Welcome to Gaia! ::

Azreth smiled as he leaned back against the mare, taking her ear between his fingers and rubbing it absently. His fingers traced the sensual curve of her neck, feeling the corded muscle beneath her coat.

"When I was a young boy, a group of Cultists stole into Avandere Castle, kidnapping both my mother and myself. They had drugged us, and the rest of the castle was asleep, and they had also laced the Kingsguard's wine with a sleeping tonic." He paused to touch the gold locket against his chest, the cool metal soothing him. "When I came to, my first sight was of my mother laying naked across some sort of stone table, candles all around and men in blood red cloaks, the hoods drawn over their faces. They were chanting in some language I did not -- and still do not -- recognize."

Green eyes closed themselves to the light of the sun, his mind taking him back to one of his earliest memories. A shiver coursed through him, though he succeeded in keeping his words steady.

"I was held by my shoulders by a man of strength, and could not move. Nor could I speak because I had been gagged. I watched as my mother had a knife driven into her abdomen. The man wielding it sliced upwards, opening her stomach to the rank, smoke-filled air of the small chamber. She did not scream, but she turned her head to look at me, a smile on her face as tears ran down her cheeks." The King could feel himself shaking, but he pressed on, his fingers tangling themselves in Senka's mane.

"Each of the Cultists, save the man who held me, dipped their hands in her organs after she had passed on, wiping her blood on their shadowed faces. Their chanting rose to a crescendo, and the very air above her blurred and became hazy. Within her grew a tall shadow, and the stuff of my nightmares came to life." Azreth's chest rose and fell rapidly as he relived it.

"A creature -- a demon, I guess -- was born from her belly, and it was nothing but darkness talons, and eyes like burning coals. It's words were in our language, and yet it sounded as if ten tortured souls were speaking all at once. The demon looked at each man, and finally its eyes came to rest on me. It opened a mouth filled with fangs and laughed at my fear. It laughed for what seemed like hours, and then it proceeded to slaughter all but one of the Cultists, leaving me untouched."

He breathed deeply, opening his eyes. "It said to me then, 'One day, Young Prince, the time will come when you will summon one of my brothers. He will be bound to you, and you to him, until finally he takes you. The two of you will charge into history and will change this world for the good, but it will cost you everything you love.' And then he, and the body of my mother, were simply gone." He wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand, swallowing. "After an hour or two, I managed to somehow find my way out of the compound where a family of farmers heading for Avandere picked me up. No matter how hard I've searched, I cannot find the place nor the people who killed my mother."

He cleared his throat and smiled, bending down to press his lips against Senka's forehead.

Feeling the presence in the web of lights within his mind, Azreth glanced over, seeing Deanna and her Bonded. He lifted a hand and waved at them, sending a quick mental thought in his mind to the point of light that was Serenity. :: Come, join us. The evening breeze is cool, the grass sweet, and I would enjoy your company. ::

It wasn't a command whatsoever, though he thought the two might take it as such. He smiled to himself. Being King certainly had its drawbacks sometimes.

Mira had no need to hear the rumors of coming war flitting about in the castle corners. She already knew of it, she knew every plan the Six had in store, or at least HAD till very recently. She had no need to hear of the discussions in the council chambers to know of it all, she was Bonded to the very Azrein who had been a spy among their ranks....well, really two, but it was Txopu who had gotten in on the inner circle and barely made it back with his life, who had found it out, and who had reported all he knew to the King and the Council. She had lived every second with him, felt his very fear as he'd been taken to prove himself and been forced to kill a beautiful mare just to prove his loyalty, survive a trial among the vampires, and finally been admitted into the sacred inner circle.

Life in the castle had changed since his return. Mira had become quieter, seeking odd moments to beg lessons from Nick to teach her more weapons training. She knew she could ask Ed, but the Duke was so busy lately, how could he teach her? Nick wasn’t any less so, but being a ‘cousin’ of sorts, he was at least far easier to corner. The King….well, he’d begun to take longer and longer walks alone. She missed him, even for working as close with him as she did, for the simple fact so much had changed from their childhood times. She knew the road he walked was a lonely one, as a King’s had no choice but to be, and that he had much on his mind, but she had to admit she really missed merely the act of talking together as the friends they once had been. Perhaps there was no choice in that matter, ultimately, she thought, fixing a rose to better fit her liking. He is a king after all…

Satisfied the arrangement was as good as it was bound to get in her present state of mind, she told Txopu to meet her outside the castle, giving him her idea of them both needing to get away as well, to run wild and free and let the wind drive their cares away. She fled outside, and without a word, put her hand to his striped cheek, and together proceeded to wind their way through the last of the market day crowds. At the gates, she vaulted onto his back, and with winding her hands in his mane, she gave a war cry as he reared high before taking off as fast as his hooves would go.

