This trip was turning out a little longer than Mesec expected but he was travelling with children after all - soon they would be able to learn how to fly but for now they were earth-bound. Not that he minded, of course - he would happily take every moment with the two that he could get. Swinging north after a small stay over at the Secret Grove, Mesec spent the trip to the Edge distracting himself by telling Virga and Vesper about his mother and what he knew about the Edge. He had been honest about why they were going to the World’s Edge - because his mother had suggested it. Who’s your mom was the conversation that followed and Mesec was in the midst of explaining as they travelled. However small, they both had a little bit of god blood in them and he figured they had a right to know.

As far as he knew, they were the only other foals of a demigod walking around Helovia so he hardly had someone he could go to and ask for advice about this situation. He encouraged them to ask any questions they had - he had never had to explain these things to anyone before. “One day, I’ll take you both to the Veins of the Gods to visit her. We might even be lucky enough to see her in the Edge - she’s the patron god of this herd. Well, goddess.” He didn’t know how frequently his mother visited the Edge - probably just when she was called and occasionally for meetings but that still meant there was a chance. She said she wanted to teach him which implied they’d be spending at least some time together, right?

Who knew with her, though.

The small family group travelled throughout the day and finally arrived in the early afternoon - the Edge had certainly changed since the last time Mesec was here but he aimed for the iron gate that seemed to be pretty clearly the entrance they wanted you to take. ‘Appropriately pretentious.’ Lucius commented through their bond, eyeing the gate and thinking of the Goddess before going back to calmly preening himself where he was nested among Mesec’s wings.

Mesec eyed the iron structure dubiously but it was just an entrance, nothing to worry about. They were at the Edge, after all - there were bound to be some references to his mother here and there. It felt strange to be here but he hadn’t yet lost hope that maybe, maybe this was finally one thing that could work for him.  

His silver eyes looked down to the foals, a small smile warming them. “Alright I uh, I’m just going to call out and then we just wait for someone to come greet us.” He didn’t want to just whinny loudly without warning them why he was doing it. But, after making sure that they were both appropriately prepared, he called out and then there was nothing to do but wait.

we'll go over the mountains and under the stars

Tembovu & Mbwene

A soft nudge to his head roused the King from his dreams. A second, firmer nudge roused him from his slumber. And a third, even firmer smack of an elephant’s trunk made his head jerk up from Rexanna’s soft, warm withers. He blinked once, twice—trying to clear the disorientation of the sharp shift from deep sleep to sudden consciousness. His bleary, but wide, gaze landed blankly on Mbwene’s sharp, blue stare.

Call. From gate.

He blinked a few more times, for good measure. And then slowly, carefully, he extricated himself from embracing his golden love’s back. They had been curled around each other, exhausted from their intensive and elongated walk back from the Basin—elongated because they had taken a long, circuitous route: searching for their son. Kiada had revealed Kianzo’s absence since seeing a god’s serval in the Ancient Rotunda. She hadn't seen him since, and neither had Rexanna.

Thus the worried parents had slept late into the afternoon, apparently, the King realized as he trudged towards the Edge’s new gate. He blinked against the bright sunlight that filtered through the afternoon’s hazy mists. His mind took a while to fully wake up—he was unused to sleeping so deeply or for so long. It seemed that the long journey and his love’s presence lulled him into such a slumber—and they would need larger quarters to sleep in, rather than his small and underused bed of pine needles.

It was not long (but it was long enough) before the King caught the gate’s silver brightly glinting. And, just beyond the shiny lunar cycle stood a dark pegasus with two young foals. But he wasn’t just a pegasus—a horn curved up from his head, and his underside seemed to glow faintly. The man looked vaguely familiar—he had seen him somewhere before… though he couldn't quite place where.

And the King, in a moment of still-sleepy amusement, sidestepped around the lone gate (for their glass spikes were not yet present) and over the glass wall remnants. Though, he happily noted, that most of the shards were cleared from this particular area. “Hello there,” his low roll sounded thick and hoarse from sleep. He cleared his throat, and while he did Mbwene tottered forward, bright blue eyes on the two foals. She trumpeted a bright, brassy greeting, her trunk raised and outstretched towards their soft, downy feathers. “Hello little ones, this is Mbwene. She is loud, but she means well,” his voice rumbled with amusement, great head dropping slightly as he addressed the dark colt and star-brushed filly.

