the Rift


[OPEN] In spite of all my fears, I can see it all so clear

Yael Posts: 186
World's Edge Seer atk: 7.5 | def: 11 | dam: 2.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14.2 :: 39 - appears 8 HP: 63.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Zani :: Serval :: None Astor
#1

yael

After meeting both Tilney and Sacre – which completes the trio of Moon Doctors – Yael is perfectly content to leave the healing arts in their capable hands. Oh, she has every intention of learning more about herbology and natural remedies, but she suspects that there is a certain lack of wisdom-seeking in the Edge. In fact, if she’d heard the Moon correctly, they were left without a Seer. Which means something to Yael, she just isn’t sure what. Is the Moon who she wants to dedicate herself to? She knows there are other Gods here, but having only seen one – no, two if you count the Earth God appearing during the whole Kaos fiasco – she has a wretchedly low amount of knowledge.

Perhaps the Rulers can provide some sort of guidance, since there is no Seer to fill that role.

More tentative than she should be, Yael sort of wanders around the herd land, looking for their black-and-white Queen or the horned King with open eyes and a clear heart. From the Iron gate to the edge of the cliffs, in between the shadowy pine and cedar forest trees , to the caves near Rexanna’s home. Eventually, she comes back to the rim of one of the cliffs and simply closes her eyes,  enjoying the warm breeze and the smell of salt and sea below. Maybe she should just… go and seek without blessing or guidance. She’s a big girl, and the dragon inside her is fierce enough to deter the most persistent of predators. No - she’s a grown ass woman, former magician, and twice a Queen. It’s time she started acting like she’s got both ambition and gumption.

Van’s talon slides gently along the top of her neck, and she likes to think in that moment, the spirit of her Nightwalker agrees.

Go. It's about damn time you stopped wallowing, little Rose.

trust your heart if the seas catch fire

live by love, though the stars walk backwards

Image © littlewillow-art



Particularly looking for @Alysanne  or @Tembovu  or @Arah  
But absolutely open to any <3

Please only tag in starter posts, or if the thread is getting dusty
Force and magic allowed, no death please

Alysanne the Devoted Posts: 641
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 10 | dam: 3.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16 hh :: 11 years HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Hemlock :: Flammulated Owl :: Heal & Cypress :: Great Horned Owl :: None Sarah
#2









In the heat of Tallsun, Alysanne was flying with Hemlock over the forest of the Edge. Officially, she was patrolling - getting a bird's-eye-view of the Edge and her home, all her friends and those she cared about within it. But her wing beats were lazy as she soared and danced with the darting brown from of her companion.

It had been five years since she had first arrived in the Edge, accompanying a tearful Kahlua.

Sometimes it was incredible to just think about just how much had changed - how much she had lived through in that time.

Her mind, fueled by the sunshine bright on her white wings, skittered over the things she had lost.

When her wings were sore from the exercise, she angled towards the cliffs and landed with only the smallest of stumbles. To be fair, though, just as her hooves were connecting with the rocky surface she had spotted the golden pegasus standing a little ways down from where she had landed. So she hadn’t been giving the landing the concentration that it needed.

But it was quickly pushed from her mind when faced with someone she wished to meet.  “Hello!” She called out in a warm voice, hoping that she would not startle the golden mare where she stood by the cliffs. That wasn’t her intention, after all. Alysanne approached then, already smiling. She remembered this mare from the meeting, how she had expressed interest in becoming both a healer and a philosopher, but there was no name to go along with the face. How terrible of a queen do you need to be to just forget to introduce yourself to someone who had been new to the herd?

But there was no time like the present to fix her mistake! “I don’t think we’ve properly met yet, I’m Alysanne - but just Aly will do.”


just let my love throw a spark
and have a little faith in me

art by rhiaan
please tag Alysanne in replies
[Image: alysanne_by_schwartze-d89se15.png]
made by the lovely tamme
non-life threatening physical force is allowed at all times, but preference is to be checked with beforehand for any injuries

Lyanna the Windswept Posts: 313
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 11 | dam: 4.0
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 5 years HP: 64 | Buff: NOVICE
Kyra
#3
so i listen to the    wind for an answer
She wishes she could stop wallowing. It seems to be all she does. Wallow. She’s gotten better at wallowing in a functional sort of way. She does her job, has made friends, and has even been out and about enough to make friends in other herds. But somehow, she cannot quite stop the pain in her heart or the thought of her family that creep in. The hole in chest doesn’t ever really seem to close. And maybe she just has to learn that it won’t. Because she has a good life here, she knows it. A job that she enjoys, friends that she loves, a safe place to call home.

