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 Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:59 pm
A day. She had been here more than a day already. And in that time she had not received food or water, nor was she allowed to rest. The guards were rotated and each time she thought about laying down they roused her once more. It was a trying time but if this was what she needed to go through to prove herself, then that is what she would do. It's not like she had any other choice. She could try to talk to the guards but that seemed like an exercise in futility.
It was thoughts of her family that kept Aquitaine going over these many hours locked away in near isolation. She was thankful that she had not brought any of her children with her on this trip, for it would kill her to see them go through what she was going through now. She could only think about them, and think about when she would see them again. She could not consider if that would happen, but when. At least the pen gave her room to move around as well, though really the idea of pacing wasn't what she wanted to do, in this confined space that is pretty much what she was forced to do if she did want to move.
How long would they make her stay here like this? She could only go so long without water. Rest and food were important too, but without water she would die in captivity. Such a terrible fate. Glancing up at the sun filtering through the trees above Aquitaine sighed. She had to remain strong for herself and for her family.
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Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 3:27 pm
Mercy knew in her hart of hearts that Ironforge would not let the mare come to actual harm, he had explained it over and over again to her that putting such pressure on the mare was the only way to ensure she was telling the truth without actually beating it out of her. But even knowing that Mercy was hard pressed to follow her shaggy mentors orders and, at long last, when she was given leave to see to the mare Mercy wasted no time in doing so. Gathering up a bit of melon from on of the herds gardeners Mercy had Sorin carry it for her to the pen where the mare waited, the owls talons being much more adept at such tasks then she was.
..well she could have speared it with her horn and carried it that way..but the juice on her face was sticky and stabbing something might send the mare the wrong message. Upon reaching the pen Mercy nodded to the guards, sending them further away for some privacy before having Sorin land with the piece of Melon, placing it at the mares feet before flying away.
"I know that you much be thirsty and hungry..the melon is quite refreshing.." Mercy assured the mare as she approached, her voice kind and compassionate, her eyes roving over the mare to check her condition. She looked fine but then Mercy hadn't expected any differently, Ironforge's guards would never consider doing something to a prisoner.
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Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 3:36 pm
The rustle of wings caught her attention and Aquitaine looked up to see an owl fly in, followed shortly by a mare. The mare spoke with a kind voice and it put Aquitaine at ease. But then again, she had had used that same technique for getting those who were frightened to trust her.. Was that the purpose of the mare? Aquitaine now knew that they suspected her to be part of Pirata's army, and while that thought was frightening, she understood why. She looked the part, so why not assume that she was. Lowering her head Aquitaine eyed the melon for a few short moments. Yes, she was hungry and thirsty, but could she trust the melon? Had they decided she wasn't worth keeping around and would get rid of her quietly with poison?
Aquitaine glanced at the mare for a moment then returned her focus on the melon. She knew she would need to drink soon, and eat as well, but she was hesitant to eat the first thing that was placed before her. She had no herbs to counteract any poison, and even if she had have brought her herb pouch with her, they would have likely taken it away by now. Well she had little choice but to trust the mare and the melon. If this was a test, then she would take it. With a shrug she bit into the melon. It was sweet and filled her mouth with soothing liquid as she chewed. It was like a little slice of heaven. She ate it slowly, knowing it would do her no good to eat quickly after so long without food.
Once the melon was done she looked up at the mare before her. That little bit of food and liquid restored her. A smile crossed her lips. "Thank you." She said with a dip of her head. "I'm Aquitaine." There was a good chance the mare already knew that, but she introduced herself anyways.
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Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 4:01 pm
The mare's hesitation when it came to eating the melon was noted but Mercy waited patiently, she really couldn't blame her after the way things had gone during her first meeting with the herd. She wanted to reassure the mare that it was fine to eat but doing so would probably have the opposite effect, f she pushed her to eat it then she would likely conclude that there was some reason why.
"Your welcome." Mercy responded, a sincerely warm look on her face. "It's a pleasure to meet you Aquitaine, My name is Mercy..if your still thirsty we can go to the stream if you'd like?" She offered with a slight tilt of her head.
