He’d waited, as he’d been asked, and now the final day had arrived.  Coming to the entrance of the jutting peninsula early, the Sun barely a hint of ruddy light against the distant brim of the world, the stallion chooses a relatively open area, by a sizeable boulder to wait.  Using the massive stone as wind cover (the breeze gusting, occasionally enough to send his mane drifting along its invisible fingertips, despite the shielding girth of the boulder), he hopes she arrives from somewhere northerly, and will see him.
 
Regardless, he keeps his eyes open for the bird, finding it curious that it would the second time since returning home that he had followed a black, avian creature with only faith to hold to.  The first had not really been his omen, but Ranjiri’s, and that he finds himself waiting here, for the raven, draws an amused smile to face.
 
His mother would have approved.  She was the sort of woman to disbelieve in coincidence, unbendingly of the thought that all things were born of fate.  As a child, she had told me many tales that proved her theories, all while my father had an equal number which he used to attempt to disprove her (it seemed an amusing point of their relationship, that she was always warm, and full of dreams, while he was stone, and a stern warrior).
 
“Sometimes fate delivers a punishment, rather than a boon.  Life is not all blessings.”
 
His pale eyes to the heavens, he thinks of his mother while looking for the bird, realizing he hasn’t paid as much attention as he should to reality while dwelling in the memory of a woman, gone forever.  Though he had all her stories and wisdom to live by, it was not the same as having her.  While Ranjiri certainly would try to give him answers, and surely the seers of the Falls might have wisdom to impart, there was simply no substitute for a mother, especially not one like his.
 
Who would he turn to, now?  He thinks, not sure he knows.

[ OOC:  Hope you don't mind that I went ahead and started it!  Isopia invited Dragomir here in order to change an enchantment on the Tiger's Skull mask, using one of Odd's VOTG passes.  I'm sure she'll verify!  Obviously Isopia needs to be here first. :P ]

This thread is a continuation of Memories & Metals for those interested. <3 ]

His daughter?!

Dragomir’s blue eyes flutter over to the proud mare with wide eyed surprise. She was a Goddess? And he had been treating her with such a lack of reverence! His immediate impulse is to fall to his knees before the holy family, if he wasn’t already on bended knee, in honor of the God’s appearance.

Hurriedly stumbling to his hooves, the stallion glances between the raven-girl, and her dad, just now noticing how nature itself seemed to grab her and wrap about her ankles, as if it could reclaim her for its own. The strength in her figure and presence were all so obvious now, things he hadn’t noticed, not having expected an every day encounter with someone he’d assumed to be no more than a common thief to be so important.

What a fool he was.

It seems like no time at all before their eyes are on him, however, and the pressure of it all, on top of his current fluster, leave him with a hammering heart, and lame tongue. Swallowing, and clearing his throat, he nods, to acknowledge all that the mare had already said, before he musters something other than dumbfounded stupor.

"Thank you for your presence, Father Earth. I indeed have little use for the item as it is," he states, feeling all the more stupid for his lack of anything more than that, "despite our shared interest in stone, its current focus on the structural composition of the rock, which your daughter required of it, does little in service to my work with metals. I feel the ability to determine which nearby stones have metal in them, and what kind of metal that is, would serve my art much better."

Dragomir’s interactions with the God had been swift, and short lived; once, on the floating island, he’d given the creator of the mountains and rivers a pendant of glass, depicting such a scene, but the humble man greatly doubted such a small favor would be remembered by someone so magnanimous. Otherwise, he has encountered him in glimpses during battles with Goddesses, or during meetings. They have never before stood within such a private setting, and it makes him nervous, as nervous as he has ever felt standing before his sire.

That, and his religious raising before arriving to Helovia, lends to his use of the word Father; believing that he, and all other horses, are descendants of the great Nieque, it feels quite natural to serve the Helovian God whom wielded the same tremendous control over earth as that ancient divine of a long lost land. That Nieque actually was his father, through very distant relation, anyway, definitely helped the crafter to feel closer to the God before them, than he did the Moon, or any of the other divines of his new home.

He finds he likes him even more for the gentleness with which he treats his daughter, and the ease with which he offers his forgiveness. Speaking but his small piece, and otherwise studiously listening, he nods when the God speaks to him, rather than the tall girl.

"I will help her however I can," he answers, after the bird-girl agrees to the quest as well, looking between the two of them for what came next.

Dragomir is quite glad that the task the Earth assigns the Mountain does not seem particularly dangerous. Looking over at the tall mare alongside him, he appraises the expression on her face, wondering if she’s begun to regret her decision to make up for her actions or not, now that its all come into play. Even if the quest isn’t risky, it still seems like a lot of stuff to accomplish, and it doesn’t really sound like he’ll be able to help much, either.

He had no ability to make fire, and hadn’t the slightest clue where to find brackish water (which he was pretty sure, anyway, was the mineral rich, hot water which occasionally spewed from the earth in great jettisons called geysers), though he did the others. Regardless, the mare was quite capable of going to those places on her own, much more swiftly than he could, considering that she could fly, and he couldn’t. Though he was proud to be an equine, bound to the earth, the stallion was also realistic; it was almost foolish to bring him along, bumbling and slow.

She was right, in that she could accomplish in days what would take him weeks. Nodding his agreement, the somber stallion manages a faint smile, hoping it helps to reassure the mare that, so long as she kept her word to him from now on, no hard feelings had been held in his chest over the matter.

"I will wait not far from here, then," he agrees, deciding it would take as many days to walk home and back as it would for the raven-mare to fly all across Helovia three times. It was better to stay put for a while, he decides, though he’d much rather be home, with Ranjiri. "At the mouth of peninsula. If you find you need me, you’ll have my aid."