What she doesn’t have is a family. And maybe it’s not in the cards for her. Or maybe one day, she will. But the Edge is her family. It’s enough, and she loves her life, but she will always miss what she lost.

The day is beautiful though, and she’s planning to set out for some herb gathering. There was always something to keep her mind busy in the garden, to keep her body active. She makes her way through the trees toward the cliff. The wind isn’t terrible today, so she can leave from the cliff and take the long, scenic route west to see what herbs she can find.

As she comes out of the trees, however, a pair of familiar forms catches her attention. Aly and Yael. She hasn’t seen either much lately, though of course they were around, just busy as she had been busy. Lyanna can’t help but let her feet change course, taking her toward her friends instead of off the edge of the cliff. “Aly, Yael,” she says as she comes close to the group.

Her smile is bright and friendly as always, glad to see familiar faces. “Am I interrupting?” she asks, certainly willing to leave if Yael needed time alone with the Queen. Yes, they are friends, but sometimes one needs the Queen’s attention alone, and Lyanna could certainly respect that.

lyanna

art by yewrezz


@Yael @Alysanne
....casually thread crashes

Please tag in all posts
Magic use/power playing is okay, but check before serious injury/death
Image by Kiki

Yael Posts: 186
World's Edge Seer atk: 7.5 | def: 11 | dam: 2.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14.2 :: 39 - appears 8 HP: 63.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Zani :: Serval :: None Astor
#4
Yael’s heart sinks a little bit when Alysanne introduces herself - it is a bit of a blow to her newly blossoming sense of confidence that the Queen does not remember they’d met prior to this. But the little golden pegasus plays the diplomat well, if nothing else, and besides, it was a small miracle that the very woman she’d been searching for now practically fell out of the sky at her hooves. Minus the falling. Moving away from the ledge, she meets the black and white mare somewhere halfway between them. Shalom! she returns with a bright smile and a dip of her romanesque head. “T’ank you, Alee. I am Yael… I believe ve met vhile xelping a couple of undeserving spiders -” At this, she makes a sort of displeased face, for the memory of the dead Ant Queen is more than distasteful to such a pacifist like herself. ”- een ze Spreeng, yes?”

She is about to broach the subject of her search, when another black-and-white figure calls out her name. Spying Lyanna, Yael grins and extends a great, gilded wing in invitation. Honestly, the more the merrier, because she does so value the Moon Doctor’s advice as both a friend and superior, and a second source of input would never be turned away. “Not at all, Lyanna. Come, I vas just about to ah, ask for some advice… or guidance... of a sort.” Awkward in her hesitancy, Yael’s lilting tongue drops a couple of tinkling chuckles before tiptoeing forwards.

“You see, I know very leettle about Xelovia, but I vould very much like to learn more - vit ze goal of perxaps vone day, being ze Seer. Knowledge ees a valuable t’ing, eef my past xas taught me anyt’ing. But t’en I t’ought… xow do I even know eet ees ze Moon I vant to dedeecate myself to, vhen I xaf never met ze ozers? Xow did you bote know?” Her head tilts a little to the side, fixing each mare with a genuinely curious gaze. It seems like something to be taken seriously, and she wouldn’t want to make a mistake, or be seen as a flip-flopping traitor.  

Yael

a lover of the light

Image


@Alysanne
@Lyanna

Please only tag in starter posts, or if the thread is getting dusty
Force and magic allowed, no death please

Alysanne the Devoted Posts: 641
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 10 | dam: 3.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16 hh :: 11 years HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Hemlock :: Flammulated Owl :: Heal & Cypress :: Great Horned Owl :: None Sarah
#5









“Oh!” To say that Alysanne’s recognition of her mistake caused a mortified look in her green eyes was an understatement. She was horrified that she didn’t recognize Yael right away. For someone that prided herself in remembering every name and face she ever came across, she was certainly losing her touch. What a terrible queen she was, and she felt dreadful about how Yael would be feeling. “Oh my goodness I am so sorry Yael, you’re absolutely right.” Alysanne couldn’t believe she had forgotten the golden mare and their strange afternoon with the spiders. Her voice took on a pleading tone, hating herself for having even forgotten for a moment. “Please forgive me. And thank you again for being so helpful with those spiders.”

