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 Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:42 pm
what choice did she have though? She had sworn to serve the herd to the best of her ability when she’d joined the tacticians, and simply serving in that role was no longer enough, she could do more and so she had to do more. This magic had been given to her, and it was her duty to use it for the good of the herd. For the glory of the Katilenuck. She could do so much with it, she had to. She just needed to persuade Xla of that now. She hoped it wouldn’t be too hard. Sighing deeply, Undine settled down to wait. She wouldn’t try to search for his mind, she never wished to use her powers on him. She loved and respected him far too much to invade the privacy of his mind uninvited.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:52 pm
Undine had to wait for some time. The air thermals were keeping Xla'Lanan busy. They kept taking him back up into the air - higher and higher - and they refused to drop him back down. Had he wanted to exert the effort of folding up his wings and diving, it would have been an easy task.
Eventually the air did die away along with the sun. Regretfully, Xla'Lanan determined his short flying-vacation over and touched down on the red colored dirt of Fyhi's sheer rock. He walked the rest of the distance home and was in high spirits as the faded glow of evenings coming crept into the cave and set the place aglow.
It was surprising to find Undine there. She'd been gone for a while, and hadn't quite said where she was going. It was alright, though. She'd been ill and getting away had been in order.
"Undine," he said with a smile. "We've missed you."
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:05 pm
The tall mare smiled and got to her hooves before moving across the cave to nuzzle her mate’s neck; she’d been starting to wonder if he was coming home at all, which was silly given that he couldn’t have expected her to be here. “I’ve missed you too,” she murmured, enjoying the closeness and the familiar scent of him. She didn’t want to lose this. They loved one another, one way or another they would work things out, she was sure. “So, how have you been?” she asked, stepping back to look at her mate properly.
He looked well, very well, wonderful. She wasn’t usually the sentimental sort, but with the glow of the fading sun behind him she swore he’d never looked so handsome. If he made her choose between her duty and him though... well she wasn’t sure what she’d do, and she hoped she never had to. Perhaps he wouldn’t be so disdainful of her, after all she had come to this in adulthood, she had already earned the position she had with her own mind rather than with a supernatural gift. Maybe he would be alright with this addition to her skill set. That was all it was; a new skill that she would put to good use.
Now she needed to decide how to bring the topic up.
Wonderful.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:11 pm
So, how have you been? Xla'Lanan couldn't help but to give her a strange, but knowing look. It was so very like her to skip to the point. To want to catch up. Xla'Lanan felt all at once as though she'd been gone forever and not a day at the same time.
"Things - I - have been pleasant, more or less," he told her and took the time to pull the tension out of his wings. "Our children haven't caused too much trouble." Too much was the operable word. He little out a light chuckle and rolled his eyes just enough to show what he meant.
"You look much better than when you left. I'm glad."
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:21 pm
Undine chuckled and gave a nod of approval. “Well, I’m glad to hear that; they would have been hearing from me if they’d been causing trouble...” Well, there wasn’t any point beating about the bush; the sooner she started the sooner it would be over. “I am much better,” Undine sighed, “I know what was wrong now...” Trailing off, the paint mare glanced about quickly. Nobody was around. Good. Here went then. “I... started hearing voices in my head. That was why I left; I thought I’d gone mad and I had no intention of disgracing us so I took myself away. Not long after I left, I discovered that I wasn’t insane. I was developing seer powers.”
That was that then; whatever his reaction was, she would deal with it. The hardest bit was over, and she was certain that they’d work things out. They were sensible adults after all... well fairly sensible anyway. “I didn’t want this Xla,” Undine muttered after a moment, “I didn’t ask for it, but it happened and there’s nothing I can do about that.”
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:31 pm
She'd been hearing voices? Trauma from war-knowledge? Night-tremors? Had she witnessed something she hadn't? What on earth---
Oh.
Oh.
Silence fell between them. There was nothing in his ears but the sound of his own swallowing. She'd been developing seer powers? On purpose? No, no, why would she do that. Undine wouldn't betray him, would she?
But, she had. The truth was plane and simple. She went dealing in magic she had no idea about.
