eyes never leaves her face, her gaze, he wasn’t interested in her graceful body (though he could appreciate it) but, instead, he was more concerned with the girl inside; the girl that exhibited such an alluring exterior to present so grandly to the world.

He bore her examination, wondering what he looked like in her minds eye and if he was somehow disappointing or just average. Sacre was thin, sturdily built with a delicate face; he wasn’t thick with muscle or pretty like fairy tale prince, instead, he was more like a slightly attractive nerd. Roux was much more handsome, Mesec was a half God and even Aviya had been beautiful. Sacre had always thought he’d got the meagre end of the gene pool and that the splashes of red made him look more daunting than dishy.

Stifling a sigh, Sacre brought himself back from the soul-destroying tangent his mind had taken off on and came tumbling down to the present. At least Nymeria understood the bigger meaning behind his words, or it appeared that way anyway, unless she really didn’t know her own way back home. Which would be slightly concerning as Sacre didn’t know where the Hidden Falls was either. “I would like to find it” he breathed, his voice only just higher than a whisper.

However, he was transfixed by this girl who walked like the entire world was beneath her feet, seething and unshakeable, all he could see were her baiting red eyes and stark skull face. Nerves crept up into his chest, but he remained where he was and bore her gaze with his own, friendly smile. His tail flicked as she whispered the final word and Sacre stared at her, captured in this oddly alluring stand off; oh yes he thought in a heartbeat, take me with you.

Before he could utter the words that would bind them to the road together and be carted off to the Hidden Falls with the tempting Nymeria, he was brought up short by the scent of another and Inari’s sudden recognition.

"Mauja!" "Mauja?"

The vulpines echoed again.

Regretfully Sacre pulled his gaze away from the captivating mare and to that of a familiar spotted stallion.

Caves, wraiths, blood… Darkness.

They had met at a desperate time in history, but Sacre still remembered him and his frost-covered horn. In the snow, Sacre thought he looked more like a sad ghost lingering in the woods, in fact, even the last they met he had been covered in wounds. However, his eyes drifted to the brown leather bag strapped to his side and he felt another part of his heart chip away for his broken family. The fact this unicorn wore them meant his father surely never had any intention of returning. He had taken his hellion dog and fled in search of… An end.

Sacre had heard of Mauja, however, not only met him, his father had known him, but the red stained son hadn’t yet heard all the story; only bits and pieces. Enough to know that they were friends and the mad Doctor still considered them as such. Before he had left his father to return to Helovia he remembered him saying “be careful of that idiot Queen”, alluding to Mauja with a fondness.

“Mauja” Sacre greeted the older unicorn with a slight smile; his heart was too full of memories for anything more flamboyant like he had been only a few months ago. Perhaps it would return to him in time. “What brings you here?” he asks, curiously.

---

Ahhhh sorry for the delay! I'm back from travelling, so posts should be back to normal :D
@Nymeria@Mauja

Sacre had not a clue in his oblivious brain to the thoughts and workings behind this girl who had been the first to find him—the boy who chewed on his own bitterness—and lost himself in the red eyes of an alluring mare. He had to admit, that if were not for Mauja, he would never have thought twice about following Nymeria back to the Hidden Falls, without once considering what he should do.  What should he do? What was he doing? Following dad’s orders and running away from what he left behind, that’s what he was doing. He should go back to the Throat, apologise for his absence and incompetence, find his friends… Tandavi. Her golden face pops into his mind and he swallows, feeling suddenly guilty for being enchanted by another, by Nymeria. One black; another red; he lays his ears back and shakes his head, as if to try dislodge the thought—did it matter? Tandavi didn’t know that he loved her and why should Tandavi love a guy who kept disappearing? He, who couldn’t even look after his own family and keep them from harm. His mood was slowly turning sour, but he was stopped from becoming completely defeated by the curve of a smile and the subtle shifts of the red-eyed girl.

It seemed slight, a small movement, teasing him with a maybe, maybe she wasn’t all that she appeared. Perhaps there was a story behind her sultry movements and if he followed her back, it could be his ticket to find out more. However, the Queen of impeccable timing had impeccably intercepted the moment of seduction.

Sacre now looked upon Mauja, the blizzard of black spots upon his coat and his ice covered horn, an old man from his childhood; he wasn’t that old, not as old as his childhood memories pictured him. Sacre’s perspective was a little different now that his legs were longer and the world looked smaller. Even as Sacre waited for the Frozen Light to answer he wanted to ask why he always looked so battered and downtrodden? Was this why d’Artagnan had referred to him as the Idiot Queen?

”You?”

”Me?” Sacre blurted as his fox’s echoed ”and me?” … ”and me?”

The boy paused to allow the old man to explain a little more—was he unnerved? Sacre couldn’t tell why Mauja never settled his gaze and the boy’s brow furrowed in worry, had something happened? Something else? The stallion finally strung two words and a name together as the frown lifted from Sacre’s face leaving only a sad smile. “Mauja the Idiot Queen” he said with a snort “that’s what he called you, but not out of harshness… out of love” perhaps that was enough to let Mauja know that d’Artagnan missed him too.

He let that settle for a while, not really knowing what else to say for he knew, without magically transmuting the Nightshade here, Sacre could do little else. 
Other than decide what he was going to do.

Hidden Falls or Worlds Edge?

His eyes drift back to Nymeria and lingered there for a moment, his body yearning to relive the moment from a few minutes ago before finally he dragged them away and back to Mauja. He needed to find Roux and what about the others? Raeru and Mesec? He wanted to go to the Hidden Falls, to abandon everything and be completely lost in the red-eyed gaze of Nymeria. She had stepped away from him and Sacre wished she would step back, his gaze returning to her with a look of sad remorse. “I will have to wait for another day to see the Hidden Falls” he let his voice fill with the regret he felt and wondered if another pretty girl had just slipped by, disappointed in him. “I think I will find you again Nymeria” he added as his lips curled into a small, half smile. Perhaps he was hoping so much that he was mistaking it for a premonition, but he said it anyway, not as a thought, but as a promise—maybe that was a little weird.

Nervous, he looked away not sure what else to say and instead searched for the blue gaze of Mauja—who looked everywhere but at him—offering the old spot a look of mild expectation and simple readiness.

“Hey, old girl, stop admiring the scenery and take me to the Worlds Edge,” his voice held more confidence than he actually felt as his old brazen attitude slipped through to cover the uneasiness he now carried with him. 

Mauja might know about Roux and the others, an opportunity Sacre could not pass by.

[shoots love at <3 also, wanderer, feel free to prod me whenever you want them to thread again! ^^ ]