Lyanna joined them a moment later and Alysanne greeted the teal-accented mare with a bright smile. She’s glad that Yael doesn’t seem to mind the Moon Doctor’s presence - though maybe Alysanne has just insulted her enough that she doesn’t wish to be alone with the queen any longer.

She turned her attention back to Yael, attempting to dismiss those dark thoughts and focus on the golden mare. Her manner is calm and patient as she waited to see what guidance was needed. Yael went on to explain that she wished to learn more about Helovia, and that she had the goal of becoming Seer one day. “That’s a wonderful goal to have, Yael! Our Wise One ranks need more attention, and someone who values knowledge as much as you is just what we need.” If Yael truly yearned to gather as much knowledge as she seemed to, Alysanne wouldn’t be surprised to see her achieve her goal of becoming Seer one day.

At the question posed towards them, Alysanne’s smile softened and grew fond - as it always did whenever she thought of the past, of how she had come to live in the World’s Edge all those years ago. “For me, it wasn’t about dedicating myself to the Moon - not at first, at least. I was welcomed into this herd when I was lost and had nowhere else to go and the members of his herd became my family. So I devoted myself to them.” She heard they called her the Devoted now, since she had become Queen, and it was a little strange to use the word in conversation. It suited her, she supposed, and wasn’t as terrible as some of the titles she had heard around Helovia. “I revere our Goddess, of course, though I suspect that if it had not been for a friendly mare in the Threshold I might have eventually found that my allegiances lay with the Earth God. My father was… well I guess a minor earth god, more of a nymph than anything. And the earth and trees and flowers have always called to me. But once I came to live here - I knew I would never leave. I fell in love with this forest and the mists and the mysterious ways of our Goddess.”

Was that helpful at all? She watched both mares for a reaction, and was curious as well what Lyanna would say for her answer.


just let my love throw a spark
and have a little faith in me

art by rhiaan


@Lyanna @Yael <3
please tag Alysanne in replies
[Image: alysanne_by_schwartze-d89se15.png]
made by the lovely tamme
non-life threatening physical force is allowed at all times, but preference is to be checked with beforehand for any injuries

Lyanna the Windswept Posts: 313
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 11 | dam: 4.0
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 5 years HP: 64 | Buff: NOVICE
Kyra
#6
so i listen to the    wind for an answer
She is glad for the extended gold wing of greeting, and she makes her way into the group happily. After all, these are some of her favorite horses in the Edge (and in Helovia, really) in one spot. But the inviation is slightly faltering, and for a moment, Lyanna cannot help but worry that Yael too would leave the Edge. First Glasgow, her friend. Toulouse, and though part of her is glad, she’d brought Toulouse here and still felt like she’d failed him, somehow. She couldn’t stomach the thought of losing Yael too, both her friend and her recruit. Could she fail so many?

Perhaps she could. She had failed her family in the worst of ways. Why did she think in this life that she might not fail again?

But thankfully, Yael is not leaving. She’s just picking her career path. One which might mean she will ultimately lose. And the thought hurts, but it doesn’t seem like one where it’s because Lyanna could have done anything differently. If Yael one days chooses to serve a different God, there is nothing Lyanna can do to change the Gods. Her smile does not slip, at least, and Aly is quick to reply and for the moment, Lyanna lets their Queen steer the conversation.

She has heard some of Alysanne’s beginnings, when the mare had long ago offered Lyanna an ear and a shoulder to cry on. She had never told Aly of her past, and now, she couldn’t say why. It just never seemed like an appropriate thing to throw into a conversation, normally. And she got so little time with Aly anymore that didn’t require business discussions that she didn’t feel like bringing down their few personal moments.

“My story is not unlike Alysanne’s. Elsa found me in the Threshold and described a place that sounded very much like the home I had lost. I decided to go and Aly met me the border, welcoming me in with open arms that I’d hardly done anything to earn. So I stayed and threw myself into working for the Edge, learning everything I could about herbs and healing. Eventually I came to learn more about the Gods here, and if I had to pick one, I would choose the Moon Goddess. But in my old home I could control the wind, and I will always have an affinity for it, so the Moon Goddess suits me.”