"Is that so?" he asked with narrowed brows. The words were spoken between his teeth. "You didn't ask for it, but you went chasing it down like Dahak, didn't you?" It was no secret now where is son had gotten the evils from. His mother carried it in her veins.
It certainly wasn't in his veins.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:44 pm
Undine frowned in turn. “Yes, I did, because if I hadn’t I really would have gone insane. They never stopped; they were in my head all day all night, all at once until I learned to block them out.” Well, maybe he wasn’t going to be sensible about this. He really did hate magic, didn’t he.
Damn.
Why her? She was glad that she was going to be useful to the herd she supposed but... but why her? Why not someone else? Damn. Damn seer powers, and damn Xla. He wasn’t going to be happy to know she planned to actually use the magic in the slightest. Well, he was going to have to get used to it, that or leave her. She really hoped he didn’t do that, it would be awkward to explain and anything awkward was the last thing she needed. She had to keep her new abilities hidden from the herd at large or she’d be little use in the role she had planned out.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:47 pm
She could not possibly know for sure that they would have made her go insane.
"Why didn't you just stop there? With blocking them out?"
It was the sensicle thing to do. He could understand being afraid and wanting to put a silence on it, but to try further to develop them? It was an outrage.
"What on earth posessed you to be so utterly stupid!? You're a bright mare. What has gotten into you? Don't tell me Dahak has gotten through your skull."
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:00 pm
Undine ground her teeth for a moment before taking a deep breath to calm herself. Okay. She was in control of herself, she could manage this situation. She dealt with irrational idiots every day after all, admittedly not usually ones she loved - but didn’t like very much at the minute - but still. “I didn’t see that I had a choice,” she said eventually. “Blocking is one of the things I’ve found hardest in any case but much as I didn’t want this, much as I wish it hadn’t happened it has and I see it as my duty to use the damn stuff to help the herd. Not for glory like Dahak wanted, believe me I’m going to keep this as quiet as possible, but for the herd. This isn’t about what I want Xla, this is about my duty.”
He was going to accept it, or she was going to make him accept it. This was nothing like Dahak’s search for power, fame, adoration, all that with helping the herd coming as a nice bonus; this was all about the herd.
“What if there are other seers in the world?” she demanded after a moment. “What if a hostile one should come here? Illusions won’t stop them, they could avoid soldiers; they would be a direct threat to the Queen and everyone around her. If I work on this... this magic I’ve ended up with, I would be able to detect them and stop them where nobody else could. Not using it isn’t an option Xla, I wish it was but it damn well isn’t.” Magic. She had never really hated it before, but she certainly did now.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:09 pm
She had a point about the seers.
Still, he didn't like it.
"It's not right." It wasn't right in the slightest. And Jala damn the queen. She was practically worthless. It must have been nice and pleasant for her to set Undine up for these powers and tell her to use them for the bettering of the herd.
b***h.
"If it's for the herd? Fine. But keep it from this family. People's minds are not an open book." That was the way it should have been. Normalacy.
This, this was just plain wrong.
"If the queen tries to pull you into some special world, please kindly tell her your place is here." Which meant he really wanted Undine to tell the Queen to go screw herself with a sharp and broken off dead-tree branch.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:11 pm
Undine sighed wearily and nodded. "I know Xla. I have no intention of ever reading your mind, or our children's. I would never do that." They at least were loyal to the queen, to the herd, she was sure. Reading them was unnecessary. "I don't plan on wandering off into any different world, either," she went on with a shake of her head. "My place, my duty, my happiness all lie here. I have no interest in taking missions abroad either, I will be of most use here... Xla..." What could she say, exactly? She wished this had never happened. Damn it all.
The tall mare sighed and shook her head. "I wish this had never happened. I'm sorry, Xla, I will speak to you of this... ability as little as I can." She wanted her normal life back. She didn't want to think about these unnatural talents, didn't want them to be hers but they were and that was that. She would hone them, use them, serve the herd with them but they would not invade her personal life if she could avoid it. Especially because Xla hated magic so much. She was glad that at least he was willing to see reason, and didn't seem to hate her.
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