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

And suddenly, the world felt better, as the briny waters cooled his heated body and soothed his mind. The water might belong to Earth, but the cold, the peace, the knowledge that the moon would soon rise - that, belonged to her, and thus, calmed Mauja. He allowed his mind to drift, carried gently by the waves, allowed duty, responsibility and worry to fade away, snatched up by the wind and scattered. There was only water for his hooves to touch, but he wasn't far out; he swam gently, slowly, not really moving out for he kicked only to stay afloat and each wave gently herded him back to shore. For a moment his blue eyes closed, but his white legs kept kicking beneath the surface, steadfast, rhythmical - only when a presence, a warm body, came near did he look up, seeing the world again and not the back of his eyelids. It was the blue roan mare Aurelius had brought home, swimming with ease through the cooling waters, salt forming a white line across her chest. The King dipped his head as far as he could in the waves, returning her beautiful smile with a soft one of his own.

There were two sides of Mauja, but both were of the winter. One was the cold, hard edge of ice, sometimes brittle around the edges but as unmovable and constant as a glacier. That was the side which cradled his ambition, the side which thought of hornless and felt only a hardening of his heart. The other side was soft like newly fallen snow, pale without being cold, somehow warm and yet not warm at all - and there was no need for an edge of ice, so everything about him was soft and gentle, affectionate even. Frozen king she called him, and his smile grew wry; it was a fitting name, he guessed, given his appearance, title, and the rather heartless amount of cold he possessed. When the mood struck him, he could connive surprisingly coldblooded plans, and seemed to have few moral qualms in carrying them out. The Plague was proof of such, but her question caught him slightly off guard, and carried echoes of the Moon to him. Mauja met her eyes; hers were a deeper blue than his, more like rain and oceans than frozen things. "Perhaps," he said calmly. "But it's a matter of definition, is it not? The Moon graced me with the permission to lead and has not revoked it, so it seems I'm doing something right, at least." He winked playfully at her, but a moment later, all sense of silliness drained from his face. A desperate whinny rolled in from shore, and the King's head shot up, ears alert and eyes scanning, suddenly so serious, nearly worried.

Quickly he found the source. A horse, horned if his eyes didn't betray him, was thrashing through the water, crying out as if panicked, or hurt. For a moment, Mauja did nothing, just stared dumbly at him, confused by his strange behavior - it wasn't even deep where he was! But it was obvious that he needed either help or moral support, and with a snort the King kicked into motion. Carried by the waves and with far more powerful strokes than before Mauja began to move closer to shore. Soon it was obvious that the other stallion was a unicorn, but he had a lot of fancy stuff on him that the FrostHeart couldn't identify. "Calm, brother!" he shouted across the distance, still coming in closer. Briefly he looked over his shoulder to see if Huyana had followed him along or not, then he swung his attention back to the stranger. "What's wrong?" Genuine concern cut through the layers of his raised voice, his eyes worried - what was wrong with him? Was he hurt? Mad?