Like Aly, Lyanna isn’t sure if her answer is helpful, but it’s the best one she’s got. And she’ll offer the truth, even if it’s only pieces of it. No one needs to know just why she lost her home. Or that her brother would have beloned to the Sun God here, her Mother to the Earth God. She’d come from a land so different than this that perhaps none of it really mattered but what happened going forward.

lyanna

art by yewrezz


@Yael

Please tag in all posts
Magic use/power playing is okay, but check before serious injury/death
Image by Kiki

Yael Posts: 186
World's Edge Seer atk: 7.5 | def: 11 | dam: 2.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 14.2 :: 39 - appears 8 HP: 63.5 | Buff: NOVICE
Zani :: Serval :: None Astor
#7
Wherever fate may take the gilded woman, she would forevermore count Lyanna amongst her friends. The teal-tipped mare is too full of kindness and the genuine desire to do good for Yael to not find a kindred spirit in her. And if anyone doubted the Doctor’s commitment to the herd, why, Yael would challenge them to a dragon-fueled duel right then and there. That would surely show the slanderer what’s what.  

Aly, too, is full of sweetness, but the very nature of her position keeps her removed from Yael, a lowly Philosopher. She would never hold the Queen’s forgetfulness against her, brushing it away with a murmured, “Of course, eet ees no matter… zose vere nasty spiders…” frowning at the memory. The truth is that the Helovians let themselves be tricked into doing the spiders’ dirty work, which led to a beautiful creature’s death. It’s unclear whether or not Yael recognizes the impetus of her old magic resurfacing, because as you know, we do not often like to see the true cause and effect of our actions, but either way, it was an important event.

As Yael listens, her warm gaze flickers between the two women, listening intently but saying nothing until both are finished. They both speak of devotion and falling into their roles - it is a feeling the former Queen knows well, almost too well. Devotion to the point of blindness. She cannot help but admire their innocent induction and laugh at it in the same breath. Have they never been on the wrong side of history before? Fear of making the wrong choice again weighs heavily on her neck, a fifty pound chain of death and destruction you’d never know she’s left in her wake; a constant reminder of the need to shop around in the name of research and story collecting.

What she may find rumbling beneath Helovia’s surface may shock her.

She nods thoughtfully, piecing together her words in a diplomatic fashion. “I, too, xaf lost everyzing… but zere are a few xere xoo haf begun to replace eet…” Without hesitation, she nudges Lyanna’s shoulder affectionately, but there is a sadness in her voice that betrays a smidgen of her true feelings. “Eet ees odd, because een my old life, I was Keen of a vast desert, but ze idea of a Goddess appeals far more zan a God, you know? But zen I t’ink ze Eart God! Ach, but xe ees gone now. And vell... “ she shrugs, trailing off. “Vhat ees a voman xoo vonce xad ze po’er of ze Gods to do? I cannot go back, and so I must assimeelate.” A big ‘ol sigh escapes as she feels she is not conveying her meaning accurately. She also doesn't want to portray this endeavor as a selfish task. Time to finish with a thesis statement. “So, I t’ink zat learning ze heestory ees a dual good task - to teach ze future generations about Xelovia, and also to choose for myself. And perxaps, to collect knowledge about ze lands outside Xelovia, because eet seems to me zere are many foreigners like myself.”

And yet, none quite like Yael.

Then back to the Queen and the Doctor, she asks earnestly of both mares - they who have listened to her babble on about her questions and insecurities - “Vould you boze do me ze ‘onors of being ze feerst two to tell zeir stories? To-morrow, perxaps?”

Who could refuse a request like that?

Yael


a lover of the light

Image


@Alysanne  @Lyanna  
Apologies for the novel D:

Please only tag in starter posts, or if the thread is getting dusty
Force and magic allowed, no death please

Alysanne the Devoted Posts: 641
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 10 | dam: 3.5
Mare :: Pegasus :: 16 hh :: 11 years HP: 62 | Buff: NOVICE
Hemlock :: Flammulated Owl :: Heal & Cypress :: Great Horned Owl :: None Sarah
#8









The bond of friendship between Lyanna and Yael brings a warm smile to Alysanne’s face - she’s happy to see the gentle nudge that the golden mare gives, marking Lyanna as one who has helped replace what she has lost. It brought her a rush of joy, truly, knowing that the Edge had played some part in bringing these two mares together, in bringing them into each other’s lives.