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Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 4:05 pm
"It is nice to meet you Mercy." She replied with a nod of her head. She may be captive, and she may have endured a day and a half with no food, water or rest, but she would do her best to keep her manners and offer pleasantries whenever possible. That was how she had been raised and that was how she would act unless the situation called for something else.
"I would not turn down the chance to drink." She said with a slight laugh. Who knows how long it would be before she had another opportunity to do so. Plus the chance to truly also stretch her legs and be free from this pen, even if it was only for a short time, was too good to pass up.
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Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 4:18 pm
The mare continued to be pleasant, and as far as Mercy knew had never been anything but, she had a hard time believing that one of Pirata's minions would be so well composed - from her experiences the Spider Queen's minions tended to be hot tempered and volatile - but Ironforge would probably tell her that some Soquili were good actors and she had to be sure.
Her instincts though..her instincts were telling her things were going to be okay and Mercy had learned to trust hr instincts. "It's not to far away." She assured Aquitaine , stepping aside so that she would walk with her out of the holding pen, the guards followed after then at a good distance, close enough to help if things went bad but far enough away that they at least had the illusion of privacy. Mercy kept a fair distance between herself and Aquitaine, her eyes ever straying towards the monster in Aquitaines hair - she well recalled the pain that Pirata's spiders had inflicted on her and even as she thought about it the old scars ached, her hide twitching at the site of the scar's. No she was in no hurry to be bit again.
"Does umm..your ..pet? Does he need to eat as well?" She finally asked, knowing that no one else had probably thought to inquire about her creatures needs.
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Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 4:25 pm
It felt good to leave the pen, to have a feeling of freedom - well almost freedom. At least they were giving her this opportunity. They could leave her locked up there for as long as they wanted with little to no food, but from what she could tell from her short time with Ironforge is that these were not the type of Soquili to do unnecessary harm to others. What they had done to her as a test, and a bit of a precaution, to see if she was who she truly said she was. If she were faced with a similar situation where she was looking at it from Ironforge's point of view, well she might have done something similar herself. Separate and observe to determine ones intent.
She knew they were being trailed by the guards but didn't mind. This little time out of the pen was just what she needed. Though she was still certain they had sent Mercy to win her over. Certainly she felt more comfortable around Mercy than she had with Ironforge, but Aquitaine had nothing to hide, so using these tactic were a waste of time.
"Pet." She said with a laugh. "He is far from a pet. He is as much a burden as he is a protector." The dragons eyes were focused on Mercy and his mouth slowly opened and closed but he made no noise towards the mare. "He requires no food. At least not that I am aware of. He simply exists in my mane and makes me life...interesting." And complicated at times, but certainly Mercy could guess at that.
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Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 4:40 pm
"That is..intriguing." Mercy replied, eyeing the creature and continuing to keep her distance. He might not be growling at her the way it had apparently growled at the stallions but she still did not want to test its patience.
Reaching the stream Mercy motioned for Aquitaine that she could drink freely. Thus far they had kept the conversation rather neutral but Mercy knew that Ironforge would be waiting for her report. "Ironforge has spoken with Supreme." She told the mare "She confirms that she helped to raise a foal named Agave but she did not know that he had left his mothers side for good - Kale confirms that they fought and that he left the stallion wounded but alive to flee after he confessed a desire to leave during her escape...I..only vaguely recall this stallion you call a mate, I was fighting his mother at the time...so it seems that a good deal of your story checks out..but you must understand why they were so concerned. Surely..if you are mates with this Agave he has told you stories of his mother."
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Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2015 4:53 pm
When they arrived at the stream Aquitaine took great delight in seeing the clear running water. Stepping forward she lowered her head but only took a small drink to start with. She hadn't drank in nearly two days and taking her fill in one go would only make her ill. Of course as she was drinking Mercy began talking and it was pretty much what Aquitaine had expected to happen. They sent the nice one, to make her feel safe and then the questions would begin. Lifting her head Aquitaine turned to face Mercy.
