Mauja the FrostHeart
ice cold man watches earth die, eternal winter takes its reign

[ others are still more than welcome to join! :3 ]

Only silence answered him.

It seemed his ghost herd of the night court hadn't come out to haunt yet, for his cry drifted off into an ethereal silence - broken only after nearly a minute by an evening bird. Mauja's ears twitched softly, still alert, pale eyes scanning the drying trees.. but nothing came. No soft whisper of response, no swaying branches that heralded movement, no nothing. Time ticked by, and still his heart kept hoping, but in the end he gave it up with a sigh. The edge in his eyes went dull, ears flipping back and his head came down a notch. The sun stole the spirit right out of everything, even his herd mates - even out of him. It was troubling, and yet no other god had granted them a vision of what to do - so what was there to do, except wait, and try and survive? Try and cling to whatever happiness there is, whatever hope there is? Mauja hated it, he hated being powerless and at the mercy of something so strong and volatile. He hated it, but he didn't let the hate shine through the cracks in his armor; he allowed only the sadness to leak out in defeated stances and mournful sighs. It swam in his eyes like a duck in a pond. There was no danger in showing sorrow; a ruler who ruled with his heart ought to weep when his people suffered and his land died, yet Mauja didn't weep. He only gave those small, sad smiles - like he did now.

He angled his head down to look at Aurelius instead of the forest, a somewhat defeated look on his face. "We tend to come alive at night," he explained softly as another cool wind brushed past. The sun slipped further down, taking the brilliance with it, desaturating the world. Mauja didn't mind. He looked the same by night as by day anyway, except that the frost on his horn and hooves seemed less blue. "They'll awaken when they wish. They're out there, somewhere. It's not strange if they are withdrawn, either. Tension runs higher when everyone is miserable. Come." Brusquely he strode forward again, purpose in his step and yet he did not walk overly fast; somewhere in the back of his mind he was aware of Aurelius' shorter legs, and after such a long, hot journey he had no wish to force the little stallion into a trot just to keep up with Mauja's long strides. Despite his own heartache, he was a graceful sight, regal by virtue of his bloodlines and powerful simply because he was. Even in times of despair, he was a King to look upon, and yet his heart was not as cruel as some seemed to think.

Well, that was somewhat of a lie.

Mauja could be terribly cold when he chose to, and not in the way that he did it out of necessity and later regretted it, but in the way that it didn't affect him at all. He was true to the name he'd been given, Frostheart, but when it come to his own kind, his own herd, he felt more like a father than an ice cold ruler. And a father should know his sons. Mid-step his head tilted down, one cold blue eye settling on Aurelius, and yet there was nothing chilly in his gaze at all. "Where do you come from, Aurelius? Who were you?" Mauja enjoyed knowing the pasts of those who lived with him, for many reasons - it spoke volumes about the individual itself, and to share it was a sign of trust in their new ruler. It gave insight to their cultural beliefs without asking are you a supremacist?, and sometimes revealed other things. Besides, Mauja was a curious creature who enjoyed learning of different places. Two horses seldom came from the same place here, the Threshold was full of different pasts and kingdoms - and it pleased him to hear about them, muse on them, and on what made his unicorns leave home. Sometimes it warned him of mistakes he should never make. And, someone who looked like Aurelius... he surely had an interesting past. Somewhat happier now, despite the state of his lands, he kept walking west, intending to take Aurelius to where the Edge started rising out across the Endless Blue. Perhaps some of his members had been resting in the shade nearby, or even in the ocean itself.