She listened with interest as Yael explained a bit of her own past - mentioning briefly that she once held the power of the gods (a fact that fascinates Alysanne and reminds her of the angels and demons of the land she grew up in). Alysanne’s dark head nodded along, agreeing that learning the history of Helovia and Helovians alike was a wonderful task - and something that should hopefully shed a little light on which path suited Yael best.

“Yes, many who call Helovia home have come from elsewhere - I think it’s rare to find someone who has been born here, and rarer still to find more than one generation in a family.” It was truly remarkable, really - the shared experiences of so many different homelands all coming together within Helovia. Worlds and places Alysanne could have never dreamed of - and she hoped none were like her old home.

At the question about whether they would be the first to tell their stories, Alysanne was all smiles and agreement. “I would be happy to, Yael - whenever you’d like. I don’t know how exciting my own story will be compared to some of the others you will collect across Helovia - but I’ll share it for whatever it’s worth. After living in Helovia for five years, I’ve certainly seen a few things.” The threat of Kaos was troubling but not entirely surprising - it seemed that there was always some new threat lingering on the edges of Helovia, threatening what would otherwise be a peaceful place. Perhaps the Gods drew in the darkness from outside, power drawn to power and the poor mortals on the ground got caught up in the mix.

But as for her personal story, Alysanne wondered, even as she agreed to tell her own story, how truthful she would be with Yael. She didn’t know the golden mare well - would she be able to open up about the things that troubled her? Iona alone knew everything about her… but, at the very least, she had lived for eleven Birdsongs and she would be able to come up with something to share.


just let my love throw a spark
and have a little faith in me

art by rhiaan


@Lyanna
please tag Alysanne in replies
[Image: alysanne_by_schwartze-d89se15.png]
made by the lovely tamme
non-life threatening physical force is allowed at all times, but preference is to be checked with beforehand for any injuries

Lyanna the Windswept Posts: 313
World's Edge Queen atk: 7 | def: 11 | dam: 4.0
Mare :: Pegasus :: 15.2 :: 5 years HP: 64 | Buff: NOVICE
Kyra
#9
so i listen to the    wind for an answer
She has been on the wrong side of history before. And every day she wracks her brain trying to figure out what else she could have done, what she might have missed. How did she pick up no hint of a plot against her family? How did all of their spies miss it? Was there a sidelong glance she should have interpreted differently? But she has no idea what she missed, because if she had any clue, she wouldn’t have missed it. And maybe the rebels and murderers had simply been so clever, so hidden, that there was never anything for Lyanna to see.

But now she doesn’t choose much of anything. Because she didn’t choose this life, and in truth, she wouldn’t have picked it over her old. She stays because it is safe, because there are no better options, because what she does have here is good. It seems easier though just to let herself fall through this life, tumbling from one step to the next until she hits the bottom. She had time yet for that, and she would keep living as best she could simply because her family could not.

Yael admits to losing everything as well, though nudges Lyanna affectionately as she says some have begun to help fill those voids. She nudges her friend back, offering her an understanding smile. She is glad to have met Yael and Aly and all those she calls friends in Helovia, but she would give it all back for her old life if she could. She wishes that weren’t true, but it is. They were her family, after all. Though if she had to start over again, she is glad it has been in the Edge with all the friends she has made here.

Then Yael asks if they would share their stories, and she can’t find it in her heart to say no. Though it’s not a story she tells often, and not one she likes to tell. But maybe it would be good for her, maybe it would make the past less full of ghosts somehow. She’s not sure how, but still, she finds herself saying, “Of course, I’d be happy to. It seems like a good project, and I hope you share stories with me. There's so much I don't know about Helovia, and I'd love to be your student.” Lyanna has spent enough time teaching Yael about herbs, it was about time their roles reversed. She'd be glad to be learning something different for a change.

lyanna

art by yewrezz


@Yael

Please tag in all posts
Magic use/power playing is okay, but check before serious injury/death
Image by Kiki


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