They ran for what felt like hours, till both were winded. Neither wanted to return, and so set on with a slow walk, Mira not paying much attention to her surroundings as she patted and scratched Txo’s neck with affection and quiet murmurs. It wasn’t until she got whapped with a mental slap that she realized he’d been trying to get her attention for the last 5 minutes. Rubbing her forehead like she’d been literally hit (though the feeling had been more akin to a brain freeze after eating something cold too fast), she gave him a questioning mental shrug, and received a single word in reply: Azreth.

They stood for some time, each watching the scene before them as the King was slowly grooming a dark mare, before they each sat in the grass, the mare curling her head to rest in his lap. Mira could only wonder what he was telling her, and thought how back to when they’d sit under a tree and talk as kids. Finally unable to stand it, she dismounted Txopu, and with her right hand resting behind his cheek, they approached the pair slowly through the grass.

When they were close enough, Mira paused, having never heard this story before. She moved her hand from Txo’s neck to wind it in his mane as if she’d fall over if she didn’t have that support. She felt the tears in her eyes, and had to take a moment to wipe them away before continuing forward. It was then that Txo spotted his mate, and gave a whinny of joy, leaving Mira to finish the approach on her own looking almost as if she’d been beaten, hesitating as if reluctant to spoil the scene of the ever growing group.

The King glanced up, seeing Mira and feeling Txopu's arrival in his mind. He gave them a shallow smile and raised his hand in greeting. :: Come on. This is for anyone who cares to listen, my friends. ::

As Dea, Serenity, Mira, and Txopu came over and looked around to sit and lay for the best places, Azreth made some quick introductions. "All of you, meet Senka. She's new to the Greater Herd, and was born in the Unthal Mountains. Senka, this is my personal maid, Mira, and her Bonded, Txopu, who was a spy for us against the Six. And this is one of my nobles, Dea, and her Bonded, Serenity."

Azreth took a deep breath and let it out through his nose, his fingers tracing patterns in Senka's fur as he glanced at everyone. "Turns out what the demon had told me was true, and it did indeed happen. Yet that comes after the death of my father." He waited until the newcomers had settled in, and began his tale once more.

"Before I met Valdien, when the Azrein were still nothing but legends from a far past and history texts, I turned seventeen. That morning I woke with joy, as my father, King Vandrian, had promised that we would go on a fox hunt together. When I arrived at his chambers, however, he looked terrible, and he told me he had taken sick and wouldn't make it out that day. I was terribly, terribly afraid. Life was already hard without my mother, and I couldn't bear the thought of losing him as well." He glanced up at Mira and gave her a nod, seeing the pain in her eyes, for she and his father had been close as well.

"His Physicker was in his rooms, and the man told me to wait outside. So I sat for hours -- what seemed like days -- waiting to hear what was wrong with my father." Here he paused, taking a breath to steady himself. "When the man came out, he told me that my father had a wasting disease, and would be dead within two months." He grew quiet, to let that sink in. "But what we didn't know was that he had been poisoned."

Azreth glanced at the crown sitting on the grass beside him, and he almost-reverently picked it up, gazing at the silhouette of the red elk embossed within the gold, cradling an emerald between its antlers. He bit his lower lip and placed it once more on his head, feeling as if it weight the entire world. The moment it touched his brow, the King sat straighter, and he pushed his emotions to the side. Green eyes met the gazes of each being; Azrein and human.

"I was crushed. I fainted straight away, and would've killed myself by striking my head on the floor if Zel hadn't of been there to catch me. I awoke in the then-Alchemist-Trainee's rooms within the castle, and I told him all I had heard. But not only that did I tell." He paused for the sake of drama. "For the past few months, I had been having vivid dreams, had been hearing a voice in my mind, had been having such an overwhelming need, an all-encompassing urge to ride to the north of the Isle, as if I were being summoned by something." A smile lifted the corners of his lips in remembering. "Zel told me then of a bedside story I had memorized verbatim. He said that, from what he had studied, it sounded as if a creature out of myth, a creature from legend, was Calling me."

As 'Reth noticed their arrival, Mira returned his smile and sat upon the grass, slightly off to the side of the group, her knees pulled up to her chin with her arms wrapped around them. She nodded to the others in turn, giving each a smile, but otherwise remained silent as Txopu nuzzled his mate affectionately and nibbled at her mane lovingly before settling down in the grass, nibbling at it a little.

The story of his father's death and what happened, however, was not new to her, and she wiped away a few tears during it's telling. Her voice quiet, she said, "I remember it well. The Physicker refused to let anyone into the rooms, so I'd steal in from the hidden servant's access. I'd had...no idea where you'd left to, just that you were gone, but every chance I could, I'd go to his bedside to tell him what I knew, silly things I'd seen. Even sick as he was..he always wanted to know what my day had been like..."