His heavy skull and thick horn then rose, navy eyes retraining on the children’s father (he assumed, anyway). “I am Tembovu, King here. What brings you to our borders?” Black rimmed ears tilt forward as he awaited an answer.

While Travelling:

Though muttered, Mesec caught the single question from Virga - smiling at him and trying to be as encouraging as possible because he didn’t sound too interested but he had still asked. “They’re uh… they’re powerful beings that control the magic and elements here in Helovia. There’s four of them - the Sun, Earth, Time, and Moon... who’s my mother and your grandmother. Together, they help keep balance in Helovia.” How much information was too much information to vomit at them at once? A little bit at a time, probably. He’d follow the train of their questions, see what parts they were curious about most and then flesh it out from there. He wanted to tell them everything about what he knew, about Helovia, his mother, and the other gods. And he would.

In contrast to the single, muttered question from Virga, Vesper was an unending fountain of them - asking them faster than he could answer them! Mesec had to laugh as they kept coming from her before she asked more quietly whether it was too many and then apologized. He quickly nudged her, his smile still bright. “No, no - questions are good. Ask me every single one you can think of.” He looked over to Virga too - this invitation was not only for Vesper (who had vomited questions) but for him as well. Whenever one of them had a question for Mesec, he wanted them to feel comfortable enough to ask.

Alright, now what was her first question? “Yes, she’s a goddess. But no, she lives…” How could he describe where the gods and goddess lived? They didn’t always need physical bodies but they were still around. “In the sky. So she can keep an eye on everyone in Helovia.” That was basically it, anyway.  

“There is another god for the Basin - the God of Time. I don’t know him very well but I grew up with his daughter and we’re very close, like you two are.” His voice was soft and filled with fondness as he thought of Roskuld - wondering where she might be.  

Mesec was silent for a few paces as he tried to remember what else Vesper had asked. Oh right, the kids of the gods. “All the gods have one child - there’s Roskuld the daughter of Time, the daughter of Earth - I call her Little Earth, and Aithniel the daughter of the Sun.” He hadn’t seen Aithniel in so long, not since a herd meeting in the Throat when everything was still normal, and he even missed Little Earth and her aggravating logic. “I think you can call my mother whatever you want. We’ll see what she thinks of it when we go visit her.” Mesec grinned at the two of them and Lucius thought quietly to himself how amazing of an effect the twins had on his bonded, temporarily soothing away the bitter darkness that clouded his mind.    


At the Gate:
They weren’t left waiting for very long. A large, tan unicorn accompanied by a small elephant approached them, stepping around the gate and sounding like he had just woken up from a nap when he greeted them. The loud trumpet from the elephant was surely enough to wake up anyone fully, however - it certainly startled Lucius where he lay nestled among Mesec’s wings. The zephyr stood and peered at the creature that was greeting the twins, eyeing it warily.

Mesec, for his part, found it easy to maintain a small but warm smile in the presence of the little elephant and the sleepy king. “Hello Tembovu. I’m Mesec, and these are my children Vesper and Virga.” He motioned with his head to the silver-speckled filly and the deep black colt in turn as he spoke their name, smiling with such fondness at them both as he did. “We’re here to join the herd...” Mesec almost said ‘if we’re welcome’ but the thing was, whether Tembovu was king or not there was a single authority that was a little bit over his head and she had told Mesec to come here.

And before he could even get out anything else - an unbelievably familiar voice was shouting at him. An echo of ‘Bro!’ coming from the forest had Mesec’s attention snapping towards the direction of it - his heart becoming so light it might actually rise up out of his chest and choke him with the sheer intensity of the happiness that voice inspired. Of all the places he had thought he might run into Roskuld he never thought it would be here. Suddenly all he wanted to do was race toward her, as if they were nothing but gangly foals themselves, and he shifted a little bit in his stance as his silver eyes searched impatiently for her before remembering he was in the presence of his children and a king, he probably shouldn’t just go racing into the Edge like a madman.

But the pure wave of joy when she finally crashed out of the forest, wild and insane and incredible as always, shouting at him he couldn’t help but shout back. “ROS!!” Mesec whinnied back at her, more stunned and elated at the sight of her than he had been at the sound of her voice.