"Yes, he told me about his mother. And I am grateful that he managed to get away from her." But she knew Mercy would expect more from her than that. "From what he told me, he fled very shortly after Supreme did. He was fighting a stallion, I believe it was that big rainbow one Kale, and when Kale turned from the fight to help another Agave fled as well. He was badly injured but he somehow managed to find my home. We had met a couple times before then, and during our last meeting, I had seen he had good in him. He could have captured me and brought me to his mother, but instead he told me to go and saw me safely to the edge of her territory. I made him promise that if he ever got free to find me." She paused and shook her head. "In a way I never expected to see him again, but I thought of him often. Then one day he showed up at my home battered and bruised. I nursed him back to health and we fell in love."
That felt so long ago now, but really that was only about two or so years ago. "It was not easy, he was so used to the life his mother had shaped him into that it took a lot of work to break him of that. When he was better, he told me about Supreme, how she had been the one spot of good in his life and perhaps without her, and later myself, he would have been completely under his mothers spell." She paused long enough to take another drink before speaking once more. "We have a loving family together, three children. He has turned his back on his old life. He is a good stallion now. I know he wants to see Supreme again, he mentioned it to me a long time ago. And that's why I came to find her, with Camaria's help. I did not expect to become a prisoner, but then again I understand. You look at me, and you see a monster like Pirata. But I am nothing like her. I look like this because my parents had an unfortunate run in with a contraption that twisted the blood of myself and my brothers. We look like monsters, but we are far from that. I have worked hard to show others than I am not what they see on the outside and I hope that at some point you and Ironforge and all the others can see that as well."
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Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 5:16 am
Mercy listened carefully, her mind weighing the knowledge they had from Supreme against Aquitaine's story, thus far there was no change in the mare's story, she had been questioned several times and always repeated the same thing. The scouts had not located any other strangers in the area but - that didn't always mean anything. Still..Mercy found herself wavering slightly, she wanted to believe the mare, she truly did, the story of her mates recovery was incredible and further proof that redemption was there for those who wanted it. Ironforge however..he would be harder to convince. Perhaps knowing more about this mare would help and Mercy studied the mares story for more insight.
"You nursed him back to health? You have healing knowledge?" She asked, a slight spark of interest touching her tone, she herself was part unicorn and had always been told that she could likely learn some healing skills if she so desired...thus far however that had not been a trail she had followed - with no one to teach her it was somewhat of a moot point anyways. But..if this mare was truly a healer then it would lead some credence to her story, according to Supreme the only healers in Pirata's minions were slaves. Or at least that had been the case while she was there.
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Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 5:36 am
Aquitaine had expected some questions about the story she had just given. In the past interrogations they would make her tell her story and then question her about different aspects of it, obviously trying to find a lie hidden within. But there was no lie to be found, as Aquitaine always told the truth. Even so, it was kind of funny that Mercy pick up on the healing part of her story and focus on that. Perhaps it was another test, but she doubted that. It was clear that Mercy had an interest in healing and that made sense given the mares obvious unicorn blood.
"Yes, I nursed him back to heal, both physically and mentally." She said with a nod. "In a matter of speaking, yes I do have healing knowledge. But it is not like how most heal, especially those with natural healing powers like unicorn blood. I am the child of two unicorns and yet because of my mutated blood my healing power is almost non-existent. I have learned to rely on herbs for the majority of my healing. Sometimes I will infuse the herbs with my natural healing powers to make them more potent. I can indeed use my unicorn power to heal, but because it is so weakened I can only do a fraction of what pure unicorns can do and the energy it takes for me to do use is so great that I more often than not pass out after healing someone." Her most recent experience with that was when she healed Prism's broken leg. The stallion was doing much better now and she was so glad to see that. Soon he would be out there looking for his foal. With a slight shake of her head Aquitaine pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. She had to focus on what was happening now, worry about other things later. "Do you heal?"