Her voice trailed off as she moved closer to Txopu and curled against his side, reliving the night the King had died, and the few minutes she'd stolen to see him one last chance and the promise she made that she'd never told another soul. He had been a father to her, more than any other being, and remembered well the day she'd wandered into the Court room during a time set aside to listen to the people's concerns, a lost little thing of barely 3 years. Instead of letting the guards chase her out, had scooped her up into his lap, letting her curl up and fall asleep there. She remembered feeling safe and warm in his arms....she missed that terribly.

She was too lost in this memory, at first, to think of the demon's prophecy, though it was the mental curiosity exued by Txopu that reminded her of and she wound her hands into the stallion's mane. A demon..could...he mean? She gave Azreth a questioning look as she thought back to the time he'd asked her help to rid the city of a certain set of dirty thieves who'd been selling women, and remembering seeing something happen between him and Morpheus....thought at the time it'd confused the hell out of her...

Azreth took a deep breath and nodded at Mira and Dea before continuing. "Now, before my father passed away, I convinced Zel to accompany me as I went in search of...whatever it was that was calling out to me. He and I spent a month on the road, going ever northwards. I'll skip over a lot that happened, as it's inconsequential to this tale. However, that was when my Gift first appeared. I had had a vision of this stallion, and apparently I made the fire explode with blue flames." Azreth laughed then, a rich, deep sound filled with nothing but joy, and he saw answering smiles on faces both human and equine. He stroked Senka's ears before burying his fingers in her mane.

"Anyway, we had finally arrived at the very edge of the Isle. And that was when..." The man felt his throat tighten, felt unwanted tears sting the corners of his eyes. "That was when Zel received word via the Alchemists that my father had died. Not only that, but he had been poisoned." He was quiet a moment, his mind taking him back to the time when he was looking down over the edge of the Isle. "Zel told me and then walked away a bit to confer with the Council. And I raised my foot to step off of the Isle, to death and the sweet succor it brought from my shattered heart." He took a deep breath.

"And then I heard it; a whinny rang out, clear as bells in the sharp air." A smile split his features, like the sun breaking from the clouds of a storm. The sound of a large body dropping down from the sky, then the rustling of wings could be heard, and Valdien trotted up to the group, nickering softly. The King reached out his hands and the stallion lowered his head, long mane shielding both himself and the King for a moment as Azreth placed his forehead against Val's own. He closed his eyes and felt tears fall from his strong jawline onto Senka's head. He laughed at himself and sent a mental apology to her before releasing Valdien's head. "And Valdien saved me from myself."

"When he came to me, everything fell into place. I would never be alone again, my broken heart was filled by a soul so pure, so strong, and so sincere in it's unconditional love that I fell to my knees and wept. I cried for hours and hours, clinging to Val's neck as if my life depended on it. And as my tears fell, my heart began to mend. Zel was absolutely shocked that the first Azrein in two thousand years set hoof of the Isle. And I was a contrast of feelings, of emotions swirling within. I grieved terribly for the loss of my father, but my heart felt fit to burst because of all I had gained through Valdien." Azreth grinned at everyone, seeming for a moment like the young prince he once was before the heavy weight of ruling settled on his shoulders again.

"Zel, Valdien and I made our way back to the castle, and not two days after my father's funeral, the Demon's premonition came true."

Daria and her Chosen Aila had been searching for something.... Something they weren't quite sure of. So they had left the small ranch for a small trip.. both restless. Jondayla had chosen to stay with his mate and mischievous children, so it was just the male-clad female rancher and the cream and blue swirled female azrein with the tiny wings.

Aila sat astride the female, sitting just behind the wing joints as they walked. Suddenly, as if magically the breeze lifted.. and both the human and azrein could hear a story being told. "Daria... let's go towards the story..." Aila muttered softly, her hair blowing back in the slight breeze.

Daria nodded her approval and began walking in that direction... and it was then that Aila spotted a few azrein and a human.. no... "Daria.. is that?" She asked, too shocked to believe it was true. Her eyes had to be lying.

"I think it is, dear one.." Daria replied softly.

Dea listened to the king explain where he was when his father died, remembering how he had not been in the castle when it happened. She remembered the day he had come back and he had Valdien with him, a smile coming to her lips at that. It had not been long after he had met Valdien that she and Serenity had met. She felt Serenity nuzzle her, knowing that was her way of letting her know that she was glad they had met. Dea nodded her head to Serenity, knowing she had been blessed when they had become bonded. She was deep in those thoughts as Serenity went to place her head under that of her mate's. When she heard the next part the king said about the premonition, she turned her attention back to him.

"Oh yeah, almost forgot about there being a premonition,"Dea admitted, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.