The running-and-tackling type of reunion literally came to a stop when Roskuld did and for a moment Mesec didn’t get it, a frown darkening his expression for a moment. What could she possibly be looking at…. Oh. He looked down at Vesper and Virga and his grin returned - bright and embarrassed and filled with laughter as she stammered over the sight. She hadn’t even met Lucius yet so of course she didn’t know about the kids.

He shifted in his stance again, this time a little more awkwardly. “Uhh… Yeah. So.” His gaze flickered over to Tembovu and he ducked his head apologetically at the king, hoping he didn’t mind the rather loud reunion that was happening right now. “Ros, these are my kids - Vesper and Virga…” And then, because Lucius was standing now, peering his head to get a look at Ros and Chico and nipping at Mesec’s neck until he remembered to include him as well. “And my companion Lucius.” He couldn’t believe how amazing this felt, for his children to meet her - the one sibling that meant the absolute world to him.

And Chico! The companion that had been a little lizard that crawled onto Mesec’s nose was now a great, winged lion creature - sprawled on Roskuld’s back and looking as cheeky as ever. They were here. They were all here.

His silver eyes were glossing over but he quickly shook his head and willed the tears not to fall as he looked to the twins with a bright smile. “Kids, this is my sister - Roskuld.”

we'll go over the mountains and under the stars

Tembovu & Mbwene

Mbwene trilled in happiness as the filly—Vesper, her father introduces—allowed for her trunk to meet the downy feathers. And they were as soft as they look, the little matriarch discovered as she gently ran her trunk tip along the wing’s underside, swirling a few delicate patterns in the fuzzy feathers. The feeling of another’s eyes brought her own bright blue gaze up to meet Lucius’s wary one—though he was quickly blocked by another Zephyr, as Everly peered down from Vesper’s shoulders and chirps a hello. The small elephant’s trunk left the caresses of the filly’s wing, reaching up with a soft toot of hello to the Zephyr. Though a sadness pulsed through her face and through her bond with the King—so many Zephyrs reminded her of Edgar, a friend lost because of the King’s transgressions.

But Tembovu swept his companion’s forlorn feelings (and the memories behind them) aside, instead focusing on the twin’s father. A lopsided grin crossed muzzle, despite the brief curiosity at the unsaid words that seemed to hang at the end of his ”We’re here to join the herd…” His head dipped slightly in affirmation of his request (though, unknown to the King, it wasn’t truly a request to come live in the Edge). “You and your children are welcome to join us—”

“—Excuse me, sir. Will you tell me more about your Mbwene?” But his deep rolling voice (now fully awakened) was interrupted by Vesper’s brightly curious voice. The Elephant’s grin grew in amusement at the overeager filly—though he tried to suppress his smile and holding back a chuckle as he glanced towards her father to see if he had anything to say on the matter of his daughter interrupting a King. (Though, truthfully, the Elephant’s fondness for children ran too deep for him to mind the interruption). “Yes Vesper, Mbwene is an elephant. She is my companion, just as you—”

But, again, the King’s low rumble was interrupted, this time by a far-off (but fast approaching) shout and pound of galloping hooves. The King immediately (and instinctively) shifted his large body towards the dark, star-marked twins so that he might be able to better shield or protect them from whatever rushed at them.

But he need not worry, for it was Roskuld that barreled towards the foursome (sevensome, including companions). And her shouts were curiously of ”BROOOO” as she ran full-tilt towards Mesec. The Elephant’s body relaxed slightly, shifting slightly to no longer block the colt and filly from the Sparklight’s onslaught. However, her onslaught arbuptly halted as her electrified eyes landed on the twins and her ”What?”s dissolved into soundless words and gaping lips.

Navy gaze crease with a confused curiosity at many things. Roskuld’s apparent relation to Mesec (his eyes swing between them as the man introduces his family once again); they looked nothing alike. But also at Roskuld’s over-bright eyes and obvious overwhemling, voice-stealing emotions. Even the Nightwing’s eyes grew filled with unshed tears.

The Elephant King shifted slightly, intuitively moving towards Roskuld in response to the tears that threatened her eyes. Again, his gaze swept between the siblings, “Sister?” His question was quiet, almost hushed, as he wasn’t certain if now was the most appropriate time to pry. But it wasn’t a prying question, more of a Kingly curiosity question as to what family was now inhabiting the Edge.