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Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 5:57 am
Mercy considered what the mare was telling her - it was intriguing and while her time with Ironforge had given her the opportunity to learn a great deal about the world she didn't think that she had ever met anyone quite like Aquitaine before.
"Me? No - I was raised by a herd of Usdia who found my basket, none of them knew what to do with a half wind, half unicorn but they tried their best and they were good to me..still are." She told the mare a fond tone in her voice "But..none of them knew how unicorn healing works..none of them even knew how to teach me to fly and when I did learn to fly from a passing wind they were frightened by my wandering and lack of worldly knowledge, my father was worried that I would get hurt without knowing how to protect myself as he and Ironforge were old friends I was sent here to train, I'm a Knight - Kale and Ironforge are my mentors." She explained. for the time being she kept the knowledge of how Pirata dealt with healers to herself, Ironforge would not be pleased if she fed the mare information like that.
"In any case I am only half unicorn at most, its unlikely I possess much in the way of healing, perhaps someday I will learn - it might be useful on the battlefield." She mused before turning her thoughts back to the matter at hand.
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Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 6:08 am
"It sounds like you have a wonderful family." She said with a smile. She could hear the fondness in Mercy's voice and knew how important family was. Aquitaine did wonder about her own family. While they were used to her being gone for extended periods of time, if she was gone for too long then they would begin to worry. She wished that she could send them a message, but asking to do so would likely be a suspicious act and she was still working on proving she was not truly part of Pirata's army. For now she would just have to continue to wait and hope they believed her and set her free soon.
Aquitaine noted the proud tone in Mercy's voice when she stated that she was a knight. It was good to have knights in the world, to combat evil and give hope to others. She tried to imagine Mercy beign trained by Kale and Ironforge, but she couldn't. Of course the Ironforge she dealt with and the Ironforge that Mercy was trained by were likely two different stallions in essence. He seemed like the gruff time but had compassion hidden beneath that.
"There is a good chance you have more healing power than you think." She finally said after a moments thought. "But of course it will be impossible to know until you learn how to use your power. It would certainly be a good skill to have given your profession as a Knight. And even if you do have minimal powers there is always herbs to work with." She let out a slight laugh. "I would offer to train you but I doubt Ironforge would be too keen on his prisoner trying to teach his student how to heal."
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Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 7:50 am
Sending Mercy to speak with the mare had worked like a charm, just as he had known that it would, it had allowed him to watch the mare interact with a non-threatening member of his herd, let him listen and watch to see if she deviated from her story..or tried to sway Mercy to her side. Aquitaine had done none of these things and while Ironforge was still not completely convinced he had decided it was safe enough to let Supreme see what she thought about things.
Knowing that Mercy would be bringing Aquitaine to the stream Ironforge had sent for Supreme and the two of them had hidden out along the other side, quietly watching and listening to the conversation between the two mares, as the conversation wore on Ironforge gave the brown mare a questioning look..did she wish to see if the mare's story was true? Did she want to see this former ward of hers? It was a question that Ironforge knew the mare wrestled with - on one hand she had been fond of the colt..on the other she had worked long and hard to put some distance between her new life and her old. It was a hard decision but one that Supreme had to make for herself.
Supreme had had nightmares about something like this happening - someone from her old life coming to find her, perhaps to try and take her away from here, but in the nightmares this was not exactly the way it happened, in the nightmares Pirata came for her with an army, there was fighting and bloodshed and heartbreak...it wasn't a single mare, all on her own.
This Aquitaine certainly looked the part..but she didn't sound it, he voice held none of the harshness she had come to associate with Pirata's minions, her eyes held none of the malice and cruelty she had seen so often. Despite her nightmarish looks Supreme noted something less terrifying in the way she held herself and the way she spoke. It wasn't a sure thing, Soquili could certainly act kind when they wanted too - that was, after all, how she had been caught in the first place.
But...perhaps she needed to face these demons now so that she could finally, truly, move on. She had made good strides here with Ironforge and his herd but she had to admit that she was also kind of hiding here, perhaps knowing someone else had made it out would help? It was a hopeful thought and so when Ironforge gave her that questioning look she nodded. She would see where this path went, one way or another.
At Supreme's nod of assent Ironforge led her forward, breaking their cover and stepping into sight across the stream from Mercy and Aquitaine."I have no interest in keeping prisoners." He stated as he revealed himself "Only in keeping those I've sworn to protect safe and if Mercy desires training in healing that is her own choice to make as long as it does not interfere in her training with me" He continued, turning his head slightly to encourage Supreme forward with a slight nudge. Giving up when the mare refused to do anything more but peer around his bulk at the mare. Well if that made her feel safe then Ironforge was fine with playing body guard.
Supreme followed Ironforge out of their hiding spot, at first she was quite brave about it all, but upon drawing closer to the stranger she started to loose her nerve, refusing to budge and hiding behind her shaggy protector when tried to urge her forward. She was close enough - she could speak from here.
"You..you know Agave?" She finally managed to ask, her voice trembling slightly.
Mercy had not expected Ironforge and Supreme to reveal themselves, knowing the mare the way she did Mercy had half expected Supreme to tell them to send Aquitaine away but the mare had surprised her and been brave...bravery that seemed to be fading now that she was out in the open.
Knowing that the failing bravery in Supreme could make this meeting end in disaster Mercy sought to give the mare more courage, leaving Aquitaine's side to leap across the stream and join her shaggy mentor and frightened ward. The guard could keep Aquitaine in place if she decided to try something - though Mercy didn't think that she would and Supreme needed her her support more. Quieting Ironforge's attempt to argue the move Mercy brushed him with her muzzle.
"It's alright." She told both her mentor and the scared mare before changing her focus to Supreme "Nothing bad will happen right now..will it Aquitaine?" She assured Supreme, glancing back at the blue mare she had left on the other side of the stream for confirmation before moving to sandwich Supreme between herself and Ironforge and giving the mare a touch more support.
"Mercy!" Ironforge started to command her back to her place beside Aquitaine but was silenced by Mercy's nuzzle, a great and long suffering sigh escaping his form as he accepted the alteration of his plans. It was Mercy..what could you do?
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Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2015 8:17 am
Her head lifted when Ironforge came out of hiding. In a way she expected him or perhaps one of his Knights to be watching and listening from a distance. In fact, she wouldn't be surprised that the entire time she had been held here that someone was always silently watching her, looking for any sign that would give her true nature away. Hearing Ironforge's words Aquitaine nodded. "I respect that." She understood his desire to protect others, especially Supreme, given all that the mare had gone through
Speaking of Supreme, Aquitaine was even more surprised to see the mare coming up behind Ironforge. Or at least she was pretty sure it was Supreme. Agave had told her what the mare looked like, but with her mostly hidden behind Ironforge it was hard to confirm her identity. "I do know Agave." She told the mare softly. Before she could say anything else Mercy left her side and moved to comfort the mare. She wished she could do the same, but knew any movement might scare her. "Nothing bad will happen, I promise." She told Supreme. "Agave is no longer the stallion you remember him to be. His mother tried hard to form him into what she wanted, but you left a small part of lightness in his heart. I have seen him struggle to change, I helped him along the way. He is kind and loving now. He has turned his back completely on his old ways." She paused for a moment before continuing. "I know he wants to see you again, to let you see how much he has changed, that you affected him in a way you didn't even realize." She hoped that in time Supreme would agree to such a thing, but seeing how timid the mare was it might not happen.
"I know I look evil, but you have to trust that I am not." Aquitaine let out a soft sigh. "I have been judged my whole life based upon my looks. But I am not a monster on the inside. In fact, I have now dedicated my life to helping others like me, who are misunderstood, to find their place in life. And I try hard to change the opinions of others who judge me and those similar by looks alone. I know I can't change them all...but I can try. I also want to show that individuals can change, like Agave. That those with ill intent can be turned away from it, they can be made good. They just need to be given a chance." She fell silent then, hoping they would listen and consider what she had said. More so hoping that they believed her, because it was the truth.
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